Simplifying Climate Change

I know, it's Lent.  I should be writing about Ash Wednesday, or penance, or the Pope's resignation.  I think all that's pretty well covered in other people's blogs.  I was reading an article in the January issue of The Catholic Worker about "The Church and Climate Change".  This started the wheels turning in my head.  Regardless of which theory you subscribe to, I think it can be generally agreed that there is an enormous amount of environmental pollution and waste that has been going on for decades.  I am glad the Church takes the stand that, as stewards of the earth, we need to be proactive in protecting it for future generations.  About time.  I'll save the farther-reaching issues for those who are much more educated and intelligent than I am.

The article did bring the issue closer to home for me.  I frequently think about these things in relation to what small part I play in them.  Though I do try to drive less, my loved ones are dispersed and I like to visit them.  I homeschool my son, but he plays hockey 50 miles away...  I cannot imagine life without a car.  A car = freedom and independence.  

I heat my home with a woodstove - renewable energy - and resist the temptation to use the air conditioner for all but the 3-6 hottest weeks of the summer.  It helps that it is a window unit, which I install and remove every year.  I just delay installation until the heat is unbearable.  

I disagree that my few head of backyard livestock contribute significantly to greenhouse gasses.  In fact, they have contributed significantly to the fertility of my soil so far.  They also contribute dairy products and eggs for my household and meat for the freezer.  They eat the weeds on ten acres, thereby reducing the fire hazard and eliminating the need for gas powered weed control.  

I will admit that I have a ways to go for gardening success.  I try to reuse packaging and buy in bulk.  I use and reuse every possible drop of water, it is Northern Arizona, after all.

I enjoy the internet, my cell phone, kindle and netflix.  I like to flip a switch and have light and I really like the indoor outhouse.  I may not ever be as "green" as I really could be.   I'm still on the grid, because it would take 15 or more years to recoup the switch to solar - my usage is rather minimal.  I take delivery of propane, because I do a lot of cooking on my gas stove, my gas clothes dryer gets used 2 or 3 times a week, though I occasionally hang clothes outside, and I have the gas heater for emergency back up.  Still, I only use 150-200 gallons of propane a year, when I don't use the heater.

Honestly, I'm not quite sure where I rate on the scale of being a responsible, green Catholic.  I do try to simplify as much as possible and in doing so, I use less.  Besides, in this part of Arizona, if you don't like the climate, wait 5 minutes.  It'll change.

Zenyatta - Inspiration from the Queen of the Racetrack

There are few things I enjoy more than an afternoon of watching horses.  Maybe a day in Yosemite or Kings Canyon.  To watch a herd of horses frolic on the open range, or thunder around a track, to me, is a thrill.  To see a great horse honored is an immense joy.  I am not an advocate of gambling and I don't support practices that demean principles of good stewardship of God's creatures.  I do enjoy seeing the results of a horse being brought to it's full potential, and a rider who respects and admires that horse in a way that the team reaches a greater success than either would individually.  Such are the examples of Mike Smith and Zenyatta, Ron Turcotte and Secretariat, Red Pollard and Sea Bisquit, to mention a few.

I do not follow horse racing, but my daughter does.  She was born to the saddle.  At the age of 2, I turned my back on her for five minutes and found her across the street with her older brother, trying to climb a fence into the paddock of the boarding stables, to pet the horses.  At a big boned five-eleven, she never had a hope of becoming a jockey, though she did quite well at gymkhana.  She is currently working towards her bachelor's degree in equine studies.  She has a scrapbook - more like a database - on Zenyatta.  She has studied her and followed her for the horse's entire career.  Her excitement at being able to meet and talk with Mike Smith and John Sheriffs (Zenyatta's trainer) was contagious.  To have her share her passion with me is an honor and a priviledge.  To know that she finds inspiration and motivation to pursue her life's dream, even when her own horses are so far away from her for the time being, makes me glad.

For myself, I enjoy watching and interacting with horses.  Ever since humans became aware that the horse was good for more than just the dinner table, there has been a mystical dynamic between horse and rider.  A good rider can communicate to his horse with the slightest pressure, the softest sound.  An intelligent and cooperative horse will respond to his rider almost intuitively.  How often in history has a story been told of a horse finding his way home, his rider unconcious in the saddle?  How often have I gone out to the paddock in distress and received a comforting nuzzle, an understanding companionship with my horses?

Truly the Creator put us here to find our way back to Him, and help our fellows to do so.  But even when humankind fails us, God gave us a back-up, our animals.  Cats, dogs, horses, all take their turn in our lives, comforting, entertaining, annoying and accompanying us back home.