#justiceOPportunity Thursday: January 16, 2020

It’s #justiceOPportunity Thursday, and we are hoping you’ll join us in taking action to support the Western Artic Reserve which is in jeopardy due to the Trump Administration’s recently released plan to reduce protected areas in the region to allow for more oil and gas development. Our reflections of the reading of Laudato Si’ – Chapter I:  Our Present Reality compels us to act.

The Western Arctic Reserve is the largest tract of wild and undisturbed public land in the U.S., providing wild foods for Alaska Native communities and unique and vital habitat for hundreds of species, including migratory birds, brown bears, caribou, threatened polar bears, walruses, and beluga whales. Alaska Native communities across this region have sustained themselves for thousands of years with wild foods harvested from the Western Arctic Reserve’s lands and waters.  Today, 11 million acres are protected from industrial development under a 2013 management plan.

The Trump Administration recently released its plan to significantly reduce protected areas in the Western Arctic to allow for more oil and gas development.  This revision to the current management plan would have serious consequences for this ecologically sensitive area and the people who live there, as well as our climate.  The public may comment on the Administration’s proposed revision until January 21, 2020.

“The spirituality of the Earth refers to a quality of the Earth itself, not a human spirituality with special reference to the planet Earth.  Earth is the maternal principle out of which we are born and from which we derive all that we are and all that we have.  We come into being in and through the Earth.  Simply put, we are Earthlings.”

—Thomas Berry, “The Spirituality of the Earth”

ACT NOW: https://bit.ly/2RpLCSm

Image: HILLEBRAND / U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE

#justiceopportunitythursday #earthjustice #westernarticreserve #actnow #laudatoSi