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Winter 2004

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Table of Contents

From the Publisher's Desk by Jim Ball
Oceans, Gulfs & Streams
A sea, an oil rig, a spill, and a savior by Michael Crook
USA & The Environment: 2003 in Review by Jim Ball
A devocean exercise by Helen Turnbull
If Souls Were Streams by Helen Turnbull

From the Publisher's Desk

Jim Ball

Dear Friends,

The last issue of Creation Care magazine was on land, so we thought we'd highlight God's oceans in this issue. Nearly all human beings live on land. This leads to a tendency to forget about the oceans. Out of sight, out of mind. But when we stand before them or float upon them they seem vast and limitless and invincible. We have sayings that highlight this feeling, such as "just a drop in the ocean."

In relation to the land, God's oceans are indeed vast. As we report inside, oceans occupy 70% of the Earth's surface and are home to over 90% of all life on Earth. But somehow when we talk about the Earth, we usually are referring to just that 30% of the Earth's surface we call land. And when we think about life, our thoughts focus on the 10% of land-based life.

So we forget about them or feel overwhelmed by them, thinking of them as invincible.

God's oceans may be vast, but in this issue we try to highlight how the 90% of all life on Earth that lives in the oceans is not invincible to our behavior. For instance, populations of large predatory fish (such as tuna, swordfish, cod, and flounder) have been reduced to 10% of pre-industrial levels. Industrialized fisheries typically reduced fish populations by 80% within 15 years. Nearly one third of the world's fisheries have collapsed or are near collapse, and about half of the world's fisheries are being fished at their maximum level. Many fish are caught before they are old enough to reproduce. Current estimates are that 10 percent of all coral reefs are degraded beyond recovery.Thirty percent are in critical condition and may die within 10 to 20 years. If current pressures are allowed to continue unabated, 60 percent of the world's coral reefs may die completely by 2050. This destruction of coral reefs is indeed unfortunate, because they harbor more than 25% of all known marine fish, as well as a total species diversity containing more phyla than rainforests. God's oceans are vast, but not invincible ­ indeed in many ways they are fragile and delicate.

HelenThomas, in her reflective article "If SoulsWere Streams" on page 17, quotes the little fish Nemo, who reminds us that "All drains lead to the ocean." That's not really a good thing, considering what we dump into them. Sewage is the largest source of contamination by volume of God's oceans. Over 3.2 million "life-years" (a year of productive life lost through death or disability) are lost each year due to contaminated coastal waters, creating a health problem of global proportions. The resulting economic costs are approximately $13 billion a year.

The current state of God's oceans is a call to action. However, it could tempt us to despair. As Christians we must remember that the One who walked upon the water is ultimately the Lord of Lords. As Michael Crook reminds us in his devotional essay, Jesus is Salvavidas, the One who ulti- mately guards or protects all life.

As followers of Christ, the Salvavidas of all things, the Sustainer of all life, we cannot forget His oceans, nor can we think of them as invincible and not in need of our care and protection. That He has reconciled all things is our hope ­ and what we are called to participate in.

I hope you are inspired by this issue on God's oceans, full of Scripture, facts, and thoughts for reflection. Write us and tell us what you think, and what you're doing.

Your brother in Christ,

Jim Ball

Oceans, Gulfs & Streams

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth ... and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place...' God called the ... gathered waters ...Seas.' And God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:9-10).

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will" (Rom. 8:26- 27).

"You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you" (Nehemiah 9:6).

• Oceans occupy 70% of the earth's surface and are home to over 90% of all life on earth.
• Seafood is the primary source of protein for many coastal people, and ocean currents help regulate the earth's hydrogeologic cycles.
• Globally, marine and coastal ecosystems provide roughly double the economic value in goods and services as do land-based ecosystems.

God, in His extravagant love for us, has provided an oceanic world as part of our earthly heritage. As God's stewards guided by the Spirit that hovers over the waters and helps us in our weakness, Christians are to care for the oceans bequeathed to us by God as much as we care for the land and the air. In so doing, we will be helping to share the extravagance and beauty of God's love with others by maintaining the productive capacity of the oceans' waters and the integrity of oceanic systems that support an abundance of life and have an untold wealth of beauty.

Counting and Naming

"...and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name" (Gen. 2:19b).

"There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number -- living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the levia- than, which you formed to frolic there" (Ps. 104:25-26).

"Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? ... Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand ... Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'? Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?" (Job 38:2, 4, 8-11).

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible ..." (Col. 1:15-16).

• Scientists hope to identify many of the estimated million-plus species of life in the oceans (only a small fraction of which have been identified to date) through a comprehensive global study called the Census of Marine Life.
• This includes the expected identification of at least 5,000 new species of fish.
• One recent discovery -- and an example of the wonders of God's creatures that will be discovered -- includes a yet to be named squid nearly 30 feet long with arms that resemble jellyfish tentacles. This creature has been filmed on deep sea dives around the world, but a specimen has not been captured for study because it swims too fast.
• Coral reefs don't just exist in tropical waters. Scientists have recently discovered deep-sea coral reefs and coral forests inAlaska, Japan,Tasmania, New Zealand, California, Nova Scotia, Maine, North Carolina, Florida, Colombia, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, UK, Ireland and Mauritania.
• Scientists have found more than 100 types of coral and sponges off Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands. Some looked like tulips or spatulas or barrels. Researchers have taken to calling one the "Bart Simpson sponge" because it resembles the cartoon character's yellow spiky hair. Some types might live 1,000 years.

As humans we have been given the blessing and the responsibility of witnessing to God's enormous creativity by identifying and naming the creatures. But, while today we may be able to "walk in the recesses of the deep," we are still called to identify and name our fellow creatures in the humility of our own creatureliness. All creatures are created through Christ, and express the wonder and glory of God. Like Adam, as we name one of our fellow creatures we identify its kind as unique before God and give it value and meaning in our sight.

Emptying Oceans Through Over-fishing

"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures ...' So God created the great crea tures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds....

And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas...'" (Gen. 1:20- 22)."But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind" (Job 12:7-10).

"As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'And I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him" (Mk 1:16- 18)."...the time has come for destroying those who destroy the earth" (Rev. 11:18).

• Worldwide about 700 million persons are directly dependent upon fisheries for food.
• Fish populations of large predatory fish (such as tuna, swordfish, cod, and flounder) have been reduced to 10% of pre- industrial levels.
• In U.S. waters,Atlantic halibut are commercially extinct-- too rare to justify a directed fishing effort. Populations of some rockfish species on theWest Coast have dropped to less than 10 percent of their past levels.
• Industrialized fisheries typically reduced fish populations by 80% within 15 years.
• Nearly one third of the world's fisheries have collapsed or are near collapse.
• Nearly half of the world's fisheries are being fished at their maximum level.
• Many fish are caught before they are old enough to reproduce.
• Fish is the primary source of protein for coastal communities, and is especially important for the poorest ones.
• Fish makes up about 19% of the total animal protein consumption of developing countries as a whole.
• In many instances overfishing occurs for luxury foods, or to produce livestock feed for animals in developed countries.
• Millions of tons of "by-catch" such as sea turtles and dolphins are hurt or killed each year, threatening their existence in some areas. ("By-catch" are creatures that are not intended to be caught but are caught anyway.) For example, by-catching may be jeopardizing the existence of loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles off the eastern U.S. seaboard.
• Over-fishing contributes significantly to declines of marine birds and mammals by reducing their food supplies.
• By-catch of albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters in longline fisheries is one of the greatest threats to seabirds.
• Fishing gear such as trawls that drag along or dig into the seafloor destroys habitat needed by marine wildlife, including commercially fished species.
• Typical trawl fisheries in northern California and New England trawl the same section of sea bottom more than once per year on average.
• Bottom-dwelling invertebrates can take up to five years or more to recover from one pass of a dredge.

Current industrial fishing practices are leading to the exact opposite of proper Christian stewardship, diminishing the glory to God that His ocean creatures proclaim. We are also in effect stealing from the poor and future generations. We as individuals can use our consumer power to support sustainable fisheries by purchasing fish that comes from them (for suggestions see www.environmentaldefense.org/ seafood/bestpicks.cfm). We can also ask questions of our suppliers of other food, such as whether the meat we eat comes from livestock fed with fishmeal. Finally, we can consider vegetarian alternatives.

Pollution

"There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land ... the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying. My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge ... because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children" (Hosea 4:1b, 3b, 6).

"Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?" (Ezekiel 34:18b-19).

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Lk. 6:31; Mt. 7:12).

• Sewage is the largest source of contamination by volume of God's oceans.
• Rapid urbanization, population growth, and a lack of planning and financing for sewerage systems and water treatment plants, especially in developing countries, has increased coastal sewage discharges dramatically in the past three decades.
• Worldwide approximately 250 million people become sick each year after eating contaminated fish or bathing or swimming in contaminated coastal waters.
• Even in coastal waters deemed swimmable, 5% of adults worldwide will become sick after a single swim.
• Over 3.2 million "life-years" (a year of productive life lost through death or disability) are lost each year due to contaminated coastal waters, creating a health problem of global proportions. The resulting economic costs are approximately $13 billion a year.
• Toxic chemicals called "persistent organic pollutants" (such as polychlorinated biphenyls) are ubiquitous in the world's oceans and may cause reproductive, immunological, or neurological problems in marine species and possibly humans.
• Air pollution from vehicles and industry, as it falls from the sky, contributes approximately half of the nitrogen pollution in God's oceans, and a significant portion of the mercury pollution. As developing countries industrialize, atmospheric pollution is expected to increase.
• In the U.S. there were 11,270 beach closings and advisories in 2000-- and many more beaches are polluted, but are not tested and reported as such.
• A major pollutant in the oceans is nitrogen, resulting primarily from air pollution that falls into the water and from fertilizer used in agriculture and lawn care. While fertilizer use in developed countries will only show modest increases in the coming decades, it is projected to grow significantly in developing countries.
• Nitrogen levels in oceans are exacerbated by the widespread loss of natural interceptors such as coastal wetlands, coral reefs, and mangrove forests. In the United States 200,000 acres of coastal wetlands and estuaries are lost each year.
• So-called "dead zones," or oxygen-depleted areas resulting from nitrogen and other pollution, are increas ing in frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution worldwide. This translates to the depletion of marine species and economic losses of many billions of dollars to fisheries, aquac ulture, and tourism, with the annual cost to the U.S. at $100 million a year.
• In the United States each year, a dead zone the size of Massachu setts is created in the Gulf of Mexico. The 2003 dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay was the largest in the Bay's history. Dead zones now occur in almost every coastal state.
• Two-thirds of U.S. estuaries and bays are either moderately or severely degraded by pollution.
• Soils washed into streams and rivers because of human activity destroy essential sea grass bed habitat as well as coral reefs.
• Each year garbage dumped in God's oceans kills large numbers of sea birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals as they eat it or become entangled in it.
• Pollution can lead to the destruction of entire ecosystems.

Our pollution of God's oceans is having harmful, even destructive consequences. Marine pollution caused by our personal land use and driving choices, poor land use and development planning,and agricultural runoff steals from our "neighbors downstream" ­ those who live near or depend on the oceans - by depriving them of their livelihoods, their health, and their lives. It harms or kills God's other creatures. It also diminishes our view of God by destroying the beauty and regenerative capacity of God's oceans. We can do unto others and help care for our neighbors and God's other creatures by making choices that minimize the pollution we send downstream.

Harmful Land Uses and Destructive Coastal Practices

"Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land" (Isaiah 5:8).

"Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth . . . Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy" (Ps. 96:1, 11-12).

• Sprawl anywhere ­ not just near coastal areas ­ causes significant damage to God's oceans.
• Paved surfaces cause oil, grease, and other toxic pollutants to reach coastal waters. In the United States, every eight months nearly 11 million gallons of oil run off our streets and driveways into God's streams, rivers, and oceans ­ the equivalent of the ExxonValdez oil spill.
• A one-acre parking lot pro duces about 16 times the volume of runoff that would come from a one-acre meadow.
• Coastal counties in the United States, which comprise just 17% of U.S. land, are home to more than half of the U.S. population. Sprawl development is consuming land at least five times as fast as population growth in many coastal areas.
• Worldwide nearly 40% of the world's population lives near a coast ­ more people than inhabited the earth in 1950.
• Globally, about one half of wetlands and over one half of mangrove forests have been lost in the past century. (A mangrove forest is a community of salt-tolerant trees in marshlike shoreline envi ronments that provide habitat for many other creatures.)
• Land develop ment has led to the loss of more than half of the Florida Everglades.
• Coastal areas and marine coastal habitats are destroyed from such activities as port dredging; landfills; coastal solid waste dumps; coastal construction and road building; the cutting of coastal forests; beach and reef mining; and trampling, anchor, and diving damage from tourism and recreation.

As we create sprawl we pollute God's oceans. As we choose to live and recreate near the sea, we are destroying the very thing we purport to love. We must begin to truly love the oceans by not insisting on beachfront or waterfront properties and instead demand protection of coastal areas. We must take action to stop sprawl. Then we will help the sea and all that is in it to resound to the glory of God, and all the trees of God's mangrove forests will sing for joy.

Global Climate Change and Atmospheric Change

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created ... all things were created by him and for him ... For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1:15-16, 19-20).

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself " (Luke 10:27).

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me'" (Mt. 25:44-45).

• Coastal zones are among the world's most diverse and productive environments. With global warming and sea-level rise, many coastal systems will experience: increased flooding and extreme weather events, accelerated coastal erosion, seawater intrusion into fresh groundwater, and elevated water temperatures.
• The impacts from the 1997-98 El Niņo provide an illustration of what types of costs could result from global- warming enhanced extreme weather events. Overall, 117 million people were impacted by the 1997-98 El Niņo. 21,000 died. 4.9 million were displaced. The total estimated economic costs range from $14 to 34 billion.
• Changes in water temperatures and other consequences of global warming (e.g. changes in salinity, nutrients, sea level,) have a profound effect upon marine species. For example, water temperature can have a direct effect on spawning and survival of larvae and juveniles as well as on fish growth.
• The incidence and severity of cholera epidemics associated with marine plankton has been linked with prolonged elevated water tempera ture. Annual epidemics of cholera in Bangladesh have been correlated with increased water temperatures and sea level rise.
• Tropical and subtropical coastlines, particularly in areas that are already under stress from human activities, are highly susceptible to global warming impacts.
• Small island states and low-lying coastal areas will be particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and more extreme weather.
• The poor living in coastal communities ­ the least able to deal with the multiple harmful conse quences of global warming ­ will be the hardest hit. The consequences will be dire.
• Marine mammals such as polar bears are "the canary in the coal mine" when it comes to changes in ocean environments. For polar bears, extended ice-free seasons in theArctic due to global warming could reduce access to seals and lead to deaths from starvation.
• Sea-level rise from global warming by itself could cause the loss of as much as 22% of the world's coastal wetlands.
• The melting of polar ice caps could alter global ocean currents, which in turn could adversely affect the upwelling of nutrients that supports much of the ocean's productivity.
• Increases in temperature may slow or shut down the Atlantic's Gulf Stream, causing reductions in sea- surface and air temperatures over the North Atlantic and northern Europe.

As Christians, we are to be especially concerned for the poor and vulnerable. We need to step forward in support of policies that reduce the effects of global warming on our brothers and sisters, especially those who are least able to cope with environmental change. As followers of the One who has reconciled all things we should also reduce the threat of global warming to God's other creatures.

The Death of Coral Reefs

"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures ...' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds....And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas...'" (Gen. 1:20-22).

• Coral reefs are the most extensive, massive, and effective coastal protection structures in the world.
• Coral reefs harbor more than 25% of all known marine fish, as well as a total species diversity containing more phyla than rainforests.
• Coral diseases and syndromes generally occur in response to stresses such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, increased sea water temperatures, ultraviolet radiation, sedimentation, and pollutants. One type of stress may exacerbate the other.
• The frequency of coral diseases appears to have increased significantly over the last 10 years, causing wide- spread mortality among reef-building corals. Many scientists believe the increase is related to deteriorating water quality associated with human- caused pollutants and increased sea surface temperatures.
• Current estimates are that 10 percent of all coral reefs are degraded beyond recovery.Thirty percent are in critical condition and may die within 10 to 20 years. If current pressures are allowed to continue unabated, 60 percent of the world's coral reefs may die completely by 2050.
• Recently discovered non- tropical deep water coral reefs and coral forests are threatened by commercial fishing practices that use nets weighted with chains that drag the bottom of the ocean floor and scrape up fish and tons of coral.
• Since 1979 the seven major episodes of coral bleaching, a major type of coral disease that happens when corals are stressed, have been primarily attributed to increased sea water temperatures associated with global climate change and el Niņo/la Niņa events, with a possible synergistic effect of elevated ultraviolet and visible light.
• Some global warming models predict a long-term shift to an increased frequency and intensity of El Niņo events. If this occurs, bleaching could also become more frequent and intense, with irreversible damage to coral reefs. (For example, in the Indian Ocean during the 1997-98 El Niņo coral reefs suffered a 90% mortality rate.)
• Mass bleaching of reefs in various parts of the world was also observed in 2000, a possible sign that bleaching is becoming more frequent.
• Reefs may also be threatened by a higher concentration of carbon dioxide in seawater, which comes in part from atmospheric pollution from power plants and automobiles. Excessive carbon dioxide impairs the deposition of corals' limestone skeletons.

Coral reefs represent the abundance of God's blessing of the creatures of the sea. Our destruction of such masterpieces is a reversal of God's blessing, a denial of His will.

Conclusion

"For the whole creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God ... the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:19, 21, NRSV).

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being" (Rev. 4:11).

"He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new ... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End'" (Rev. 21:5-6).

The oceans are one of God's master- pieces and home to an outstanding array of life. They are also God's provision for all of us, providing food and atmospheric control for our planet that we all depend on. Globally,the gap between those who will be able to withstand environmental change and those who will not is widening. The poor and disadvantaged will be hurt most by depletion and degradation of our oceans. However, we will all suffer as God's oceans are diminished. And God's other creatures, also vulnerable,are suffering and will continue to. As Christians we need to pray and act for the conservation of the earth's oceans and have faith that God will answer our prayers and honor our faithfulness to His will, revealing us to be His children -- even as the Spirit, who hovers over the waters, intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. As we strive to do His will, we must take hope from the fact that He is the Alpha and the Omega. Editors Note: Scripture verses are from the New InternationalVersion of the Bible unless otherwise attributed. EEN compiled the facts contained above primarily from the following excellent sources: a report from the Pew Oceans Commission; a recent review article in the journal Nature; several UN reports;the latest report from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); and the websites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Oceans Conservancy, and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute.

A sea, an oil rig, a spill, and a savior

Michael Crook

On Thanksgiving break in 1981, I loaded a backpack with saltines, powdered Gatorade, granola, dried fruit an tins of kippered herring, bought a road map and had a friend drop me off on the highway south of Lubbock, Texas.

I hitchhiked from nearly one end of the state to the other, the Panhandle to Padre Island.

It took about 17 hours, and by the time my last ride let me out, night had fallen on the ranger station at Padre Island National Seashore, about 15 minutes south of Corpus Christi.

It was, for me, a time of deep inward prayer and reflection.The Spanish word for "lifeguard" kept recurring in my mind:"salvavidas." I attached the word to images of Christ in my mind.And these words also repeated themselves: He will save them. He saves us. Life-saver. Very simple, and resonant as well.

Two years had gone by since Ixtoc 1, a well in the southern Gulf of Mexico operated by the Mexican state-owned oil monopoly, PEMEX, exploded, begin- ning what was then the worst oil spill in history.The runaway well spewed 183 million gallons of oil into the Gulf during nine months of futile efforts to plug it.That dubious record still holds.

The Exxon Valdez leaked a mere 10 million gallons in Alaska's Prince William Sound, making it America's own worst spill.

In March 1980, the Mexican government announced that the well had been stopped with 900 sacks of cement that hardened into a plug 1,650 feet long.This afterTexas' Gulf Coast tourism industry suffered through $20 million in lost business. Everyone I knew stayed away from the blackened beaches during that time. So had I. A matter of priorities

I've cherished my time spent on many American beaches, particularly the undeveloped, pristine ones (an endangered species ).The sound of surf has a cleansing effect--baptismal, really--on my mind. Problems and concerns seem to shrink to their accurate size when help up to an ocean. God gets bigger inside me.

While still considering a career in marine biology, I worked one summer as an ocean lifeguard for Brevard County, Fla. It was there I became acquainted with Canaveral National Seashore, known among locals as Playalinda.

This "beautiful beach" stretches north from the Space Shuttle launch pads and teems with wildlife. On my solitary walks there I've seen a lemon shark feeding on baitfish in the shallow troughs, flocks of sandpipers numbering in the dozens, even a ring-tailed cat walking on the sand, strangely enough, at mid-day.

On the west side of the dunes there is Mosquito Lagoon, aptly named. In the mid-1980s, public access to Playalinda became the subject of a somewhat lukewarm public debate.

NASA closed the road to Playalinda any time a Space Shuttle stood on a launch pad, a security measure.As the Shuttle program accelerated, the road would be closed more often than open.

The National Park Service studied the matter, looking at widening or replacing the two- lane roadway that stretches from the mainland to that seashore. Options they researched were intriguing: using an existing railroad bed, or, perhaps, building a new bridge or two.

The matter struck an immovable obstacle when NASA and EPA weighed in with a revelation: Mosquito Lagoon is hopelessly contami- nated with hazardous chemicals and heavy metals, the by-products of 40 years of rocketry and aviation.

Anything that would disturb the sand at the bottom of Mosquito Lagoon would stir up a terribly toxic soup.A Superfund-level cleanup was economi- cally and environmentally prohibitive.

A persuasive argument was put forth: the value of America's space program more than compensates for its ecological consequences.The flap died down. I haven't been to Playalinda in 15 years.

Abundant jetsam

Late that November night on Mustang Island, I walked south from the ranger station about a quarter-mile. Visibility was low in the starlight. I pitched my tent on hard-packed sand and set about lighting a campfire. Ghost crabs scuttled at the edges of the light.

Finding wood was too easy. Every- where I pointed my flashlight, it seemed, there was another three- to five-foot length of 2x4 lumber or 4x4 wood post. I was puzzled, too, by the sheer number of what appeared at first glance to be unburied remains of previous campfires.They were all over the place, uniform circular piles of ash-black chips that looked like cinders. Then I stooped to pick one up.

It was soft and pliant between my fingers.And it smelled like petroleum. I threw the clod into my little fire and watched it burn orange and very hot, sizzling like bacon and putting off a plume of black smoke. I surmised that oil mixed with sand had congealed and dried this way, in circles of chips.

This was the offal of the big spill, the one about whichTexas Gov. Bill Clements, an oil man himself, was moved to quote Shakespeare:"much ado about nothing."And suggested the mess could be cleaned up simply: By the next hurricane to strike the Texas coast.

There was a light onshore breeze and almost no surf as my fire died down to embers and I spied lights offshore, thinking they were 'round-the-clock shrimpers. I thought I heard loud engines, like huge Harleys roaring in the distance, but passed it off as tractor-trailer noise echoing between my ears after a long day on the road. I slept fitfully. Morning held a grim surprise for me. About four miles offshore, like insolent giants in a police lineup, stood four drilling trigs.That explained the noise and the lights, besides spoiling my view. I packed up my camp and walked south, figuring a day's walk would get them out of my sight and earshot.

I became ever more distressed as I strode along, dodging through the most bizarre collection of jetsam I'd ever seen.There were half-buried propane tanks and half-empty jugs of solvent. There were light bulbs in a wide spectrum of wattages; a mass of soggy shag carpet, enough to cover my bedroom floor; tangled piles of two- inch diameter marine rope; ragged sheets of plastic in black and blue.And of course, plenty of oil-sand chips, which began sticking to my shoes as the day grew warmer.

I hurried glumly through this moonscape of industrial waste that the tides carried in from oil tankers and rigs. Late in the afternoon I pitched camp close to the dunes, out of sight of the occasional passing Jeep, and col- lected sand dollars until dark.

Frightening flames

Around midnight the sound of trucks and laughter awakened me. There were three pickup trucks close to the waterline, careering up and down the strand, one sweeping a searchlight back and forth. I moved away from my tent and watched them from behind a dune. Suddenly a wall of flame shot up from the beach behind a speeding truck. More wild laughter.Then another blaze.They were pouring gasoline out behind them and setting it on fire, just for kicks.

After an hour they moved on. I slept until dawn, packed and set off toward the highway.That word, salvavidas, and the way I connected it inwardly to Jesus, our savior, came back to me. I used the idea to quell my anger at the Oil Moguls and the Gasoline Boys.

He can save them. He can save us.

I walked back to the road, hitched a ride to Corpus Christi and caught a Greyhound home, cutting the trip short by a day, feeling like I'd escaped. That's a shame, feeling the need to escape a national seashore. I've never shaken off my discomfort with our many failures torightly guard and care for the billions of lives placed under our dominion by God. May He forgive us all, especially me, and lead us to better ways.

USA & The Environment: 2003 in Review

Jim Ball

What did 2003 bring in terms of caring for God's creation at the national level? Good news? Bad news? There's more bad than good, I'm afraid. But to keep things as positive as possible, I'll highlight one more good story than bad.

Let's start with the good news.

Energy Bill Runs Out of Gas

You know it's not a particularly good year when one of the "good" stories was that something bad didn't happen. We avoided the biggest lump of coal (literally) in our stockings when the stinker of an energy bill didn't pass the Senate in December, falling two votes short to break a filibuster. (Who would have ever guessed that the two Republican Senators from New Hampshire would be green heroes?) The bill would have been a huge boondoggle to the coal, oil, gas, and nuclear industries ­ as well as some other rather unusual pork barrel projects. (Sen. McCain called it the "Polluters and Hooters" bill that "leaves no lobbyist behind." The Hooters reference was to a mall to be built in Louisiana with taxpayer dollars that plans to have a Hooters restaurant in it.) Somehow in the eyes of the bill's authors these mature polluting industries need lots of corporate welfare from U.S. taxpayers, yet emerging clean energy industries like solar and wind that offer tremendous public health benefits only needed a pittance. (Are these the same guys that always whine that any money given to renewables is contributing to an "uneven playing field" with coal, oil, and nukes ­ even though these polluting industries have been given billions and billions of taxpayer dollars over the years? Yep.) However, in 2004 the supporters of this bill will be back. Keep your eyes out for it.

Don't Cry Me a River

Here's another "the good news is it ain't bad news" story. At the beginning of the year the Bush Administration's EPA announced that it would review CleanWater Act regulations that protect many streams and wetlands. But it also instructed officials to stop enforcing the current safeguards while the review was in progress. New draft regulations were written that would have stripped approximately 20% of the wetlands outside of Alaska of protection. Not good. Wetlands filter pollutants and retain water after rainfalls to lessen flooding.The streams and wetlands that would lose protection provide essential habitat to fish and waterfowl, and are essential to maintaining the health of larger rivers and lakes. Because of this, hunters and anglers and other concerned citizens sent over 133,000 comments into the Administration in protest. Someone listened. In mid- December, the Administration announced that it was scrapping the proposed regulations. (Here's a positive example of how concerned citizens can beat back bad regulations.) However, at the time of publication the Administration had yet to instruct its officials to begin reinforcing the current safeguards. Another area to keep an eye on.

Being Good Can Be Fun, Too

Can I pick 'um or what? You may have seen on our www.whatwouldjesusdrive.org website information about the WWJDriveTour and how my wife and I drove our 2003 Toyota Prius through the Bible Belt. Well, it just so happens that the 2004 Prius has been named MotorTrend's Car of theYear! "The Prius is a capable, comfortable, fun-to-drive car that just happens to get spectacular fuel economy," MotorTrend editor-in-chief Kevin Smith said."It also provides a promising look at a future where extreme fuel efficiency, ultra-low emissions and exceptional performance will happily coexist." The newly designed 2004 Prius hit U.S. showrooms in October.Toyota expects annual sales of the next-generation hybrid car to top 35,000. U.S. sales last year were 21,193. The base price for the car is about $20,000. Would Jesus drive a Prius? You be the judge.

John McCain ­ Enviro Hunk

The most important Congressional vote ever on addressing global warming took place in Fall 2003. It was on the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. It failed, but it garnered a surprising 44 votes. That was quite a show of strength given strenuous opposition from industry and the Bush Administration. Who was leading the charge for responsible leadership on global warming? Senator John McCain (R-AZ). The vote represents a solid political foundation to build on. Congrats to all the Senators who had the guts to vote for it, especially the six Republicans.

My Heart's On Fire, for OIRA

Here's another story from "Who would have thunk it?" file. For those in favor of government regulations that protect the environment and public health, there's a small, little known agency in DC that can send shivers up the spine. It's called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA (rhymes with Elvira). It's a part of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, and it can hold up any federal regulation it doesn't like. The Director is a direct-from-Harvard conservative and true believer in cost- benefit analysis named John Graham. (There's one main problem with cost- benefit analysis: it only seems to be applied to things industry doesn't like. I don't remember seeing a cost-benefit analysis of the corporate welfare in the energy bill, for example.) Now no one expects good environmental news from OIRA. However, even OIRA couldn't deny the truth about the overwhelming benefits of cleaning up the air. A surprising report released in Fall 2003 by OIRA concludes that the health and social benefits of enforcing tough new clean-air regulations during the past decade were five to seven times greater in economic terms than were the costs of complying with the rules. (A few years back EPA itself estimated that benefits exceeded costs by 40 times, but what are a few decimal points here and there.)

Let this sink in a bit. The Bush Administration's own OIRA says that clean air benefits exceeded costs by five to seven times. According to the Washington Post, Graham, said "the data show that the Environmental Protection Agency's clean-air office has issued some highly beneficial rules." Next time, Dr. Graham, start by asking the kids with asthma. They just could save you some time. As Isaiah 11:6b says, "and a little child will lead them."

Off Road Diesels Just May Have to Clean Up Their Act

In the Spring the Bush Administration unveiled a plan to make off-road diesel engines much cleaner beginning in 2008. Such engines ­ found in bulldozers, backhoes, cranes, earthmovers, excavators, tractors, combines, portable generators and airport equipment ­ account for 44 percent of soot emissions and 12 percent of smog-forming emissions from mobile sources nationwide, the EPA has estimated. Scientists and doctors have linked diesel emissions to many respiratory and cardiovascular health problems. In fact, off-road diesel engines are second only to power plants in emissions associated with lung cancer, asthma, and other health threats. The new rules would force diesel manufacturers to use new technology to slash cancer-causing particulate emissions by up to 95 percent and cut smog emissions by up to 90 percent. These measures would avoid more than 9,500 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks annually. My hat is off to the Bush Administration on this one. (Unfortunately, it seems they can't leave well enough alone when it comes to clean air, and indeed are trying to make things worse overall ­ see below).

News Flash! Reducing a Neurotoxin in the Environment is Good for Us!

We can reduce mercury, yes we can! A decade-long study of southern Florida and the Everglades released in November 2003 concluded that tough regulations of airborne mercury emissions have a profound and almost immediate effect in removing the toxic pollutant from the environment and the food chain. The report, a joint project of the state of Florida and the U.S. EPA, found that strict government controls of emissions can produce dramatic improvements in much less time than scientists once assumed.The levels of mercury contaminant found in largemouth bass and other wildlife of the Everglades declined by 60 to 75 percent. This is indeed good news, given that the Centers for Disease Control recently found that 8% of women of childbearing age had mercury in their blood exceeding levels deemed safe by the EPA, that over 40 states have fish advisories related to mercury, and that 10 states in the U.S. have advised pregnant women not to eat canned tuna, the most consumed fish in the U.S.

And now some of the bad news.

No Good Finding Goes Unpunished

So the good news is that mercury regulations work. The bad news is that the Bush Administration is trying to gut new mercury regulations before they take effect. Until December 2003, absent Bush Administration interference, the EPA was on track to issue new rules requiring the nation's 1,100 coal- and oil-fired power plants to install equipment to achieve the maximum possible reductions in mercury. Not anymore. Instead, the Bush Administration has announced a significant weakening of the proposed regulations that would reduce even less mercury than industry groups had suggested. Who's behind this? Jeffrey Holmstead of the EPA, a former industry lawyer.

No Good Finding Goes Unpunished, Part II

So the good news is that the Bush Administration's own gatekeeper of regulations (OIRA) says that the benefits of Clean Air Act regulations exceed costs by 5-7 times. The bad news is that when it comes to clean air, the Bush Administration appears less interested in saving money and lives than it is in easing requirements on the energy industry. At just about every step (except for proposed off-road diesel regulations) the Administration is trying to gut clean air regulations. Is there a regulation preventing older plants with less stringent air pollution requirements from upgrading their plants unless they also upgrade their pollution controls? Gut it, and save industry billions of dollars. Got a couple of big-time polluting utilities on the ropes in court for not complying with the law? Drop the suits, and don't pursue any others. Is a competing legislative proposal better than the Administration's? See if you can stop the EPA from conducting a review that would show this to be the case. Can't get the Administration's legislative proposal through a Republican Congress that would allow significantly more pollution than current regulations (euphemistically labeled "Clear Skies")? Do it by regulatory fiat.

Up in Smoke

A version of the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forests" bill (another euphemism) is now law. The pretext for passing the bill was the fires that burned out of control in California in Fall 2003. Unfortunately, protections for certain old growth forests and endangered species are now up in smoke as well.

Super It Is Not

For the third year in a row there have been fewer cleanups than the previous year at Superfund sites, the most toxic sites in the U.S. This year cleanups were completed at 40 sites. That compares with 42 completions in fiscal year 2002 and 47 in 2001. During the Clinton administration, EPA completed an average 76 cleanups a year. Super it is not; environmental justice it is not.

Just Don't Drink the Water

In Fall 2003 the EPA proposed a new policy that would allow partially treated sewage to be released directly into rivers and streams during heavy rains. This would allow sewage treatment facilities to skip an important step in getting rid of biological pathogens that make people sick. It could also lead to fish kills, beach closings, and destruction of shellfish beds. Another one to keep an eye on.

 

So there's my review of 2003. One of the brightest notes was how hunters and anglers helped to stop regulations that would have gutted protections for wetlands. It shows once again how a concerned group of citizens can make a difference.

A devocean exercise

Helen Turnbull

The power of water is reflected throughout the Bible as a metaphor for the rebirth of life through Jesus, and as a connection to our place of worship with all of creation.

Here's a simple little devotion you can do on your own, or with your small group meeting.You'll need an eyedropper, a cup of water, a candle, a plastic sandwich bag, scissors, tape, and a Bible.

Take the eyedropper, fill it with water, and place a drop of water in your hand. Light your candle; you might also want to play an appropriate song, such as "Bridge Over TroubledWater" (see if you can find the rendition done by the Blind Boys of Alabama) or "The Storm is Over" (T.D. Jakes).

As you hold the drop of water, think about where that drop might go. Imagine it drip from your palm into a bucket, or watch it slide down the drain of your kitchen sink. Read aloud this verse as you imagine the beginning journey of your little drop:

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).

Now anticipate what purpose in God's creation that the drop might have.

You might think that it will fulfill the thirst of a Great Blue Heron, or perhaps it will feed a willow tree, or maybe it will make the wave that nourishes sea kelp. How will you help this drop to fulfill its destiny for God's kingdom? Read this verse aloud:

"You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly.The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it" (Psalm 65:9).

Envision your drop as it evaporates and rises up through the atmosphere. Imagine that it might roll off the corner of your palm and into a mountain stream. Watch as it enables a whale to sift through krill. Close your eyes and imagine a soft wave of sea foam as it massages your feet. Read aloud this verse:

"Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree"(Genesis 18:4 ).

Now take some quiet time to answer these questions: How does water strengthen your relationship with others? How does it strengthen your relationship with Jesus?

Take the drop that's in your palm and let it slide into the corner of a sandwich bag. Cut off the corner of the bag that has the drop in it, and seal it off with tape.

Tape that drop into your daytimer, or onto a business card that you can slip into your wallet.

Close in prayer, thanking God for the relief that he provides you through water, and ask him to help you understand better your role in protecting this source for unity in his kingdom.

Helen Thomas is a contributing editor with Creation Care magazine who lives on Loveland, Colo.

If Souls Were Streams

Helen Turnbull

How to Make Waves From a Mountain Town

I think that little fish Nemo said it best: "All drains lead to the ocean..." (Well, let's stop here a minute and give credit where credit is due: Nemo actually swiped that line from Ecclesiastes 1:7).

All streams lead to the ocean. Creation is a symphony, a harmony, which together offers up songs of praise. The ocean itself is its own Carnegie Hall of worship, and with clarity, you can see the reflection of God in the water. You can hear his whispers in the waves. And you can feel his touch from the sea foam that tingles your toes.

Come on, admit it. When you're snorkeling in the sea, you crack a smile when you watch an angelfish or a bit of seaweed as it glides and sways in an a natural bond with the waves of a coral reef. And best of all, in the wake of God's brilliance, is that fact that the water can be renewed just as Ecclesiastes suggests.

Hemingway, in a comment about his classic, Old Man and the Sea, said, "There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man... What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know."

We tend to see the symbolism of water, the metaphor for living water, the allusion to a life renewed. And while that symbolism is good, we often miss the actual--that God speaks to us directly through our interaction with the ocean. God wants us to need water. It is no mistake that he gave us an emotional attachment to the sea, and a need for baptism into his kingdom.

Since I'm a Colorado resident, you might wonder what a landlocked schlep like me knows about "ocean emotion." But if souls were streams, that question is easily answered. I don't need to feel the sea foam in my toes (though it sounds pretty good right about now) to know that letting the ocean degrade is letting a connection with God wither. How many ways do we need to grow and know with Jesus? As many ways as God provides for us. The ocean draws us nearer to him, even us mountain townsfolk. We change because we discover the ocean. We are drawn to it from the farthest land, because God draws us to him.

God offers us many venues for a relationship with him, so that if we forget to read the Bible, or if we ignore our prayer life, or if we sin, then he plops us knee-deep in a field of kelp, or submerges us in a colorful reef, or heals us with medicine from a leaf or a sponge, so that we may know him.

Our lives can be so filled with self-absorbency, that it takes an intricate system of creation filled with awe to help us get back on track with God. All souls can flow toward God. How can we not want to save the seas that take us there?