Interconnected: 21-Day Catholic Environmental Justice Challenge
Learn, Pray, and Act for Environmental Justice
In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis invites all people to act on behalf of creation. This call to action is grounded in the principle of integral ecology—the idea that environmental, social, political, and economic systems are interwoven—and sustained by a sense of wonder before the interconnected nature of all life. The environmental justice movement similarly asks us to view the world as interconnected and prophetically calls us to change the systems that create the unjust distribution of environmental hazards.
For 21 days, we challenge you to:
You can sign up for daily challenge emails, or participate via the website below.
Why are the sponsor organizations hosting this challenge?
Climate justice and human dignity are intricately connected and “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment…” (Laudato Si, 49). It is not by chance that most environmental hazards in the United States and globally are located in communities where Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) live as well as low-income communities.
This challenge aims to educate the Catholic community about the social, political, and economic systems that have created this inequity and the work that environmental justice leaders have been doing for decades to ensure environmental equity and justice for all people.
Sponsor Organizations:
What is the format of the challenge?
A daily email will be sent with resources that invite you to learn, pray, and act on a particular environmental justice topic. In the learn section, the first resource is intended for people who are just learning about environmental justice. The GOING DEEPER resource is intended for people who have a solid foundation in environmental justice issues and who might want to explore the topic at a different depth. However, feel free to explore all of the content as time allows.
While you will receive approximately 5 resources daily, it is not expected that you read or do everything in the email. Explore the resources, and pick 1 or 2 items that you believe will best help you to engage with the topic for the day.
Can I do the challenge with other people?
Yes! While it is not required to complete the challenge as a group, we encourage you to reach out to another person or small group of people. Going through the 21-day challenge as a group will help with accountability and will have the added benefit of providing conversation and prayer partners throughout the experience.
How do weekends work?
New content will not be sent during the weekend; however, that does not mean that the challenge stops. St. Ignatius invites us into the practice of “repetition” in our prayer practice. During repetition we return to a previous prayer period in order to become more attentive to the movements of God in our heart. In that spirit, during the weekends throughout the challenge, you are invited into prayerful consideration of the past week. Prayer and reflection prompts for the weekend will be provided.
As you look back over the week, which themes produced a strong emotion or left you wanting to explore more? Engage with a resource you didn’t have time to use during the week, explore the additional resource for the day, or take time to prayerfully journal or talk to God about what came up for you in relation to a theme.
What happens if I miss some of the daily prompts?
Ideally you will engage with even a small amount of the material daily from Monday through Friday. Save additional resources or longer resources for the weekend. We encourage you to try to intentionally schedule a particular time each day to engage with the material for the duration of the challenge to make it more likely that you will remain faithful to the practice.
If you do fall behind, don’t worry! The links for each of the days will remain active so that you can come back to the resources as you are able. You will also have the weekend to catch up. Please remember that this process is about QUALITY of engagement not quantity of resources consumed. If you engage with ONE resource in a meaningful way daily, that’s enough. This work and learning will last a lifetime, so do what you can to make it sustainable.
What is environmental justice?
The Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys:
Why are the themes land, air, and water?
Environmental justice issues are complex and expansive and can range anywhere from local public health issues, such as lead poisoning and air pollution, to multinational land rights and mining issues. The 21 Day Challenge will not be able to address every environmental justice issue that exists; however, all people live on land, breathe air, and drink water. Our hope is that participants will be able to relate the themes and topics presented in the 21 Day Challenge to their own neighborhoods and watersheds.
On Fridays each week, you will be invited to learn more about your own bio-region and the environmental justice issues related to land, air, and water in your own community. We hope that this challenge will be a solid foundation for you to begin viewing ecological issues through an environmental justice lens and that it will inspire you to keep exploring the interconnections in your future environmental advocacy.
Why 21 days?
While we recognize that environmental injustice will not end in a period of three weeks, studies show that committing sustained attention to a particular area in our life for 21 days can be the starting point for new habits and enduring change. Setting intentional time aside to attempt to grow in our social justice habits and prayerful contemplation around racial equity, power, privilege, and ecological conversion can help us to grow individually towards lives of justice. Our individual commitment is what will ultimately help to transform structures of the Catholic Church and world.
Where did the idea for a 21 day challenge originate?
Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. and Debby Irving are credited as the original creators of the 21-Day Challenge format, and the challenge has been adapted by many organizations across the country, including the YWCA of Cleveland, which inspired ISN’s original version of the challenge.
Day 1: What is Environmental Justice?
Preparation Days: What is Environmental Justice?
For the next three days you will receive background resources to provide greater context around the history and goals of the environmental justice movement.
LEARN
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
PRAY
We pray for all individuals and communities throughout history who have experienced the consequences of environmental injustices, particularly communities of color and low-income communities, where pollution and environmental hazards are disproportionately located. Give us the wisdom to learn from and the courage to follow in the footsteps of the leaders on the frontlines of environmental injustices.
ACT
Explore the Environmental Justice Atlas to locate and learn about environmental justice issues where you live or in nearby communities.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE VOCABULARY
Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys:
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 2: What is Environmental Racism?
Preparation Days: What is Environmental Racism?
“Environmental racism is the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color. Environmental justice is the movement’s response to environmental racism.”
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
LEARN
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Prayer for the Elimination of Environmental Racism| Sisters of Mercy
Scroll down the page to the section titled “Pattern 3: Environmental Racism.”
ACT
Explore the Environmental Justice Timeline to learn more about the history of the environmental justice movement in the United States.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE VOCABULARY
Environmental Racism:
Refers to any policy, practice, or directive that differentially affects or disadvantages (whether intended or unintended) individuals, groups, or communities based on race or color.
Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots | Dr. Robert Bullard
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 3: Prayer and Reflection
St. Ignatius invites us into the practice of “repetition” in prayer in which we return to a previous prayer period in order to become more attentive to the movements of God in our heart. In this spirit, you are invited to prayerfully reflect on your experience with the resources from the past two days. Additionally, we invite you to look ahead as the challenge officially begins tomorrow. Use the questions below as a guide.
ADDITIONAL PRAYER RESOURCE:
Environmental Justice Prayers of the Faithful :
Creation Justice Ministries created an Earth Day 2021 Guide: A New Heaven and a New Earth.
We invite you to download the guide and to use the prayer for environmental justice found on page 7 of the guide under the heading “Part 2: Recognizing the Pain in the World.”
Day 1: Redlining and Urban Heat Islands
LEARN:
Research shows that cities are generally warmer than rural areas and that heat between neighborhoods in the same city can vary greatly. Today we will explore why neighborhoods that were “redlined” — marked as risky investments by banks, usually due to the racial makeup of their inhabitants— in the 1930s are hotter today than other parts of the city.
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
PRAY:
Say a prayer for people living in urban heat islands across the world as global temperatures rise. Pray in a special way for communities who suffer higher rates of heat-related illnesses and deaths due to redlining and unequal economic development in between neighborhoods.
ACT:
Research groups in your country or city who are working to reduce urban heat islands,, or learn more about the Groundwork USA Climate Safe Neighborhoods Project.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE VOCABULARY:
Redlining: the practice of outlining areas with sizable Black populations in red ink on maps as a warning to mortgage lenders, effectively isolating Black people in areas that would suffer lower levels of investment than their white counterparts.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 2: Indigenous Land Rights and Mining
LEARN:
Colonization of Indigenous lands is not only a legacy of the past. Indigenous communities today are still forced to defend their land from threats that jeopardize the integrity of sacred and historic spaces, including mining, pipelines, and deforestation.
Today, we will learn about Oak Flat in Arizona, known as Chíchʼil Biłdagoteel to the Apache. It is believed to be the place where the Creator touched the world and brought all life forth and is the site of many ongoing sacred ceremonies for the San Carlos Apache. Oak Flat is in danger of being mined for copper, which will physically destroy this sacred land, while also breaking an 1852 treaty signed by the U.S. government and the Western Apaches.
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
PRAY:
ACT:
Visit the Apache Stronghold website to view their calls to action to protect Oak Flat, including a petition asking for representatives to support for the Save Oak Flat Act in Congress.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE VOCABULARY:
Colonization: The process of assuming control of someone else’s territory and applying one’s own systems of law, government, and religion.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 3: Farmworkers, Pesticides, and Extreme Heat
“While climate change is amplifying threats to farmworkers, those threats didn’t start with climate change. The fight against climate change can’t ignore the root causes of the systemic racism and exploitation that have marginalized and endangered farmworkers for so long.” — Union of Concerned Scientists
LEARN:
During the past year we have witnessed farmworkers across the globe heroically tend the land and feed us in the midst of a pandemic. However, they do not receive the same legal protection or have the same level of workplace safety standards as many other professions— often because employers exploit workers due to their immigration statuses.
Farmworkers are disproportionately at risk of chronic health issues, including cancer and reproductive issues, due to exposure to pesticides. As global temperatures rise, illnesses related to extreme heat stress increase as well. Pesticide exposure and heat stress are interconnected and amplify each other’s impacts: Climate change will increase the need for pesticides to support monoculture crops as pests migrate into new areas, and studies show that humans are more susceptible to toxins while experiencing heat stress. These injustices farmworkers experience are violations of human dignity and demonstrate the intersection of worker’s rights, heath, and the environment.
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY:
Prayer of the Farm Workers’ Struggle//Oración del Campesino en la Lucha | United Farm Workers
ACT:
Currently, there is no federal legislation in the United States to protect farmworkers from extreme heat or pesticides. Only the states of California, Minnesota, and Washington have heat protection laws. Learn about one piece of legislation that attempts to set national heat safety standards: The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 4: Boreal Forest of the Northern Hemisphere
The boreal forest — also known as the taiga — is the world’s largest, and perhaps most overlooked, biome, occupying vast tracts of the Northern Hemisphere from North America, to Europe and Russia (view map).
Extractive industries and the climate crisis are threatening the boreal forest region, a biome essential for humanity and creation, as it stores between 30-40% of all land-based carbon. Additionally, climate change and extractivism threaten the survival of over 600 First Nations who live in and are the guardians of the Canadian boreal forests. Scientists fear that this critical ecosystem may be reaching a terrifying tipping point as boreal forests are warming at twice the rate of other areas. In addition, the Canadian boreal forests have one of the highest deforestation rates of forests globally, particularly due to tar sands extraction and mining.
LEARN:
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
PRAY:
Prayer for the Boreal Forest and its Peoples | The Jesuits
ACT:
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 5: Land Acknowledgments
Local Focus:
Each Friday of the challenge will focus on a theme meant to help you explore the bioregion where you live.
This week as we consider environmental justice issues that interconnect with land, those of us who live in places where colonization exists must reckon with the fact that the holy ground on which we stand was stolen from Indigenous Peoples. Land acknowledgements are a first step in recognizing this truth. They are formal statements, often spoken at the beginning of meetings or events, that name the people native to the land and uplift their stewardship of and relationship to their traditional territories.
LEARN:
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
The resources below invite reflection on important issues to consider when crafting a land acknowledgement, including clarifying your intentions. Ideally, a land acknowledgement should not only be words but should point toward concrete action to support Indigenous communities.
PRAY:
Share with God what came up for you while exploring the resources on land acknowledgements. Was there a particularly strong emotion or new learning? Offer it up in prayer.
ACT:
EXAMPLE LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 6: Review & Reflect
St. Ignatius invites us into the practice of “repetition” in which we return to a previous prayer period in order to become more attentive to the movements of God in our heart. In that spirit, you are invited to revisit resources from the past week. Use the questions below as a guide.
We want to hear from you! Please let us know if you have any comments or feedback about the challenge.
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 7: Prayer
As we conclude this week of reflection on environmental justice and land, you will find four prayer experiences below, meant as suggestions or starting points. Choose one to pray with to wrap up the first week of the challenge, or allow the Spirit to move you to pray however you feel called.
Note: For artists or writers, feel free to integrate art or journaling into any of these prayer ideas.
OUTDOOR LAND REFLECTION:
Go outside, and stand or sit with your feet planted firmly on the ground where you live. If you are unable to go outside, plant your feet on the ground indoors. Take a few moments to center yourself however you normally do as you prepare for prayer.
Prayerfully consider the following questions as you remember your deep relationship with the land through the physical connection of your feet. If you feel drawn to one question in particular, explore it and let the rest of the questions go.
Spend as much time in prayer as you’d like. When you are finished, close with a “Glory Be” or with some physical action to express your gratitude for the land (e.g. touch the ground, a tree, or plant).
OUTDOOR OBSERVATION AND POETRY:
Spend time outside where you live simply observing the natural world as Mary Oliver suggests in her poem “The Summer Day.” If a particular element of creation captures your attention, simply stay with it and pay attention. Share your observations with God.
SCRIPTURE:
Pray with the following scripture:
“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” — Exodus 3:5
Suggestion for prayer: Take a few deep breaths and then read this verse slowly, softly, and out loud. Repeat it a few times if you feel so moved. What comes to your heart and mind? Share it with God.
EXAMEN:
St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to pray the Examen, a prayer that makes space for us to notice God’s movements in our daily lives. The Examen also helps us to explore how God is calling us to live and use our gifts in the world. Use the steps of the Examen below to prayerfully review the past week of the challenge.
Close your prayer session by having an honest conversation with God or Jesus about what you felt and experienced during this past week of the challenge or during this time in prayer.
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 8: Climate Change is an Environmental Justice Issue
Climate change threatens everyone’s health, air, water, food, and shelter, but Black, Indigenous, and communities of color (BIPOC) face the greatest risks. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires, as well as poor air quality and pollution, all have a disproportionate impact on communities of color, low-income communities and other vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and farmworkers. In addition, these impacted communities have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change and are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions—both in the United States and globally.
LEARN:
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY:
Prayers of Intercession for Climate Justice | By Sr. Marlene Kelly GSIC | Shared by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Note: Feel free to add your own prayer requests, and you can substitute “We pray that the November UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow” in the first responsive prayer.
ACT:
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 9: Disproportionate Impact of Air Pollution on BIPOC and Low-Income Communities
A 2018 Environmental Protection Agency study concluded that people of color and low-income communities are much more likely to breathe polluted air and to live near sites that emit large amounts of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). This type of pollution is the byproduct created when fossil fuels are burned and is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths each year from heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, and other diseases. BIPOC communities bear a disproportionate health burden due to PM 2.5 exposure.
LEARN
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
A Prayer for Our Earth from Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’
ACT
Tell your Congressional representatives to enact infrastructure and energy legislation that will promote climate, economic, gender and racial justice to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and commit to net-zero climate pollution in electricity by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.
For background information, go to Ecumenical Advocacy Days and find your Congressional Representatives’ contact information here.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE VOCABULARY
Disproportionate Impact: Refers to communities of low income and/or color and in the presence of high-risk environmental hazards. Those communities in the presence of environmental and human health hazards are more at risk of developing chronic health problems or experiencing environmental racism due to their surroundings than other parts of the country.
Environmental Protection Agency
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 10: Just Transition
The enormous scale and speed needed to transition towards a climate‐resilient and low‐carbon economy necessitates that we provide just pathways for vulnerable communities and workers in fossil fuel dependent industries and help them transition to jobs and careers that provide dignified, productive, and ecologically sustainable livelihoods. As we work to ensure that no community is sacrificed to pollution, we need to ensure no community is left-behind as we transition to a clean energy economy.
LEARN
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
A Prayer for Just Transition | Avery Davis Lamb
ACT
Transitioning from a carbon intensive economy to a clean energy economy will entail large policy shifts as well as individual lifestyle changes. As consumers, we can make a difference.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 11: Amazon Climate Forum
Preserving the Amazon rainforest in South America is crItical to maintaining a stable global climate. But the region is suffering massive deforestation from logging, mining, industrial agriculture and other forms of extraction of resources from the earth. The peoples of the Amazon, who have been protectors of this important bio-region for millennia, are being left out of conversations about solutions to the climate crisis and criminalized for defending their land, water and way of life. The Vatican hosted a meeting of Church and Indigenous leaders in October 2019 to hear their hopes and concerns.
LEARN
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Pray for communities of the Amazon who are facing multiple crises, including the coronavirus pandemic, the devastation of extractive industries and the threats of climate change.
ACT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 12: Fenceline Communities and Air Pollution | Focus on Port Arthur, TX
Port Arthur, TX, exemplifies what it means to be a “fenceline community” or “sacrifice zone“ where the population lives adjacent to hazardous petrochemical and other air polluting facilities. These communities tend to be disproportionately Black, Latino, or impoverished and face elevated rates of respiratory disease, cancer, reproductive disorders, birth defects, learning disabilities, psychiatric disorders, eye problems, nosebleeds, nausea, and early death. Elevated rates of COVID-19 have also been documented. As you learn about Port Arthur, TX, think about “fenceline” communities in your county, state, or region.
LEARN
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
A Prayer for Solidarity and Common Purpose | Rev. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman
ACT
Make it Local: Look at this map where you can locate the 100 industrial facilities that are to blame for more than a third of U.S. toxic air emissions. You can click on the icon to learn more about each facility.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 13: Reflection
In the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, the act of reflection takes place between experience and action. It is a crucial step to making meaning out of our experiences and to discerning right action that brings the world into closer alignment with God’s loving will for it.
LOOK BACK
As you look back on this past week’s material, choose one article or theme that you would like to revisit. Then, spend some time in reflection with the following questions adapted from the Georgetown Teaching Commons.
ASK
Day 14: Prayer
NOTE: You can listen to an audio recording of today’s guided prayer here.
Today’s invitation to prayer is inspired by the breath and by Ignatian imaginative prayer. Traditionally, imaginative prayer in the Ignatian tradition uses the Gospels as a meditative setting for a sensory encounter with Jesus and God’s loving will for us. Here, we use the sacred stories of the environmental justice movement as an entry point for encountering God’s invitation to love.
PRAY
In an article in Global Sisters Report drawing connections between environmental, racial, and health disparities, Sr. Joan Brown writes:
“Can we take a holy breath of air and allow it to melt ego and past hurts and pride and individual righteousness into an exhale of relief? Can we finally let go, say we have been wrong and have wronged others, and change to follow our true destiny as human beings? Can we exhale love that acts in justice and conversion and doesn’t just listen? Can we hear the underlying meanings of “I can’t breathe” that we share with every person and creature on the planet?”
Take time today to pray with your breath. Recall how, when God created the first person, it was not until God breathed into Adam’s nostrils that life began (Gen. 2:7). Becoming aware of your own breath as it enters and leaves your nostrils, consider how the air you breathe is the very same air that Jesus breathed. Take a moment to acknowledge and thank God for the marvelous interconnectedness of creation and for your belonging in the web of life.
Now turn your attention toward the content of the past week of the 21-Day Catholic Environmental Justice Challenge. What is one particular story or issue that moved you to compassion and stirred in your heart a desire to take action?
Invite Jesus to accompany you in imaginative prayer as you walk into the scene of that story or issue. Who or what do you encounter together there? What are the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations? What do you hear in the cries of the earth? The cries of the poor and vulnerable? Find a quiet place inside of the scene to sit with Jesus for a few moments and consider what you have encountered. How are you being called to love?
When you are ready, close out your time in prayer by returning to your breath. As you breathe in, recall with gratitude your belonging in God’s web of life. As you breathe out, send your commitment to a love that does justice out into the world.
Day 15: Water Scarcity
Water is the foundation of human and ecological health and covers 70% of our world. It is essential for agriculture, sanitation, industry, recreation, energy, and maintaining natural ecosystems.
Generally, people understand the importance of water and its necessity for life. However, too often water is treated as a limitless resource. This lack of sustainable use planning, combined with population changes and climate change, has led to a lack of sufficient water supply to meet the water usage demands for different areas in the United States and across the globe.
Environmental justice issues related to water scarcity include:
LEARN:
Getting Started:
Digging Deeper:
PRAY
Prayer for Rain
Cover my earth mother four times with many flowers.
Let the heavens be covered with the banked-up clouds.
Let the earth be covered with fog; cover the earth with rains.
Great waters, rains, cover the earth. Lighting cover the earth.
Let thunder be heard over the earth; let thunder be heard;
Let thunder be heard over the six regions of the earth.
ACT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 16: Access to Safe Drinking Water: A Public Health Issue
LEARN
Most people in the United States do not give access to safe drinking water a second thought. It flows at the turn of the faucet, at a cost that is fairly small. Being essential to life, clean water is a right under international law and U.N. declarations. Yet in the U.S., it’s far from guaranteed. More than 30 million Americans lived in areas where water systems violated safety rules at the beginning of last year, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. Others simply cannot afford to keep water flowing. As with most environmental and climate issues, low-income and BIPOC communities are hit hardest.
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Let us lift our voices in prayer for all persons who are on the margins, especially those who do not have access to safe water sources.
We pray for the 663 million people who lack access to safe water.
Plant our hearts near streams of compassion.
We pray for the women and children who spend hours each day walking to collect water.
Plant our hearts near streams of compassion.
We pray for the 800,000 deaths per year attributable to unsafe water supply, poor sanitation and hygiene.
Plant our hearts near streams of compassion.
We pray for a reduction in the 38 billion plastic water bottles that end up in landfills every year.
Plant our hearts near streams of compassion.
We pray for greater accountability and transparency when public water systems are threatened.
Plant our hearts near streams of compassion.
Good and gracious God, we pray for humility to see all the ways we take water for granted. Send Your Spirit to change the hearts of those who use water to create strife and conflict. Have mercy on those who are sick or in need because they cannot access safe water. We are thankful for Your gift of water seen in the beauty of waterfalls, placid lakes, rivers that move people and commerce, oceans full of amazing creatures. Give us guidance on how to be better stewards of a finite resource. We ask all of this in Your name. Amen.
World Water Day Prayer 2016 | Catholic Health Association of United States
ACT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 17: Water Infrastructure: Flint Michigan Water Crisis
LEARN
The Flint Michigan Water Crisis began in 2014 and lasted until 2019 after the city’s drinking water was contaminated with lead and Legionella bacteria. Officials for the City of Flint, decided to switch the city’s water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to the Flint River as a cost-savings measure. That change was made in April 2014, and residents immediately registered their concerns about water quality.
The contaminated water exposed over 100,000 residents. Between 6,000 and 12,000 children were exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead.
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Take a moment to pray in silence thinking of all people who are impacted by water contamination.
ACT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 18: Guapinol Water Protectors of Honduras
LEARN:
For 20 months, Honduran water protectors have been unjustly imprisoned for defending the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers from mining contamination, and their families and other members of the communities have received threats. There have been a host of irregularities in the case, as well as disinformation and pressure tactics from the mining company. Human rights advocates have been urging their immediate release, especially due to risks of Covid-19 exposure in detention facilities, with one water protector already testing positive for the virus.
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Reflect on Pope Francis’ words on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2018:
“I feel the need to give thanks to God for ‘Sister Water’, simple and useful for life like nothing else on our planet. Precisely for this reason, care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative.”
ACT
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 19: Getting to Know Your Watershed
LEARN
This week we have explored the importance of water for all life on earth and how water issues intersect with environmental justice. Today you are invited to learn more about how and where water flows in your community by researching your watershed and identifying the source of your drinking water.
A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. They provide drinking water, habitats for wildlife, soil to grow our food, and locations for fishing, boating and swimming. Everyone lives in a watershed, and watersheds are interconnected and can flow through one another. Protecting water in one place benefits the entire system.
Getting Started:
Going Deeper:
PRAY
Bring a cup of water to a place where you will begin your prayer. Dip your fingers and feel the water as you play this song and pray. Think about your watershed and the habitats and ecosystems it supports. Pray that your watershed remains protected and continues to be a source of life for your community.
Song: Come to the Water | Father John Foley
ACT
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Website: Healthy Watershed Protection | EPA
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 20: Reflection
In the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, the act of reflection takes place between experience and action. It is a crucial step to making meaning out of our experiences and to discerning right action that brings the world into closer alignment with God’s loving will for it.
LOOK BACK
As you look back on this past week’s material, choose one article or theme that you would like to revisit. Then, spend some time in reflection with the following questions adapted from the Georgetown Teaching Commons.
ASK
View the content in its original email format here.
Day 21: Prayer
As we conclude this week of reflection on environmental justice and water, you will find prayer experiences below meant as suggestions. Choose one to pray with or allow the Spirit to move you to pray however you feel called.
Note: For artists or writers, feel free to integrate art or journaling into any these prayer ideas.
— PRAYERFUL WATERSHED EXPLORATION —
If you are able, visit and prayerfully explore a water source in your watershed or the source of your drinking water today.
If you are unable to visit one of these places, find an image online or close your eyes and imagine being there.
Spend as much time in prayer as you’d like. When you are finished, close with a “Glory Be” or with some physical action to express your gratitude for the water in the watershed where you live.
— WATERSHED ART REFLECTION —
Reflect on these paintings by Casey Murano, a young adult Catholic artist, who explores the watershed where she lives through her art and who paints “to engage with the social, political, environmental, and spiritual implications of place.”
What emotions or thoughts that arise as you spend time with these paintings? Share whatever comes up for you with God in prayer.
If you feel so moved, create a piece of art in any medium— using words, crayons, computer code, dance, etc.— to honor the watershed where you live.
— SCRIPTURE —
Pray with the following scripture:
“You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” —Isaiah 58:11
Suggestion for prayer: Take a few deep breaths and then read this verse slowly, softly, and out loud. Repeat it a few times if you feel so moved. What comes to your heart and mind? Share it with God.
— EXAMEN—
Listen to an audio recording of the Examen here.
St. Ignatius of Loyola encourages us to pray the Examen, a prayer that makes space for us to notice God’s movements in our daily lives. The Examen also helps us to explore how God is calling us to live and use our gifts in the world. Use the steps of the Examen below to prayerfully review the past week of the challenge.
Close your prayer session by having honest conversation with God or Jesus about what you felt and experienced during this past week of the challenge or during this time in prayer.
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Join “Interconnected,” a new 21-Day #Catholic
— Ignatian Solidarity (@IGsolidarityNET) April 12, 2021
Enviro Justice Challenge - Walk with other Catholics as we learn, pray, and take action for #EnvironmentalJustice@CatholicClimate @CathClimateMvmt @JesuitJustice @SistersofMercy
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