By Diane Shallue, Caring for Creation Team

0n April 22, 1970, I celebrated the first Earth Day. I was a junior in college, and I remember the passion and focus on cleaning up the environment. That was when I first heard about recycling, the dangers of DDT to eagle eggs, cleaning up the water and improving air quality.  Up until that year, I had not thought much about the environment and how I could work to make it better. Growing up in central Minnesota, I never heard talk about recycling or the dangers of pesticides. I lived in an apartment above a creamery and the warehouse portion of the second level was fumigated every month. We never had a spider inside and I never saw an eagle in central Minnesota flying outside. 

Has that focus on the environment made a difference in 51 years? I now see eagles flying over my house in Blaine. I hear people talk about limiting use of pesticides and herbicides to benefit birds and bees. A friend from Blaine actually moved into downtown Minneapolis to live along the Mississippi River. But…the environment still needs our stewardship. Pollution of ground water by agricultural chemicals, death of pollinators, build up of plastic trash, and the death of trees in northern Minnesota due to the warming climate are all a concern. The environment still needs us as caretakers.   

If you care about the environment, connect with the Caring for Creation Team at CTK, and join their work.  Email me at deshalluenew@gmail.com.

God created the world and called it “good.” Now it is our job to care for that world so that we can continue to call it, “good.”