Pyramid Song- Radiohead

A post-apocalyptic vision of rising sea levels in the video made this a perfect choice for this project.

Pyramid Song- Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway (2001)

I jumped in the river and what did I see?
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
All the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

I jumped into the river
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cars
And all the things I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt 
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

Paradise- John Prine (cover by John Denver)

Shout out to St. Louis's own Peabody Coal Company....

And in 2015, Peabody Energy asked that the lyrics to this song be stricken from the record in the lawsuits agaiunst them. Hilarious. You can read about that here.

Paradise- John Prine (1971)

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away....

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away....

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away....

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away....

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)- Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye's brilliant song about the crisis our planet faced in the 1970s before the EPA and climate treaties. Still rings true today, as we face the threatened undoing of many of these protections...

Mercy Mercy Me- Marvin Gaye (1971)

Woo ah, mercy mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east
Woo mercy, mercy me, mercy father
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury
Ah oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
Oh, na na...
My sweet Lord... No
My Lord... My sweet Lord

Images from the Missouri Botanical Garden, April 25, 2017

What a perfect classroom!

Alligator fern

Bromeliads. We saw some of these in Cuba.

Lovely tropical plant

The climatron is in a geodesic dome.

False Bird of Paradise

A fren peeks out into the shifting afternoon light

Lilies

Iris-- some of my favorite flowers

Johnny Jump-Ups

This mallard is no fool- he goes where the koi are fed.

Star apples

This is what Star Apples look like from beneath

A close-up of Star Apples

A Chihuly installation in the Climatron. His work is all over the garden.

There was even a section on plants mentioned in the Bible in the Climatron!

Burn On- Randy Newman

This song recounts an actual event. In June of 1969, a series of fires erupted on the Cuyahoga River, as explained here:

In June 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire, a river long polluted with oily wastes, chemicals, and debris. The river fire, coming at a time of emerging national concern over pollution, made big news, and became something of a famous disaster. The incident helped give momentum to a newly emerging national environmental movement....

The Cuyahoga’s plight – and particularly its association with oil pollution – caught the attention of singer/ songwriter Randy Newman, who penned a famous song about the river’s tendency to catch fire. “Burn On” was the name of the song, which Newman released with his 1972 hit album, Sail Away, an album brimming full of musical satire. Newman’s river song, however, was quite on the mark, conveying at least some of the history and causes of the Cuyahoga River’s pollution problem.

Newman would explain that he was spurred to write the song after seeing news reports about the 1969 fire. To be fair, by the early 1970s, there were no more fires on the Cuyahoga, though it remained severely polluted for at least another decade. The cleanup of the river had begun by the time of Newman’s song – though ever so slowly, and slogged on for many years thereafter. Still, Newman’s song captured the historical demise of the river and one of its primary culprits, oil. His lyrics at the end of the song also captured the “unnatural” act of a river burning....

Burn On- Randy Newman (1972)

There's a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

Cleveland, city of light, city of magic
Cleveland, city of light, you're calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on
Now the Lord can make you tumble
And the Lord can make you turn
And the Lord can make you overflow
But the Lord can't make you burn

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on

Executive Order on Climate Changes leads to The March on Washington for Climate Change

Enthusiasm for righteous action is building as various groups plan to work together for the Climate March in Washington on April 25. The need for this march has become increasingly apparent since the Trump Administrations rollbacks of various environmental protections. First, from PBS, the full text of Trump's executive order on Energy and Climate Change on March 28 begins thus:

Section 1.  Policy.  (a)  It is in the national interest to promote clean and safe development of our Nation's vast energy resources, while at the same time avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job creation.  Moreover, the prudent development of these natural resources is essential to ensuring the Nation's geopolitical security.

(b)  It is further in the national interest to ensure that the Nation's electricity is affordable, reliable, safe, secure, and clean, and that it can be produced from coal, natural gas, nuclear material, flowing water, and other domestic sources, including renewable sources. 

(c)  Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that executive departments and agencies (agencies) immediately review existing regulations that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources and appropriately suspend, revise, or rescind those that unduly burden the development of domestic energy resources beyond the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply with the law.... 

You can read the whole thing at the link to the PBS page listed below.

Press releases on the goals and intentions of the People's Climate March are available here.


Links for more information:
From the EPPN: http://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/app/document/20092486?2
PBS's text of Trump's Executive Order on Energy and Climate Change: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/read-full-text-trumps-executive-order-energy-climate-change/
Press Release on the People's Climate March: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1YF38XwrdQjRFJ2WFU2QmZ0Q1NUZ244TGFCcGZOblo1dmZJ/view
Webinars and other information in preparation for the People's Climate March: https://faith.peoplesclimate.org

After the Gold Rush- Trio (cover of Neil Young)

This is Neil Young's haunting vision of a world after an environmental holocaust. Earth ruined, the remnants of humanity must leave. This brilliant cover includes not only the voices of Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt, but also accompaniment on harmonium adding an ethereal quality.

After the Gold Rush- Neil Young (1970)

Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming,
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing and drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing to the sun
That was floating on the breeze.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the nineteen seventies.

I was lying in a burned out basement
With the full moon in my eyes.
I was hoping for replacement
When the sun burst thru the sky.
There was a band playing in my head
And I felt like I could cry.
I was thinking about what a friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.
Thinking about what a friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver space ships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun,
There were children crying and colors flying
All around the chosen ones.
All in a dream, all in a dream the loading had begun.
They were flying Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun.
Flying Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home.

USDA agrees to stop using cyanide bombs in Western range land-- for now

The US Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services agency has agreed to stop operating M-44 cyanide "bombs" it had been planting in a bid to deter predators such as wolves from harming livestock-- AFTER a boy and his dog were sprayed in the face with sodium cyanide powder that killed the dog and sent the boy to the hospital:

The move follows an incident last month in which 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield inspected a half-buried, sprinkler-looking device while walking his dog near his family's house — only to be hit immediately in the face with an "orange, powdery substance."

The blast sent Mansfield to the hospital; it killed his dog.

As we reported last month, Mansfield, his family and the Bannock County Sheriff's Office later learned the device had been placed there by the federal government:

"Often known as a 'cyanide bomb,' it's a device used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent predators such as coyotes from harming livestock on farm and ranch lands. When triggered, the M-44 spits a potentially lethal dose of sodium cyanide powder at the interloper.

" 'This device is extremely dangerous to animals and humans,' the Bannock County Sheriff's Office said in a statement released the next day. 'If a device such as this is ever located please do not touch or go near the device and contact your local law enforcement agency.' "

In response to the incident, the Western Watersheds Project and more than a dozen other conservation groups filed a petition against the use of M-44s in Idaho — a petition that ultimately helped prompt Wildlife Services to reverse its policy in the state.

"This is an important victory, at least a temporary one, for both wildlife and for public safety across Idaho," Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement celebrating the reversal. "We thank Wildlife Services for doing the right thing by removing these deadly and indiscriminate killing devices, and urge them to make the moratorium permanent."

The Mansfield family, which also submitted a petition of its own, cast the decision as just the first step. They're also pursuing federal legislation, which they call "Canyon's Law," that would ban M-44s across the U.S.

"We believe the use of these devices is too indiscriminate and imprecise," said Canyon's father, Mark Mansfield, tells the Idaho State Journal.

"The ban in Idaho is an exciting first step. But we don't want Wildlife Services to issue a temporary ban and then reinstate M-44 use once everything has blown over. That's why we need a federal law like Canyon's Law."

The spokeman noted that they USDA agreed to stop using the devices and not resume-- WITHOUT thirty days' notice.

Links for More Information
The entire article can be found here.

Photo Essay: White Sands National Monument

Crest of a dune

Follow this link to see a beautiful photo essay of images from the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. Located just 65 miles from where the first atomic weapon was tested in 1945, this 275 square mile national monument is truly a one-of-a-kind visual and physical experience in the Tularosa Basin near Las Cruces. (Images here from wiki media commons)

Yucca

You can see the entire photo essay here.

Links for more information:
NPR photo essay: http://www.npr.org/2017/04/09/520874659/photos-the-creamy-sculpted-dunes-of-white-sands-national-monument
Website for White Sands National Monument, from the National Park Service's website: https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm

National Geographic offers a "running list" of the environmental actions of the Trump Administration

From Michael Greshko of the National Geographic:

The Trump administration’s tumultuous first months have brought a flurry of changes—both realized and anticipated—to U.S. environmental policy. Many of the actions roll back Obama-era policies that aimed to curb climate change and limit environmental pollution, while others threaten to limit federal funding for science and the environment.

The stakes are enormous. The Trump administration takes power amid the first days of meaningful international action against climate change, an issue on which political polarization still runs deep. And for the first time in years, Republicans have control of the White House and both houses of Congress—giving them an opportunity to remake the nation’s environmental laws in their image.

It’s a lot to keep track of, so National Geographic will be maintaining an abbreviated timeline of the Trump administration’s environmental actions and policy changes, as well as reactions to them. We will update this article periodically as news develops.

Links for More Information
The original article is here.

What Have They Done to the Rain- Joan Baez (Malvina Reynolds cover)

This is actually a song protesting nuclear testing above ground.

According to this site at Western Kentucky University, "People now think of this as a song about acid rain, but it was originally written as part of a campaign to stop aboveground nuclear testing, which was putting strontium-90 in the air, where it was washed down by the rain, got into the soil and thence to the grass, which was eaten by cows. When children drank the cows' milk the strontium-90, chemically similar to calcium but radioactive, was deposited in their bones. Mothers saved their children's baby teeth and sent them in to be tested by scientists who indeed found elevated levels of strontium-90 in their teeth. A year after this song was written, President Kennedy signed the treaty against aboveground testing."

Malvina Reynolds was one of the greatest writers of protest songs, ever, best known for her classic "Little Boxes." And who can cover this better than the incomparable Joan Baez?

What Have They Done to the Rain- Malvina Reynolds (1964)

Just a little rain falling all around,
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound,
Just a little rain, just a little rain,
What have they done to the rain?

Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?

Just a little breeze out of the sky,
The leaves pat their hands as the breeze blows by,
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye,
What have they done to the rain?

Just a little boy standing in the rain,
The gentle rain that falls for years.
And the grass is gone,
The boy disappears,
And rain keeps falling like helpless tears,
And what have they done to the rain?

Lenten Series-- Good Neighbors, Good Stewards

Joyce Hafner, public policy analyst for the Episcopal Public Policy Network, or EPPN, traveled to Haiti to document the effects of climate change there. She noted:

"Climate change’s impact on the Haitian landscape is palpable. Stronger, more frequent storms wreak havoc on the community infrastructure and farmland of Les Cayes (Haiti’s southernmost tip), and prolonged droughts jeopardize the productivity of Haiti’s Central Plateau. From national parks to rolling farmland, climate change affects every sector of Haiti, and consequentially, the welfare of every Haitian citizen."


You can read the whole thing at the first link below.

Links for more information:
The link to the document is here: http://advocacy.episcopalchurch.org/app/document/20205780?1
From the Earth Institute at Columbia University: http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/02/01/climate-change-in-haiti/
Article from the Guardian online from 2011: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/dec/15/haiti-climate-change-present-fear

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
 and I wake in the night at the least sound
 in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
 I go and lie down where the wood drake
 rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
 I come into the peace of wild things
 who do not tax their lives with forethought
 of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
 And I feel above me the day-blind stars
 waiting with their light. For a time
 I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

You can hear Wendell Berry read his poem at On Being here.

Symbolic Gesture? The Bureau of Land Management changes the image it projects

The US Bureau of Land Management swapped out the header photo of its website in a telling way, many critics fear. The previous image was a picture of two young boys looking out over a wilderness scene wearing backpacks.

The new image is of a coal seam.

You can read the story and see the actual images from the NPR story here.

Links for more information:
Original story from NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/06/522924256/blm-replaces-mountain-landscape-photo-with-coal-seam-on-homepage

Mother Nature's Son- The Beatles

Mother Nature's Son- John Lennon and Paul McCartney (1968)

Born a poor young country boy, Mother Nature's son

All day long I'm sitting singing songs for everyone

Sit beside a mountain stream, see her waters rise

Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies

Find me in my field of grass, Mother Nature's son

Swaying daises sing a lazy song beneath the sun

Wah, Mother Nature's son