From 9-noon about 40+ people built 12 4′X16′ raised beds at Grace Lutheran Church in Santa Barbara. Several agencies came together including EcoFaith and Habitat For Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County in order to make this possible. Several people commented that the best part of the day was getting to know new people while building a garden to benefit the community. Check out a short video highlight of our day.

With these garden plots Grace Lutheran and Santa Barbara A Rocha will facilitate a new community source of fresh produce and plants as well as access to satisfying outdoor work, neighborhood involvement, a sense of community, and a connection to the environment. Call Grace Lutheran and learn more about how you can become involved in this garden project by calling 805-687-2628.

Special thanks to Karis Jolley and Ned Nelson for their work in planning this successful event and to Mark Jacobsen for helping secure and deliever the dirt for the raised beds.

Looking forward to checking out the Disney/BBC film Earth narrated by James Earl Jones. The film has its release on Earth Day and we are looking forward to seeing it. It is 90 minutes in length and is, a kind of ‘best of’ the Discovery Channel/BCC Planet Earth series documentary as it follows three animal groups as they journey around their respective habitats.  Check out the trailer I’ll post more info in the future that includes the time and location of the film’s showing.

I just finished reading Where Am I Wearing? (Wiley Press) by Kelsey Timmerman. The book did a great job putting faces and context to the lives of the people who make our clothing and is neither a bleeding heart treatment of the subject nor an excuse to consume without a consciousness. His thoughtful, realistic, and compelling treatment of the subject left me digging through my clothes and reminding me that my consumption does have a direct effect on the lives of those we are not likely to ever meet.

Mike Yankoski, author of Under the Overpass, and I were discussing the need for just such a book this past summer and Timmerman’s work was resource we were looking for.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Join us April 4, 9:00-noon, at Grace Lutheran Church (3869 State St.) as we build a series of raised beds for a community garden. RSVP: rich@arochasb.org

I’ll be giving a short intro to the work of A Rocha, Christians in Conservation, at Ocean Hills Church this Sunday, March 15 at the 9:30 service held in the SBJH theater, 721 E. Cota St., and then again at 5:45 PM at The Loft, 821 State Street.

I’ll be providing a brief overview of the work that A Rocha does around the world, our local efforts, opportunities for getting involved in local community gardens, conservation projects, and educational outreach events.

I’ll be around after the service to answer questions, distribute some additional print info, and a recommended reading list (see earlier post) to help explore related topics.

In the last two weeks A Rocha Santa Barbara has hosted several visitors. Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, Chair of the International Trustees, and Tom Rowley, Executive Director of A Rocha USA came to be part of a presentaiton to a local land owner about conservation proposal we made as well as a public lecture the following night. Ben Lowe, author of “Green Revolution” was here for a very short visit. Lastly, Karen Steensma, Professor of Biology at Trinity Western University in Canada will visit us tomorrow for a quick tour and update on our local projects.

Each visitor has brought a unique perspective to our local projects. Including our next joint garden project with Grace Luthern Church and Habitat For Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County scheduled to take place April 4. More info about this project to come.

I asked several people to submit their list of favorite creation care books and received a wide range of responses. Let us know your favorite book(s) on the topic.

“Our Father’s World” by Ed Brown
“The Creation” by E.O. Wilson
“Collapse” by Jared Diamond
“Art of the Commonplace:  The Agrarian Essays.” by Wendell Berry
“Serve God Save The Planet” by Matthew Sleeth
“Where Am I Wearing” by Kelsey Timmerman
“Kingfisher’s Fire” by Peter Harris
“Under The Bright Wings” by Peter Harris
“Green Revolution” by Ben Lowe (congratulations on the recent publication Ben!)
“Caring For Creation” Ed. Sarah Tillett (published by brf in the UK)
“Surprised by Hope” by N.T. Wright
“Hot, Flat, and Crowded” by Thomas Friedman
“Earth Trek” by Joanne Moyer et al (published by Herald Press)
“Heaven” by Randy Alcorn
“Planet Wise: Dare to Care for God’s World” by Dave Bookless (IVP)
“Earth Wise: A Biblical Response to Environmental Issues” by Calvin DeWitt
“Pollution and The Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology” by Francis Schaeffer

A huge thanks to Jono and crew at Ocean Hills Church for allowing us to host our second Loft Session last evening at 821 State Street. Dr. Tom Fikes, Professor of Psychology at Westmont College, spoke on the topic, “Body, Mind, & Soul? How What We Think About Ourselves Matters For How We Live On The Planet”. We have an unenhanced mp3 file which can be downloaded here:

http://tiny.cc/tom_fikes

We will work on getting our podcast feed back up and running and throw this talk into the mix.

Santa Barbara A Rocha’s friend Nancy Sleeth has a new book being released on April 1 called Go Green, Save Green which provides a practical approach to better stewarding our resources. Nancy’s husband Matthew is the Author of Serve God, Save the Planet. During his visit last year he spoke at several different venues.

Congratulations to Nancy on her work and we look forward to reading it!

Check out this blog entry by Blake Huggins who begins some interesting dialog about the Green Bible. His title is Why I Won’t Be Buying a ‘Green’ Bible, but both fans and detractors of the publication should read his writing before serving judgment.

He has some great thoughts on the pitfalls of simply dressing up the Bible as a product for consumption. I resonated with his point that merely having our awareness raised about creation care, eco-justice, and conservation is not enough. He states, “true eco-justice depends upon our willingness to make serious personal and collective sacrifices.”  In other words, our response to the Biblical mandate to steward creation justly requires our hearts and lives to be moved into action rather than getting on board with the most recent “hot topic”. One of things that first interested me about A Rocha was that it was an organization that is about doing something to address issues of injustice brought about by such problems as declining biodiversity, consumption, and the need to promote conservation of our natural resources.

So is the Green Bible a good thing or not?

Time for a disclaimer… I was able to serve on the Advisory Board for the publication, but have not (and will not) receive any money for my involvement.

I do think the publication has a role to play. The publication has some wonderful essays and I have found people who have been moved to introspection and then begin walk the journey with us. A couple of others have related how this has been or would be very helpful in communicating more effectively with relatives who ask how they can reconcile being an ‘environmentalist’ with their faith. I have heard from others that they wished for more commentary at the bottom of each page when a passage has been highlighted in green. Other have mentioned that too many passages were highlighted, while others have said not all of the right ones were highlighted. There have also been input on the choice of the translation.

I’m interested to get the input of others.