Friday Nudge: Live Into Your Call
What climate action are you called to take? It's time to live into your call!
Last night I dreamt that a turtle had been set on fire. The turtle sat still and unmoving while its shell burned. This was in my mom’s yard and it was believed that the tenant had done it, although he claimed innocence. We never found out who did it.
This morning, I texted my friend who does dream work and she suggested that the dream could be about Turtle Island being on fire due to the climate emergency and that it was about my eco-anxiety about the climate emergency.
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Whatever one’s thoughts are about dreams and dream interpretation, the timing of this dream was not lost on my friend. This week has been a particularly intense one for me, as I have been actively and openly supporting the brave members of Last Generation Canada who are engaging in nonviolent civil resistance in Ottawa to raise the awareness of Canadians about the rise of climate-fueled wildfires in Canada and to call for the creation of a national firefighting agency of 50,000 fulltime firefighters who can be deployed as needed throughout the country.
The ‘fearless five,’ as I call them, were blocking traffic in order to call on the federal government to stop business as usual in this climate emergency.
They were doing this, and other actions around Ottawa this week, because there is no business as usual anymore. In Canada last year, wildfires were far more frequent, far more intense, occurring earlier and much hotter than they have been in the past. Here are some of the stats from the 2023 wildfire season:
There were:
·     More than 6000 fires across Canada;
·     5% of Canada’s boreal forest went up in flames;
·     200,000 people had to be evacuated;
·     At least 6 people died, including a 19-year-old firefighter;
·     Almost 46 million acres burned; and
·     2 billion tonnes of CO2 were released into the atmosphere.[1]
Despite this, over 70% of Canada’s firefighters are volunteers. Most have been trained in fighting structural fires, not wildfires. That is why Last Generation Canada is calling for a full-time agency of 50,000 firefighters. Although firefighting is normally provincial jurisdiction, wildfires do not respect provincial boundaries! Thus, a federal agency of trained and immediately deployable firefighters is a necessary and very reasonable ask of the federal government.
Bearing Witness
While the ‘fearless five’ in the picture above were blocking traffic on Wellington St, I was on the sidewalk nearby, visible in my clergy gown and cross, praying and bearing witness to their brave actions. I was there as pastoral support for the protesters, as well as for the police and any bystanders who may need it. I was able to speak to a few people about the message of Last Generation Canada.
I have never felt more alive and living into my call as I have this week in supporting the protestors, in person and from home in holding them in prayer. I am available 24/7 to the members of Last Generation Canada for pastoral support.
Yesterday, when I went to Parliament Hill for my weekly Climate Prayer Vigil, I stopped and prayed over the spot where, just the day before, the protest had been. I held out a hand and prayed for their message to be heard by Canadians, for them to be treated gently by the police and fairly by the courts, and for this to be just part of a growing momentum of Canadians insisting that business as usual stop so that we can transform the ways that we use energy and live together in Earth community.
I have never felt more alive living into my call as a Christian.
My friends, my Friday Nudge is for you to find the ways that you need to act that will likewise make you feel alive and that you are living into your call from God. Find the ways that you need to take climate action as a discipleship response.
Turtle Island is on fire. Business as usual is no longer. Live into your call. Doing so is discipleship.
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Want to support the work of Last Generation Canada?
If you want to learn more about Last Generation Canada and how you can support them, please visit their website. Please support them in any way you can:
·     Take the next NVDA training this Saturday, February 10, 9-5 at Ottawa Quaker house , 91a Fourth Ave, Ottawa.
·     Watch an introductory talk by Last Generation Canada;
·     Donate funds to pay for the legal expenses of the brave people sacrificing themselves for the sake of the climate emergency;
·     Share this essay with your friends and family; and
·     Consider joining Last Generation Canada in taking nonviolent direct climate action.
[1] https://www.lastgenerationcanada.ca/ Accessed February 9, 2024.
