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| Photo by Let Ideas Compete on Flickr |
Gratitude is one antidote to grief, and both can live in our hearts at the same time. This Thanksgiving we are full of appreciation for so many of our friends, partners, and colleagues who have been heroic models of courage and joy in the past year.
We are grateful for Native American leadership in the Northwest and around the country. Lummi, Quinault, Yakima, and the Great Sioux Nation among many others, have stood in protection of God’s creation, the land and water their ancestors gave them to hold in trust for their descendants. Indigenous people have shown us how to be strong warriors despite terrible losses, how to be resilient strategists, and how to forgive. At this moment, in the middle of several battles for clean water and clean air, tribal communities are in the forefront spiritually, politically, and legally. We are deeply in their debt.
We honor and value the many strong advocates for climate protection who worked hard on Washington’s Initiative 732, a proposal to put a tax on carbon in our state. Though it did not pass, the initiative has been a powerful tool for uplifting climate concerns and bringing home the desire of so many voters to find real solutions to a warming planet. Environ
We uphold the many, many victories that we have won for environmental protection and a healthy future for all God’s children. With your help, Earth Ministry/WAIPL has stopped five of six proposed coal export terminals that would have irreversibly damaged the stability of Earth’s climate. In fact, we and our partners have defeated or seriously delayed 25 different fossil fuel projects in the Northwest! Nationally, the Keystone XL oil pipeline is history, the three largest coal companies in the country have gone bankrupt, and people across the nation are standing with the Standing Rock Sioux. Globally, representatives from 175 countries signed the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the UN and Pope Francis has unleashed a faithful climate revolution. Can you believe this all happened in the last year?
When the future is uncertain, remembering the good we have done gives us strength. Thank you to everyone who contributed even a small act to make these successes possible.
Finally, it is our love, acceptance, forgiveness, and gratitude for each other that carries us forward. If you are reading this, you have a special place in our hearts at Earth Ministry. You matter to us, and your support and friendship over so many years has given us life, energy, and the spark of Spirit in our work. Thank you.
Blessings to you this Thanksgiving,
LeeAnne Beres
Executive Director
Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light
