Franciscan Spirit

Winter isn't too far away. My wife and I laugh over the disagreements we have had over the thermostat setting in our home in past winters. Our current house is much harder to heat than the highly efficient, passive-solar home we sold last year. In response, I vied for warmer clothes and a low setting on the thermostat. Cyndi fought for moderation. Both of us took secret missions to change the thermostat back toward our own preference. One time when she caught me at it, she complained: “You’re not really trying to save the Earth—you’re just a cheapskate!”

Our common home is at risk. Time, my brothers and sisters, seems to be running out; we are not yet tearing one another apart, but we are tearing apart our common home. Today, the scientific community realizes what the poor have long told us: harm, perhaps irreversible harm, is being done to the ecosystem.

Before you disregard this blog as some environmental guilt trip, let me confess something upfront: until recently, my carbon footprint was roughly the size of Wisconsin.