I first learned of PFAS, officially termed per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, last November at a screening of Dark Waters, a film that details a lawyer’s legal battle against DuPont, a corporation that has long manufactured these unregulated chemicals. 
 
Dark Waters tells a disturbing story: PFAS are everywhere, and cause serious harm to human health, including to babies in the womb. This truth felt particularly uncomfortable as I watched the film sitting next to my pregnant wife. Upon returning home, I set out to investigate where these invisible threats might be hiding.
 
PFAS chemicals haven’t always been around. They are a byproduct of the World War II top-secret nuclear bomb operation known as the Manhattan Project. After the war, chemical companies began to profit by using PFAS to keep our eggs from sticking to the pan (Teflon) and our couches and carpets from getting stained (Scotchgard). Unfortunately for consumers, eagerness for profits did not translate into eagerness for accountability; just a few years later, when those same companies discovered the toxic effects of PFAS on human and environmental health, they chose to retain the top-secret approach of the Manhattan Project. 
 
Epidemiology studies have now begun to bring what was hidden into the light, and PFAS chemicals – dubbed “forever chemicals” because they remain in the environment indefinitely – have been linked with low infant birth weights, birth defects, decreased immune system response, cancer, and thyroid problems. Seventy-four years after these chemicals entered the consumer market in the form of Teflon, one in three Americans drinks PFAS in their water, and 99 out of 100 Americans have it in their blood. Worst of all, pregnant mothers pass it to their unborn children.
 
As I worked to eliminate PFAS from my own home, I couldn’t help but wonder why unregulated toxic chemicals ended up in our cookware, food packaging, outdoor gear, household furniture, drinking water, and bodies in the first place. It turns out that for the most part, U.S. chemical regulations do not require companies to prove that chemicals used in everyday products are safe. This “safe until proven hazardous” approach means toxic chemicals can freely enter the consumer market. 
 
Protecting my wife and child from these dangers required some lifestyle changes and a bit of work. To this effect, I drew some helpful guidance from Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.
 
Just as there are essential and non-essential workers during a pandemic, there are essential and non-essential items in life. Pope Francis recognizes that high demand for cheap, non-essential products has resulted in a “throwaway culture” that “quickly reduces things to rubbish” (LS 22). This culture is made possible by things like PFAS, which contribute to a life of ease by allowing low-quality, disposable products to mimic the performance of their durable, long-lasting counterparts. The first step in avoiding PFAS is rejecting the throwaway culture that seeks to make life easy at the expense of our health.
 
Pope Francis also speaks of integral ecology, a concept perhaps most simply communicated by the phrase, “Everything is connected” (LS 91). Chemicals like PFAS, which never break down in our bodies or the environment, lay bare the hidden intricacies and pathways which connect all living things. God formed us from the earth (Gen 2:7) and designed us to remain intimately connected to it. Our bodies are made of the food that we eat, and consuming polluted food and water results in polluted bodies. Understanding this interconnectedness is a key step towards a healthy ecological ethic.
 
Near the end of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis includes a word of hope. In a section titled “towards a new lifestyle,” he writes: “We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom” (LS 205). In other words, we have the power to make choices about our lives. Instead of continuing to allow convenience to dictate our decisions, we can limit our exposure to PFAS by taking up a healthier, simpler lifestyle.
 
Unlike most films, the story in Dark Waters is still being told. Before the closing credits, a blunt reminder comes across the screen: PFAS are in the blood of virtually every living creature on the planet. We’re all characters in the story; let’s work together to eliminate PFAS, create a better world, and write a happy ending.

On one of my daily walks this week - to escape the confines of my pandemic lockdown - a hawk flew across my path, close enough to startle me. Just a few days before that, my kids and I found a Barred Owl roosting in a nearby vegetation grove. In addition to being aware of the privilege my family and I enjoy at being able to walk in the nearby woods during the pandemic, I am also keenly conscious of our connections to the natural world, and in particular, the creatures that inhabit God's earth with us.

God created each individual species and called us to care for them. When flood waters covered the earth, God instructed Noah to build an ark and save not only his own human family, but also the animals. I can't imagine how Noah would have felt if, after every other board was attached to the ark, someone came and removed it. The ark would never have been built or at the worst sank at sea, all of its fragile cargo - human and non-human - lost forever.

And yet, that is what is happening with today's modern ark for species protection: The Endangered Species Act. Earlier this year, amidst a global extinction crisis and on the heels of the Trump Administration's proposal to "streamline" the National Environmental Policy Act, the Congressional Western Caucus introduced a set of bills intending to "modernize" the ESA. These bills would undermine key sections of the Act and extend a hand to industry groups who regard endangered species as obstacles hindering profits.

The Endangered Species Act functions as a safety net for over a thousand species that are in imminent danger of extinction. By ensuring the conservation and recovery of critical habitat and protecting animals from being harmed by human activity, the Endangered Species Act has been nearly 100% successful at preventing listed species from going extinct. Yet, attacks on the Endangered Species Act are unrelenting, driven mainly by corporate interests who are determined to dismantle this modern-day ark and sell the pieces.

The Endangered Species Act requires that conservation decisions be based on the best available science, a rigorous standard that ensures that regulations are effective and logical. By seeking to alter the definition of "best available science" or circumvent this requirement altogether, lawmakers essentially try to convince us that facts aren't important and that we should only act to protect the environment when it's convenient to us.

Other recent legislative attacks have tried to ban specific vulnerable species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act, which is like putting up a sign in front of the ark saying, "All animals welcome except Florida panthers and greater sage grouse." Again, instead of starting with science and a firm moral commitment to preserve the natural world in all its beauty and diversity, this kind of legislation wants us to start with the wants and needs of corporations and work backwards from there. That isn't a consistent and effective conservation strategy. That is prioritizing special interests over the common good.

We must work to preserve all species not only because it is our duty as stewards of God's creation, but also because we are all intricately linked together. Both our faith and the best available science teach us that every species has a unique role to play in the web of creation, and that in the process of conserving the delicately balanced ecosystems on which our own lives depend, no species is expendable. God commanded Noah to save every species of animal, from lowly worm to mighty eagle, because every creature mattered as part of God's creation. But God did not provide Noah with an ark or save the world's animals with an outstretched arm; it was Noah's job to build the ark, one plank of wood at a time, and any lapse into selfishness or laziness could have sunk the ship. 

Now the responsibility of ark-building has passed to us. As we have come to understand more acutely the important of nature for its restorative abilities, we should be fighting harder than ever to protect God's creatures and strengthen and uphold the Endangered Species Act. Like Noah, we must take up the task of environmental stewardship with care and concern for every detail, guided by our values, our faith, and the awareness of our interconnectedness. 

by Rev. Richard Killmer
Rev. Killmer is a retired Presbyterian minister living in Yarmouth, Maine and was the first director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

We human beings have known about climate change since the late 1980s, and we have known about the damage it is causing for years. 2019, with its wildfires, storms, melting sea ice, floods in Miami and elsewhere, and famines, has provided a dramatic manifestation of what we expect in the future. Scientists are telling us that all of these weather events will increase in intensity.

Yet as we were amazed and frightened by the wildfires that were so close to Sydney, Australia in 2019, COVID-19 made its appearance in Wuhan, China, and then spread around the world with incredible speed and intensity. As of May 4, there are more than 3.52 million cases and more than 248,000 deaths worldwide. Though the harm caused by the climate crisis is not new, the question hovers: Have the responses to COVID-19 served as a successful dress rehearsal for the human response to the damage that will continue to be caused by the climate crisis?

Let's look at two countries - Canada and the U.S. - and do two things. First let's compare the damage done in each of the countries by COVID-19. Then let's look at the preparations made by both countries to deal with the climate crisis. But we need to make note that the population of the United States is almost 10 times larger than Canada's. So, we need to multiply the Canadian figure by 10 in order to do a comparison.

As of May 4, there were 3,862 deaths caused by COVID-19 in Canada. Multiplying times 10 gets us 38,620. In the United States, there have been more than 67,000 deaths caused by COVID-19. When adjusted for population difference, the death rate is almost two times higher in the United States.

Why are there more deaths in the U.S.? Two major reasons seem to be the answer. Canada has a good health care system that is free to all Canadians and seems to have the support of almost all Canadians. So, nobody said "I can't afford to go to the doctor to see if I have COVID." There were testing and hospitalization for those needing it and there were plenty of masks and ventilators and personal protective equipment. In addition, the Trump administration ended the White House's National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, whose mission was to protect Americans from pandemics.

In Canada, there is a belief that government should have the right to make decisions in times of need. Government are trusted to make decisions based on their understanding of the common good. Because that is true, all of the provincial governments, no matter what their party, agree with the federal government's strategies on COVID.

​The second reason is that the national and provincial governments, in cooperation with Health Canada, enacted action plans together. Most Canadians participated in the strategies of the government from the beginning. As we have seen in other countries, governments that move quickly have a better chance of diminishing the harm caused by the pandemic.

What about the question we started with? Has COVID been a successful dress rehearsal for mitigating the climate crisis? The United States is in the process of being the only country in the world to leave the Paris agreement, which it is scheduled to do Nov. 4, one day after the election.

​The Canadian government is committed to the Paris agreement's goals of getting to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. That means that they have agreed to reach 30 percent of the 2005 levels of greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030. A terrific goal. There are people in Canada who believe that they need to do much more. Some have stated that they should cut 60 percent of the greenhouse-gas emissions produced in 2005 by 2030.

​It seems to me that Canada has had a successful dress rehearsal and should do well at reaching its climate change goals. Its commitment is admirable.

Originally posted in the Holland Sentinel.

"Ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you."
Job 12:7-8
​

These words, found thousands of years ago on the lips of a man in great suffering, remain pertinent today. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused pain, confusion, loneliness, and loss of life and livelihood. The book of Job tells a similar story of a man who loses everything - his property, sons and daughters, and health. From the depths of grief, Job finds solace in God's creation. The animals, birds, earth, and sea creatures direct his gaze back towards the Maker of all that exists.

The book of Genesis reveals the intimate connections between human beings and the earth. God forms the first man from the dust, provides the fruits of the earth for food, and directs him to care for the garden. Last week, the world commemorated 50 years of Earth Day, an annual celebration of environmental stewardship. From a Judeo-Christian perspective, Earth Day is a memorial to Genesis 2:15 and an opportunity to rejoice in the beauty of creation, the great gift that is destined to be handed on from generation to generation as a living inheritance. 

On the first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million Americans came together to protect creation, and Congress responded by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and passing the Clean Air Act. On the 46th Earth Day in 2016, more than 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change.

On the 50th Earth Day, God's creation is under threat. The Administration is exploiting the coronavirus to roll back environmental regulations. In the last month alone, the EPA has relaxed air and water pollution standards for power plants and factories, finalized a rule that allows cars and trucks to emit more pollution, and revoked the legal justification for regulating mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

These rollbacks are detrimental to human and environmental health. Even as the ink dried on the new regulations, preliminary research from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge linked chronic exposure to high atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM 2.5) with increased coronavirus death rates. Principal sources of these types of air pollution include the cars, trucks, and power plants which are now allowed to increase emissions. The intimate bonds between humans and the environment could not be clearer: polluting the earth means polluting our own bodies.

And yet, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. The drab of winter has given way to the vibrant mural of spring, and God continues to bring forth new life. Let us return to the words of Job, and allow the animals and earth to "teach us," the birds to "tell us," and the fish to "declare to us." My prayer is that contemplating God's creation will renew our hope in a better future, just as it did for Job.