Earth-keeping is the sacred responsibility of all who are temporarily earthbound. Earth-keeping has to do with the conscientious use of natural resources. It also increases the probability that indigenous cultures, languages, and people will not disappear. For us this is first a faith issue. It is a matter of loving our neighbors all around the globe as well as those who have not yet arrived. To ignore the changes around us is equivalent to saying, “Thank God I am not like those who are yet to be born, for I am more important.”
Stewardship of the Earth is quite personal for us. We grew up at a time when technology meant TV or radio, single car families were common, and home air conditioning was a futuristic dream. In our lives today we still embrace those things – one TV, one radio, one car, and no air conditioning -- along with recycling everything we can, using our own cloth sacks at the grocery store, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), and protecting green spaces wherever we can. It may not be important to anyone else, but it continues to make a difference to us. We share with and urge others to join us in the same spirit so stewardship and earth-keeping will happen yet in our lifetime.
Nature is not the enemy. It does not need to be tamed, constrained, or changed. We need to find a natural balance that will enable us to develop sustainable sanctuaries throughout the world. Our ecological footprints will then be gentle on the Earth.
“It is the land that ultimately owns the man.”
--Mossi oral tradition
“In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”
—from the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy
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