bert

This past December, the last bit of the island of Lohachara sank beneath waters of the Bay of Bengal. The first inhabited land mass to succumb to the rising sea levels caused by global warming, its 10,000 inhabitants have been gradually evacuating to neighboring islands over the past 20 years. The islands that these environmental refugees now inhabit are also predicted to succumb to the rising sea levels over the next 14 years. This remote island tragedy unfolds far, far away from the urban U.S. mainland where I live.

Where I live, I bike or walk to work most days. When I walk, I am able to take the time to notice the city around me, both its beauty and its tragedy. Starting from my house, I walk down a beautiful tree-lined street. A few years ago, our neighborhood played unwitting host to a local street gang, several drug dealers, and many homeless people. Gentrification has eliminated much of that. Thanks to the economic prosperity of our city, I walk through a neighborhood that is now safer, quieter and less affordable to many low income families who have been forced to move away. These economic refugees have moved to other neighborhoods that may also one day be gentrified.

As I reach the end of my block, I pass day laborers, economic refugees from countries to the south. I cross a parking lot where some remaining homeless people spend their days. I cross over a major freeway, its traffic roaring with the sound of economic activity and the emissions of smog and global warming. I then pass through the center of the city with its building boom of luxury apartments and condos. I reflect on how the economic engine that brings prosperity to many also causes global warming and creates refugees all over the world. I reflect, and I pray for New Day.

Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth!

Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the islands and their inhabitants. (Isaiah 42:10)

For I am about to create a new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered . . .

I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy and its people as a delight . . .

No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress . . .

They shall build houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit . . .

They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity . . .

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together . . .

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. (Isaiah 65: 17-25)