Dr Deepa Senapathi is Senior Research Fellow in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, at the University of Reading, UK, and also serves on A Rocha International’s Conservation Science Advisory Council. Deepa was born and grew up in Chennai, India, before further studies and research based in the UK. Her research has focused on critically endangered bird populations in Mauritius and India and, more recently, on insect pollinator communities in Britain and India.
In this instance of the Jerdon’s Courser, what should we prioritize? Saving this endangered species? Or prioritizing human lives? It isn’t unusual in conservation to face difficult choices and it isn’t always possible to find win-win solutions.
Our own preoccupation with the usefulness of wider creation for our own gain is symptomatic of our selfishness. We forget that the world was not created for humankind, but rather for God. From the start of creation there is a relational context of interdependence.
Despite the importance of the topic that ‘Seaspiracy’ addresses, the solution it advocates – ending the consumption of seafood – is not an option nor a desirable solution to ocean health. It is just not that simple.
As I scrolled through the Facebook updates from my friends in the area, I heaved a deep sigh of frustration and lament. Again!? How could a thousand-year rain event happen every other year? Something was amiss.
I have been playing “Biodiversity Jenga” for over a decade. Players take turns to remove bricks, providing me with the opportunity to talk about the ecological role of individual species, and whether they are threatened with extinction. And, as everyone knows, ultimately the whole thing will come crashing down.
Do you remember the early weeks of lockdown, the ‘great pause’ when there was no road traffic and very little human noise? Taking a walk along a usually busy road. I felt like I was walking back in time to the days before motorized vehicles.
David Attenborough’s latest BBC documentary, ‘Extinction: the facts’ makes shocking but deeply compulsive watching. Viewers have spoken of being so overwhelmed as to switch off and return later, and being moved to anger and sleeplessness. I wasn’t as depressed as many, and will come back to why.
Between 1 September and 4 October, churches around the world will be participating in the Season of Creation. Our Director of Theology, Dave Bookless, has been on the global planning group for the past couple of years, and here he explains more about the concept and this year’s theme, ‘Jubilee for the Earth: new rhythms, new hopes.’
The love of stuff justifies consuming people in the name of production, progress, and the maintenance of privilege. It also justifies the voracious plunder of our planet with no regard for the delicately balanced web of life, its most vulnerable members, or for the living conditions of future generations. And it eats away at our very soul.
Our mobility, freedom and security put on hold… Our health and our lives threatened… Our wealth plummeted… Our temples of consumerism closed. All because of an almost invisible virus. Amidst very real fear and grief, this gives us an opportunity to rethink ‘flourishing’, and how our economic systems can be regenerative and restorative rather than unstable, unjust, and unsustainable.
