Gaia’s Pain Ignored, Are Wiccans Too Self Involved To Notice

As earth worshiping Wiccans endlessly debate the nature of our community, the value of interfaith, and how to build sustainable community, something dramatic is happening to Gaia. Around the world the climate is changing in ways that will have profound consequences for our children and our grandchildren.

In a recent article in the Albuquerque Journal, scientists predict that New Mexico’s Pinion and Junipers may disappear in the next fifty years from drought and lack of rainfall. This means that the entire Rio Grande valley drainage will have even lower water levels than today’s meager flow. This begs the question; where will the water for drinking and irrigation come from in the future?

In the northeastern United States scientists are seeing reduced maple syrup production as temperatures rise.  Traditional production areas have poor production while further north maples are thriving in climates once toxic to them.

Wildfires are burning record acres throughout the west, south and northwest. States that have never seen large wildfires are experiencing increased fire damage. 

These are just three examples of the dramatic changes happening around the world. Unfortunately, some scientists believe that even if every U.S. resident adopted positive energy use habits there still may be no way to reverse the process. With countries like India and China producing excessive greenhouse gasses, with no end in sight, we may have already forfeited the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in Global Warming.

As Gaia takes this insult, our community would be well served in preparing our children for a much different world where both food and water have become scarce. For too long we, my self included, who profess to embrace and defend Gaia, have been involved in our own “issues” and have paid little attention to the coming changes that will affect the planet, our children and humanity as a whole.

Does the Wiccan community have value; yes we can band together and prepare our children for the future. Does interfaith have value; surly it represents the opportunity to work with other communities in addressing the coming changes.

It is up to us, will we continue act as if as our children will inherent the same world or will we acknowledge the painful truth that our ancestors and we have manifested a disaster of global proportions?

In Service to future Generations,

Peter Dybing

From the Fire Line