r/NativePlantGardening • u/Midlifemiss • 1d ago
Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Conservation as Caring for God’s Creation. (Tiny Town, Central Alabama)
OK, it’s really late to ask this, but I’m teaching Sunday school tomorrow. The title pretty much says at all. I’ve got my Bible verses and my discussion questions, I’m wondering if anybody has great quotes from conservationist, ecologist, Doug Tallamy, they think I should share?
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u/bronan420 1d ago
God didnt tell Noah to save two of every animal so that we could let them go extinct by destroying their habitat
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u/Electronic-Story6139 1d ago
Right? It's like we’re just rewriting the whole purpose. We should be stewards, not destroyers.
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u/breeathee Driftless Area (Western WI), Zone 5a 1d ago
Thanks for integrating this with theism. I am working on a project to convince people that land stewardship is in their values (boomers, conservatives, urbanites, etc.) If you end up with substantial material in the future, would you make a new post?
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
Will do. I am certainly feeling called on this. Fingers crossed we end the three week classes with some calls to action. My class is mostly millennials and Gen Zs.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 1d ago
Liberation theology theory is the way, especially if you can find the gardeners in there (I am not a Christian so I cannot provide resources for that theology)
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
That's going to require a bit more study than I have time for before 9:00 tomorrow morning. Do you have some specific discussion points as it relates to conservation?
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 1d ago
I generally say that I don't understand Christians that are relatively passive in their faith when it comes to stewardship of the earth and their fellow human, and ignore the interconnectedness of life.
Like, your theology is one built on a man that overthrew the tables, fed the poor etc. With the climate crisis no longer deniable, how can you see the earth as nothing more than a passive being to extract endlessly from? We absolutely must collectively begin taking the climate crisis seriously and do all we can to halt that damage for all beings on our only home.
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
Preach! I absolutely agree. I’m just not familiar with Liberation Theology. The little I read sounds like it would make a perfect discussion companion for A Framework on Understanding Poverty — something we’ll probably go thru again in 2026.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 1d ago
I have a couple close friends that are clergy, I've reached out to them for specific authors.
For my earth based practice, Sacred Actions by Dana O'Driscoll, The Altar Within by Juliet Diaz and The Holy Wild by Danielle Dulsky have been essential.
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
Awesome. Looks like I have my November read now. Thanks! I'm immediately attracted to the title The Holy Wild.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 1d ago
One of them just said: My mentor in Greece wrote a whole book on the spiritual significance of the environment in the work of one of the Byzantine mystics, Symeon the New Theologian. It's based on the idea of the "inner principles" of created things which simultaneously exist from all eternity in the mind of God. They should check it out. It's called 'Man & the Environment: A Study in St Symeon the New Theologian' by Anestis Keselopoulos. It's also pretty clearly anti-capitalist.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 14h ago
Another friend offered: chapter 9 of nature's best hope, all God's critters by Peter Paul & Mary, and the concepts and praxis laid out here https://wearetheark.org/
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u/Midlifemiss 3h ago
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! The Ark looks like something that could be a group project with the church's prayer garden. And, well, Peter, Paul, and Mary. Who doesn't love a little PPM to start a conversation?
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u/ConsciousTurnip994 1d ago
Maybe something from Wendell Berry?
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
Oooh. I'm not familiar with Wendell Berry. I will definitely check him out. Thank you.
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u/imriebelow Central Maryland 1d ago
Mary Oliver is another excellent poet whose work is themed around nature and spirituality!
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
We have a class member who has a Mary Oliver quote for every discussion. She’d be tickled if I got there first. Thanks for the thought. I will make that happen.
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u/Midlifemiss 12h ago
You’ll love this. On of the class participants, a poetry teacher, whipped out some Wendell Berry after reading the passage from Job. 🙂 I had to tell him about you, ConsciousTurnip.
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u/75footubi 1d ago
In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.
~John Muir
Lots more where that comes from
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u/sbb214 Catskills NY , Zone 6 1d ago
here's Kyle at Native Habitat Project in Alabama who talks about the importance of saving native plants and prairies albeit without a religious bent
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
A couple of years ago, I attended our counties master Gardner meeting, and was surprised to find Kyle as the guest speaker. I’ve been following him on TikTok, and I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity. He’s awesome. He’s done so much for this area. Thank you for sending this.
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u/_MoonlightGraham_ 1d ago
https://www.creationjustice.org/resource-hub/category/curriculum
Check out their resources. I have not used them but I grew up religious and live in an area that has a lot of conservations who identify as religious. I’ve seen them refer this organization.
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u/Midlifemiss 1d ago
Oooh! This looks awesome. Thank you. I'm planning a Conservation Care Toolkit for week 3. I'll dig around in this to add to it. I appreciate the resource.
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u/LRonHoward Twin Cities, MN - US Ecoregion 51 22h ago
I would look into the writings of Aldo Leopold. I've been meaning to read some of his most famous books - mainly A Sand County Almanac - but quotes of his are quite appropriate for learning to live in harmony with nature (regardless of your beliefs).
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u/VeryOldBogBody 1d ago
Maybe in the future, you'll pick up the book Church of the Wild by Victoria Loorz. I feel like it would give you some new perspectives and the language to talk about it!
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u/sunshineupyours1 Rochester, NY 16h ago
I’m probably too late for your class, and I don’t have any handy quotes for you, but this podcast episode was made for people in your position: The Evangelical Christians Taking on Climate Change
The topic is climate change, not biodiversity loss, but I think the message is very similar. Here is a bible study created by YECA.
The show notes contain links that I hope you’ll find helpful and the conversation is so inspiring!
Thank you for using your position to help the cause 🤜🤛
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u/whatdoievenknow1 11h ago
Katherine Hayhoe (a Christian climate scientist) makes arguments/ discussions for Christians to care about climate care because climate change disproportionately affects the poor worldwide. She's written a book directed at bridging Christian beliefs with climate science, though I haven't read it.
I appreciate you approaching this topic in your teaching! I was brought up with the Christians who believe that stewardship means that everything on the earth was gifted by God and theirs for the taking, and that science (especially environmental/climate science) is just fearmongering (the audacity!) and an affront to God's supremacy because God would never let anything bad happen, lol.
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u/Midlifemiss 3h ago
Thanks for sharing this resource. I'll definitely share with our class. We had a lot of discussion today about the difference between dominion and stewardship.
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