A Lenten Devotion by Mary Memmott
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve sprints of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.
Exodus 15:27
A letter to the editor, written by Mary Memmot, for the Worcester Telegram this summer, in response to an article about planting a trillion trees.
To the editor:
From 1933 to 1942, FDR’s New Deal program, the Civilian Conservation Corps, planted over 3 billion trees. I checked those numbers when I read “Best way to fight climate change? Plant a trillion trees.” At 1930’s pace, we would need about 2,000 times the effort to plant those trillion trees. But this is 2019, and our problem is global — so surely this is possible.
Imagine the good that could come from millions of young people, around the world, coming together to plant trees. As a middle school science teacher, I know that teenagers are hungry for something meaningful to do about climate change. When I remind them to recycle, or get their parents to carpool, I often get the “look” — the look given to a patronizing adult. Like the jobless young men who flocked to the CCC, they are ready to use their energy in more meaningful ways. Like the CCC in the 1930s, this kind of mobilization will only be possible with government support. We need to elect leaders who take climate change seriously and are ready to do something about it — a Green New Deal and beyond.
May we plant a trillion trees, a trillion seeds, a trillion signs of hope, one at a time. Amen.