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Biophony and Mindful Listening July 17th, 2023
By Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
Early in June as I sat on the porch in the morning listening very carefully to the outdoor bird symphony, I heard an unusual sound, “chuck, chuck, chuck”, and I thought, if this is a bird it is new to me. I doubted that, so I researched vocalizations of chipmunks since they have been quite active around the yard lately. Sure enough, I learned that chipmunks use that call when there is an aerial predator around, and I had just observed a hawk in the trees! I also learned that if the predator is terrestrial, an alternate sound is chosen. I delighted in becoming more familiar with chipmunks that entertain me throughout the day, and I was captivated by their caring for other chipmunks with this warning sound.
(Photo by Veronika Andrews, Pixabay)
Recently I have been spending some of my morning meditation time listening intently in the backyard, thanks to learning about the ecological soundscape. This name includes three distinct sounds we hear all the time and usually just lump together: biophony, the collective sounds produced by all living beings in a particular area; geophony which includes all nonbiological natural sounds like wind, water, thunder; and anthrophony, the sounds we humans generate like music, language and noise. Soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause coined these words, calling them the voice of the natural world!
Krause’s study of natural sound led him to see the importance of expanding
(Photo by GDJ, Pixabay)
our perceptions beyond the visual, giving us a deeper experience of the wider world which he says is always more complex and compelling than we think. He points out that careful listening “rivets us to the present tense – to life as it is – singing its full-throated choral voice where each singer is expressing its particular song of being”. I hadn’t thought of mindful listening as riveting me to the present moment, but this message called me to include careful listening in my morning meditation, expanding my mindfulness to include so many lovely voices singing their songs of being. And I find what Krause found – creation is way more complex and compelling than my mind can wrap around.
There is one more thought about listening to all forms of sound that I want to include, and it comes from Thomas Berry who links us to an often ignored source of our ecological crisis: We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe. All the disasters that are happening now are a consequence of that spiritual ‘autism.’
May the practice of mindful listening help heal our broken world.
2023 Laudato Si Action Platform: Building a Future Together July 6th, 2023
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform (LSAP) is an action-oriented 7- year ecological conversion journey in the spirit of integral ecology intended to support and empower families, communities and institutions to achieve total sustainability.
In part II of OMI JPIC’s Laudato Si Action Platform, we revisit the commitments we have taken on and ponder what other action steps we might add to our list.
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2023 Laudato Si Action Platform
In this publication we are taking advantage of work that has been prepared by VIVAT International, “Eco LIFE and Action” and the various steps for action they have suggested. The Missionary Oblates are associate members of VIVAT and participate actively in a number of their common projects.
- Visit VIVAT’s website: www.vivatinternational.org
Watch this video about the one billion bamboo project of VIVAT members in the Philippines (https://vimeo.com/719325606/b80359ecde).- This is an example of how the local communities address the impact of climate change (i.e., typhoons and floods in the Philippines) by planting one billion bamboo by 2030. This effort is for climate change mitigation and adaptation through a nature-based solution.
Additional Resources:
- Oblate Ecological Ministry (Godfrey, IL)
- Oblates Partner with Three Part Harmony Farm (Washington, DC)
- OMI JPIC Laudato Si Action Platform – PART I (August 2022)
- Laudato Si in Action at Oblate Parish (August 2020)
- Laudato Si themes to integrate in Justice & Peace work (May 2020)
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2023 Laudato Si Action Platform
The goal of this initiative is to introduce a VIVAT spirituality of creation, provide concrete proposals for ecological conversion, and connect VIVAT members at the international level to promote the integrity of creation through awareness raising and advocacy.
Restoring the Forest and Ourselves June 9th, 2023
By Sr. Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director, La Vista Ecological Learning Center
RESTOR is a global restoration movement with an inspiring mission: “accelerating the conservation and restoration of nature for the benefit of people, biodiversity, and climate”. RESTOR does this by “connecting people and their projects to resources like scientific data, monitoring tools, funding, and each other to increase impact, scale, and sustainability of these efforts. We believe that anyone can be a restoration champion”.
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have been restoration champions since 1993 when they were the first landowners in the area to dedicate sixteen acres, the “Missionary Oblates Woods Nature Preserve”, as part of the Illinois Nature Preserve System. In 2001 they added one hundred forty-three acres in the Forest Legacy Program. With this history, OMI has become a member of the RESTOR movement; consequently, it is possible to explore specifics about biodiversity on their land using RESTOR data. On Oblate land in Godfrey, IL, diversity includes 1,409 plant species, 31 amphibian species, 46 mammal species, and 174 bird species. That’s a lot of biodiversity on a little over 250 acres!!!
Photo courtesy of K8, Unsplash
La Vista’s Monday study group just completed reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, and one of Kimmerer’s insights we loved is appropriate here. She comments that when we think of ecological restoration we think about what we are doing to and for land like invasive species and trash removal, controlled burns, and planting native species which we do at La Vista. However, Kimmerer expands this thinking when she explains that, in the indigenous tradition, when we do ecological restoration we are really restoring ourselves! This must explain why, when volunteers head back to their cars after restoration work, they comment about feeling happy, fulfilled, nourished. It is true. Why else would volunteers drive a distance to get dirty, work hard, and brave tick bites? The principle of reciprocity as at work here! Once again, native people help us with an alternative reality.
Kimmerer also phrases it this way, “Land loves us back”. In the case of preserves, it does this in part by providing a peaceful and healthy environment for those who visit; by increasing wildlife, thus reducing species loneliness and countering biodiversity collapse; by cleaning the watershed, contributing to a healthier Mississippi River for humans and other species.
Truly, ecological restoration is a two-way street, and Pope Francis agrees. In the encyclical Laudato Si’ he shows awareness of this deep connection: “God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement”. The opposite is also a reality – when we help heal damaged land, we are also healed. Healthy people and healthy planet go together.
Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI Moderates Environmental Justice Event June 2nd, 2023
In April, the Socially Responsible Investment Coalition (SRIC) held their 2023 Annual Educational Event, Environmental Justice: Reducing Ecological Impacts and Social Inequalities at Whitley Theological Center – Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX.
The event was moderated by Fr. Séamus Finn, OMI and the first ever Citizen Advocate Excellence Award was presented to Sr. Elizabeth Riebschlaeger, CCVI. Keynote speakers were, Virginia Palacios, Executive Director of Commission Shift and City Councilman Mario Bravo, representing San Antonio District 1.
WATCH THE EVENT VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq0OYDdRYHg
Virginia Palacios, spoke on her experiences in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas and environmental justice. City Councilman Mario Bravo, spoke of his time working on political campaigns, eventually transitioning into work around clean energy/energy efficiency. He noted his first job after graduating from college was with the Environmental Defense Fund.
For over a decade, the honoree Sr. Elizabeth, has worked with small communities throughout the Eagle Ford Shale that are experiencing health impacts and environmental pollution from oil and gas development, helping them to navigate agency complaints and permitting processes, and drawing attention to the issues they face.
VIDEO: JPIC’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform Report II May 22nd, 2023
Caring for our common home is essential to Missionary Oblate’s mission to the poor, because they are the ones most affected by the devastation to the planet.
In this resource we draw on work that was prepared by VIVAT International. In our Laudato Si’ Action Platform II we revisit the commitments we have taken on and ponder what other action steps we might add..
