Genesis opens with a story of Creation where God scoops up some Earth, breathes life into it, and forms a human being.  Then God calls the human to work – to till and keep the Garden.

Matthew 25 tells the story of another call we humans have – to feed all who are hungry, especially the least of these, just as readily as we would feed Jesus.

This Earth Garden in which we live is a delicate ecosystem that requires balance and sacrifice from all living things.  Sadly, we humans have tipped the balance to rapidly accelerate climate change to the point of creating unhealthy and unsustainable living conditions for all creatures, including ourselves.

Climate change affects all of us, but especially the poorest and most vulnerable.  Among other things, climate change decreases food and fishing harvests, which causes the loss of food and food worker jobs, which increases the price of food, which causes food insecurity, which leads to malnutrition and mortality.  And that’s in our first world.  For our second and third world neighbors, the line goes directly from a decrease in food to malnutrition and death.

As concerning, unjust, and overwhelming as this is, there is something we can do about it:  stop – throwing food – in the trash.  Why?  Because food scraps – leftovers – that get tossed in the trash release methane as food decomposes.  Methane is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping and holding heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.  We can eliminate this everyday source of methane if we just stop throwing food in the trash.

Eliminating food waste by producing less in the first place, preparing just what is needed, and composting food scraps instead of throwing them away is an easy way to make a big difference in the quest for environmental justice.  When we care for the Garden, we care for the least of these.

This Resolution lists several concrete steps that congregations and individuals can take.  I challenge you to pick one or two of them and take action.

Let’s educate ourselves and others about food waste, food insecurity, and environmental justice.  Let’s take seriously our responsibility to care for the Earth and the least of these.  Let’s be the prophetic voice God calls us to be as we till and keep the Garden.