Easier, than catching leaves.

Lighting of the original Washington Monument, complete with fireworks! and SBI cohort friends (Aliya, Sara N, Laura and Miraya– and others not pictured)

Post Washington Monument lighting fun is only complete with Tiyumba (Aubrey’s son) admiration play time! (Josh and Lexi Smith, Aliya and Tiyumba!)

Other Baltimore sights:

• Bare Branches, doesn’t it look like the painting I made?
• JELLY FISH at the National Aquarium, which is pale in comparison to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium–but Sufey Patty and I got in for $8 last Friday
• Yellow gingko leaves that wave “hi!” to me

Lastly,

SNOW IS HAPPENING TOMORROW ALL DAY STARTING at 1PM!

Only 4 essays, 1 Biostats quiz, 1 Reseach in Mental Health final paper, 1 Research in Mental Health presentation, 2 Biostats problem sets, and 1 biostat final stands in the way.

And of course, there are those three final papers due after I get home. I told my dad that I was going to lock myself in my room after Will and Shirley’s wedding and that he’d have to bring me food and slide it under the door…

Can’t believe I am that excited to spend a month in Fremont, California…

Thank you Jesus for the good things you have lavished on me in this time of  transition and new beginnings.

• Photography Now-China Japan Korea @ SFMOMA September 12-Dec 20 **** THIS ENDS THE DAY AFTER SHIRLEY and WILL’S WEDDING!!*****
• There’s a Mystery There- Sendak on Sendak @ Contemporary Jewish Museum September 8- January 18, 2010
• King Tut @ de Young June 27- March 28th
• Focuses on the Artist @ SF MOMA October 22-May 23rd

Btw, to entice you all to come visit me in Baltimore, MD. The American Visionary Art Museum current exhibit “Life Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness” is provocative, insightful, and gripping! All artists on exhibit are self-taught and most pieces are mix medium. Loved it.

R-> L : An awesome cathedral in my neighborhood, sushi i made for a SBI potluck, what i was for halloween, my newest art piece, brooklyn!, john dufour with a broken umbrella he got off the streets!

I read: Floods Bring Chaos to the Philippines...and my mind immediately jumped to the dirty river behind Philcoa 1 training center and how the periodic rains would cause it to rise. Is that river now seeping into the bottom floor of the house? is it consuming it?

What about the garbage village in Tondon. Their makeshift homes surrounded by mud mixed with the waste of the wealthy. Are they now just swimming in it all? Their houses beyond repair? All their meager possessions lost under the flood?

And where will these people go after the floods recede and their homes are left in ruins? What about their small sari sari stores and banana que selling street side stands? All of their potential livelihood would have drifted away. Their lack of financial and physical protection would leave them deeper in poverty and displaced while government money will be poured into cleaning up the business sectors and malls of Manila.

And somehow, you and I are part of this problem. Our consumptive and carbon emitting ways are directly affecting the poor. Rising global temperatures are not only raising the sea level but also creating more intensive and destructive storms. We’ve heard a lot about these storms in the late. Hurricane Mitch in 1999. 2006 Tsunami in Thailand. Hurricane Katrina. Floods in Taiwan. Countless Hurricanes in Florida. Typhoons in Japan. And now, the Philippines. These of course are just the news worthy ones, the ones that are most noticeable. What we  can’t really notice is the gradual change of weather patterns, especially if they don’t immediately affect us or seem to be for our advantage. Who doesn’t like more sun and hot weather?

Unfortunately the most vulnerable countries and communities to these human catalyzed natural disasters are developing Southeast Asian and Caribbean countries. And of course within those countries, it is the poor who carries the heaviest impact. They are the most vulnerable to natural disasters because of their economic instability. It isn’t easy to start over if everything they depend on —their crops and homes —get wiped out. And the urban poor who live in barrios and slums will also suffer.

This is just not right. We are not reaping the consequences of our hunger for MORE and BETTER and economic GROWTH. The indirect cost of pollution, CO2 emittance, and environmental degradation is not felt. We blindly  and hungrily continue in our developed country ways without regard to the hungry and marginalized.

We need to start being globally minded humans. We share this beautifully created world with others. We need to become better stewards of the land, water, and resources.

Jesus calls us to care for the least of these. To take care of the widows and the orphans. To give the thirsty and drink. To give the hungry food. To be kingdom minded and justice oriented we also need think about what it means to care for the environment and to curb our carbon consumption because if we don’t we will be taking away water, food, shelter, and life from the least.

The truth and reality is: the first will be last and the last will be first.

A few practical things:

• Consider taking public transportation, walking, or riding your bike as an alternative way of transportation
• Eat locally and support the local farmers… or grow your own food!  The amount of energy used to create, package, and ship your food to the grocery store is ridiculous.
• Unplug things that aren’t being used. You’re still using electricity when the light is not on yet the lamp is still plugged in.
• Instead of drying our clothes via the dryer– hang dry them.
• Pray for the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Dec 2009 in Copenhagen. That the leaders of this world would have wisdom to make the necessary and hard steps to regulate carbon emissions.
• Pray for the US to become a leader in climate change and environmental issues. As of now, we have yet to be a international player in this issue or pass a bill on energy regulation. (There is currently one in the works, but it’s not as bold as it needs to be)
• Read: Citizen’s Guide to Climate Policy or Lester Brown’s Plan B 3.0

The sermon at church on sunday at Faith Christian Fellowship.

Through my conversations with friends who also just started graduate school.

And again, today at Public HEalth Christian Fellowship through the testimony of Professor Anbarasi Edward.

I’m even physically running more!

@ PHCF, Prof Edwards shared about the countless ways that God has used her as a student and professor to be a witness to influential students and professors. Professor wives being healed. A student’s parent encountering God in jail and restored as a president of an African country. Integrated bible studies to public health interventions…She is a woman of great faith! And she is a living example of what it means to seek God’s kingdom in the realm of public health and at the highly academic/ influential school of JHSPH.

And as she was sharing about her experiences working on the field and in academia as a Chrsitian, my soul started stirring.  I started to grasp the position of influence that God has placed me in and the many ways He wants to use me (and other Christians) at JHSPH and beyond. An excitement sparked, like when I first realized that I could live misionally on a dorm floor or that as Christians we are called to seek the welfare of a city.

Really, this shouldn’t be anything new. The idea of “seeing students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed” has always been close to my heart. But, applying the idea from UC Berkeley to JHSPH is difficult..  I think I’ve been bogged down by the things that entangle– the pressure, the exams, the stress, the transition period. It’s easy to forget my identity and the way I am called to live out my life.

And now, I’ve been reminded. It’s like reading Hebrews 11 about the faith of the great cloud of witnesses. The list of me and women of old who in faith did crazy things for the kingdom. Hearing about Anbarasi’s faith and the fruitful outcomes, I am also able to run confidently.

1. Thanksgiving to God for the places of influence and education, the high calling on our lives
2. Stewarding our education by using it to seek God’s kingdom here and now.

Obviously the responses look different in our individual lives and areas of interest/ calling, but together the effect should be a witness to truth and love of Christ. What is frustrating is that response (2) seems to be on the hold due to the fact that I am stuck in a one block by one block building on E Monument St, Baltimore. I’m accumulating facts, theories, & knowledge in my mind to simply regurgitate on papers and exams to hopefully be marketable for higher education or my future career. The presence is  hoarding for the future….

Today, in Global Environmental Public Health course, we talked about the US’s consumer mentality and how our country’s economic health is tied to consumerism. Yet consumerism produces detrimental effects on the environment. So what’s more important: the environment or the economic market?  And of course we talked about the conflicting and controversial views of the general public on environmental issues, specifically due to religious beliefs  and lack of scientific understanding. Furthermore, the professor made a statement that made got me thinking:

“If all our beliefs (majority of Americans) are not based on scientific knowledge  than how can we address environmental issues, which is based on science?”

Of course this, I believe, is a large generalization. (Although perhaps it’s because I am from the “liberal” Bay Area, California). Yet it got me thinking about how Christians can be at the forefront of environmental issues. How can we disseminate knowledge about the state of our global environment to those in the church?

There are a few books out there by IVP like “Green Revolution” (which I have not read, so I don’t know if I should be endorsing it or not), but really the only people who will read it is if they are already somewhat interested.

So I am thinking about TRYING TO START A MOVEMENT, using the venues of blogging/ facebook/twitter, and disseminate knowledge to Christian circles I have some influence in. I am planning to write at least one blog a week on what I’ve learned in my GEPH course from a Christian perspective. Furthermore, I am hoping to propose practical weekly responses to these issues. Instead of hoarding, I am sharing my resources.

I am hoping that somehow, I could start a blogger following of sorts, especially from those who are ministry leaders/ small group people/ iv staff etc who could:

1. start a discussion about the issues at hand
2. disseminate information to their congregations
3. put in practice some practical responses/ ask others to follow

The immediate purpose is not to save the global environment and make tree huggers out of everyone. Instead,  it’s about disseminating education and provoking a conversation about how the Christian faith ties into environmental justice/stewardship.

Here’s  something to think about:

In promoting consumerism change/ environmental justice, Christians are not handicapped by our non scientific beliefs/ world view. Ifyou just  look closely at the truths from the Bible, you will find that care for the environment is part of our human identity as one made in the image of the Creator God.