Faith, Activism & the Climate Crisis| Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode

of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and I am so

excited to be joined here by three folks who

are part of our Trinity family. And we're going

to be talking a little bit more about creation

care, about what it means to care for our earth,

why any of that matters, and what it actually

has to do with Jesus at all. Because sometimes

we think of those as very separate things, but

hopefully throughout the course of this conversation

we'll sort of dive into some connections between

those things. So thank you so much for joining

me, folks. Good morning. Yeah. So maybe I'll

just get you to start by introducing yourself,

saying your name, and a little bit about some

of the ways that you have been involved in caring

for the earth. Do you want to start us off? Sure.

Good morning. My name is Diana Gomez. I have

been coming to Trinity for about a year. Okay.

Lived in Mississauga for a decade. So my latest

role, I've joined the Credit Valley Conservation

Foundation. And so I work very closely with CBC,

the authority, to engage and rally the community.

So that's a little bit about me. Okay, great.

Thank you. So hi, my name is Mia. I'm still in

high school, so I don't have much job experience

yet. That's okay. But to me, I think some ways

that I'm currently helping out in my community.

Right now is, I'll talk about more of this later,

but I started a nonprofit where basically you

just go around, we interview different people

of, I guess, different careers. And one of the

things we did earlier was a conservation series.

So we were able to reach out to people that I

mentioned that have careers in, I guess, conservation

sustainability. And we did that kind of as an

initiative for Earth Day a while ago. So that's

one thing I do. I guess outside of that, maybe

just like my usual like recycling things that

I guess. Yeah. I'm just thinking of now, but

that's just about me. Yeah, no, that's awesome.

Thanks. My name's Adrienne. I've been here, I

think, three -ish years now. I have done mostly

volunteering in this space, I guess. So Girl

Guides, huge emphasis on Earth stuff. And then

I work with a charity where we're giving. um,

gently used prom wear to high school kids for

free who might need an appeal. I work with a,

um, a menstrual charity that provides sustainable

solutions to around the world. And then I also

ran for the green party in the last election.

So yeah, lots of different little things. Yeah.

But all sort of bring this one theme together.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So what prompted

you to want to like get involved in that work?

Why? care about the earth? Why? Like, what sort

of prompted you to want to do that? That's an

excellent question. I think for me, I've always

worked in social causes. Sure. So I came to Canada

when I was seven years old, and I actually got

help from the Salvation Army at that time. My

mom needed some help. And so I felt for me, it

was a great moment to continue to give back somehow.

So I really wanted to work in the not for profit

sector. And worked in, you know, food banks and

hospital foundations, humanitarian NGOs, international

work there. And then I moved over to the conservation.

I think from the very beginning, I felt we live

in a wonderful place here in Mississauga. You

have access to so many trail systems and green

spaces. And I was always out with my children,

naturally enjoying them. Being able to work very

close to home and understanding more about how

to protect these green spaces was very important

to me as an example, even to my own family. Right.

And what are we doing every day? These acts of

care to take care of nature. So for me, it's

been. why I've transitioned. And I'm not going

to lie to you, the perks of being seven minutes

from home was very, very a big negotiating factor,

but I'm really enjoying it. And I'm actually

learning quite a lot. I think that I have more

respect for nature and our green spaces and the

work that the authority is doing every day, because

now I'm embedded into the process internally.

Yeah. Yeah. I think like that, like. like you

said living in a space that has lots of access

to trails and green spaces i think that does

influence the way that you think about the earth

right yeah that you get to be out in it that's

right yeah yeah what about for you mia i think

for me now that i'm thinking about it i feel

like at school even in like middle school when

i was in grade maybe seven or eight we were kind

of taught a little bit about Just like our ecosystem,

how it's being affected by. I know climate change

was a big factor in some of my science classes

and still is today. So there in middle school,

I had, I think, like a green team. I think that's

what it's called. Sure. And one of the things

we did was we go around kind of to these like

conferences. I guess you learned about conservation.

You learned about how to sustain the earth. I

guess that kind of maybe like lit an interest

in me, something that I was always interested.

I was like, that's pretty cool. I see how this

would affect us. I think also for some high schoolers

my age too, I think it's also a pretty big part

of our lives. We're taught not to throw litter

on the ground. We're taught how to recycle. That's

another thing at school. So with that in mind,

I guess I'll talk more about the nonprofit. So

that came to me when I was in maybe 2023. So

when I was in grade 9 or so. And one of the first

things we ever did was we were getting answers

to our questions. It's kind of hard, I guess,

for youth. to get answers to maybe questions

that we had and we had a lot of questions about

conservation about climate change about how do

we do this like how is this affecting us but

not really like the net like right platform or

the resources to be able to ask that so me my

co -founder who lives in california we were like

that's something we would definitely want to

reach out about. And our audience was mainly

teenagers like myself. So what we ended up doing

was we would basically, our first series ever,

as I mentioned, was a conservation series. We

managed to reach out to two people from the UN

and from their division of OCHA, which is like

the humanitarian relief, I think, sector. And

we basically asked them a series of questions

that I honestly wanted to know the answers to,

but... hadn't been able to get anyone to know

like how does like humanitarian work how does

the UN work at all what are you guys doing very

cool right so that was something and I guess

once I got answers from them I realized this

is definitely something that I kind of want to

I don't say pursue but something I want to definitely

know more about how obviously as I'm going to

be I know it's kind of I don't know how to say

it, kind of cringy, but how like the next generation

is going to be the one on this earth. Because

we're always mentioned by our teachers. That

was something I guess I was always like, oh,

I have to keep that in mind. I have to learn

so much more about, I guess, our earth. And I

want to share all this knowledge that I get with

kind of people of my generation. So that was

something that I guess my mindset was coming

into today and still is of today. More recently.

what i've been doing is after conservation series

i was reaching out to basically everyone i was

like hey i've had my name is mia i have so many

questions for you is there time that i could

ask though yeah we got to chat to some people

really wonderful people from the canadian wildlife

federation and to be honest um when you're in

school i know there's this course in grade 10

you take which is called careers and you get

to learn about everyone's careers something i

never learned about was careers in kind of the

environment or like humanitarian that was something

that was just never considered i had no idea

and i still kind of don't but i had no idea what

you and like people do like these different sectors

right and so through these um asking people for

jobs i was also kind of i guess opening my eyes

to a whole another level which i feel like is

something i don't usually get to do or people

my age usually don't get to do so i guess that

was just one of the main like reasons why i feel

like i've broadened my view on the world and

being more interested in conservation efforts

into our ecosystem. Sure. Yeah, that's really

cool. It's like coming from this place of like

curiosity and like being like, OK, if I'm going

to be a person in the world, I want to like understand

how it works and like how I can contribute to

that. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. What about

for you, Adrienne? For me, it probably started

with school, like in our young years. And I'm

from like rural Nova Scotia. So it wasn't like

seeing pollution and seeing all this stuff. It

was kind of new, like recycling was new. I'm

old enough that recycling was new. They really

we would do like trips and we would do all these

like appreciation type things and cleanups and

stuff. So for me, it started young and it kind

of carried through. And then my family is kind

of the same. So it was just kind of embedded

in there early and then just carried on. Yeah.

Yeah. So when you think about sort of. your faith

and how that connects with this idea of like

caring for the earth like what what connections

do you see are there ways that you know caring

for the world has impacted your faith in some

way or vice versa yeah sure for me i also like

earth is amazing and created i know that I'm

going to say it's in Genesis. I'm going to pull

out here. It talks about tending to the earth.

But it's also for me linked to humanity. Like

we live on this earth. We live on it together.

It's caring for it affects everybody. And I think

that people have a very isolated sometimes view

of like what their impact can be. But yeah. And

like the whole, I mean, it's coming a lot more

recently about climate change being such a threat

multiplier. Right. And how it's going to displace

people. poor people are impacted the most by

all of this change. So for me, even people that

I have a tougher time, maybe selling the environmental

part on it's the humanity part of it as well.

Like they're so intertwined. And I think when

people remember that it's, it's motivating. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember like when I, I also sort of

started. from a sort of humanitarian lens in

this was like, okay, I care about people and

I care about like, you know, making sure that

there's, there's justice and fair treatment and

all of these things. And I was like, you know,

the earth is. Cool. Yeah. But yeah, then to be

able to see it as like, yeah, this threat multiplier,

this like thing that if we aren't taking seriously

our job to care for the world, then we're like

actually not caring for our neighbor very well

either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I agree there.

I just want to say that I really appreciate hearing

your perspective on how you feel you didn't have

enough information. as a youth. And I think the

role of the foundation at the Crowley Valley

Conservation Foundation is to educate and inspire

not only youth, but all individuals. And I think

I like to hear that because it's a really important

element of my program to incorporate information

for youth to get involved. And as you said, you...

Youth are the next generation of stewards. And

so how are we educating them and building up

to carry the torch? Yeah. Right. To take care

of these green spaces, to do the everyday acts

like we talked about recycling and anything around

our neighborhood. So I think that that's significantly

important. And just to go back on the Bible verse

that you mentioned, it's I think it's in Genesis

chapter two, where the Lord says, the Lord God

took man into the Garden of Eden to work. Work

it and care of it. And so that's where I think

it's a really important element to say it is

about, you know, us being entrusted with something.

And I look at the creation. If God was so intentful

in creating, I mean, when I walk around and I

see just the detail on the leaf, I take a look

at how intentful and purposeful he was in creating

all of these. green spaces, all of the life that

thrives, including us, right? So we don't protect

our green spaces. It's what sustains us all.

And I think making that connection is really

important. God calls us to action out our faith,

right? And I remember this in the 90s, I was

a fan of this artist. His name was Ricardo Arjona.

He talked, in a song, he mentioned Jesus. And

he said, Jesus is not a noun. Jesus is a verb.

And so I look at that and say, if Jesus and God

created this beautiful thing for us. He only

expects us to protect it. And if we love our

neighbors like ourselves, why wouldn't we love

the spaces they live in and take care of those

and protect those? So I think it is a sense of

responsibility for all of us to take care of

the creation of Earth because it really is our

heart and our lungs. And I think if we look at

it that way. Every little act that we do from

recycling to planting trees to just taking care

of it. These are all acts that we're responsible

for. I think it's not a task. I think it's a

responsibility for all of us to do something

that will, again, pass the torch to future generations.

I know I'm getting older when I say this and

I say, well, we're here. We're temporary here.

Yeah. We're not here forever. Our home is temporary.

But who comes next, whether it's our family,

our grandchildren or our neighbors, we want to

leave a legacy behind that they can also enjoy.

Yeah. Right. So I look at that as connections

to my everyday work. And I love to hear different

perspectives because it makes me. appreciate

that we have to do this work it's important work

to tell youth and individuals and us as residents

of where we live yeah that we have responsibilities

attached to the spaces we use yeah right yeah

yeah for sure i think that's like a really interesting

point i feel like once you realize There is also

a Bible verse that I want to bring up from Psalm

instead, though. Psalm 24, where it's like, the

earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell within, right?

Thank you. So I feel like what you were mentioning

earlier, and especially what you said earlier

with the love thy neighbor thing, if... god or

jesus thinks of this world i guess as his own

and as therefore you're kind of like i don't

want to say required but there's you have that

responsibility in a that's oh i should be taking

care of this world it was given to me it was

um i guess all these like gifts of nature that

were given to me like as you mentioned when you

were working on like the credit river which is

something i always thought was really cool or

just like when you're recycling just these little

things that kind of i guess add up so we're making

sure that we're all like doing our own part just

as jesus would have wanted us to i just thought

that was kind of i like i like that i feel like

that's like a very good kind of way of thinking

about conservation so it's kind of like simplified

but it's in a way that you're like oh i know

i'm doing this for a good purpose right yeah

Yeah. And I think like all of these things sort

of remind me, I think sometimes we think that

like faith really has nothing to do with the

world, right? We think like faith is all about

coming to church and talking about spiritual

things. And that's like super important, obviously.

But also we're embodied people who live in a

body in a world, right? And so God cares about

our bodies. God cares about our world, right?

That's right. And we're part of creation. We're

part of creation. We're not separate from it.

Yeah. We're part of it. And we have to do something

within it. Yeah. So I think that that's what

it comes down to. That we're all connected. It's

connected relationship with God. But if you love

God, you take care of what he's created. Right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that piece

that you just said that we are part of creation.

I think that's something that's easy for us to

forget sometimes because God creates humanity

and God says, OK. have dominion over it like

take care of it but at no point does god say

you are god yeah god is above creation god sets

the rules we are still part of this world that

god has made and so we have a role yes to take

care of it but to take care of it as part of

it that's right yeah yeah yeah for sure um so

Are there any ways that like when you think about,

you know, doing this work of caring for the earth,

are there any ways that that doing that work

has like taught you something about God or helped

to like enrich your faith in some way? I walk

my neighborhood very differently now. Like I

think working with the conservation, which has

taught me quite a lot in terms of what they do,

we work. Well, they work summer, winter. They're

checking our river systems, making sure that

our drinking water is still healthy. If something

reaches the water, like we will know right away

because we are constantly monitoring. Sure. I

say we because we're a team, but CVC does that.

I won't take credit for their job, but the foundation

gets to educate people about that work. Right.

And so. Now learning all of these aspects of

what an authority does, for me, it's been quite

a grounding experience because when I walk my

neighborhood in the trails, which is the Credit

Valley Trail, actually will. The vision will

be right behind us. That vision starts. So the

river starts in Port Credit and it goes all the

way up to Orangeville. So CVC is actually working

towards building one trail system. It's going

to be 100 kilometers accessible to all of us.

Wow. And by that, I mean, whether you are walking

or you need special assistance, like the trail

system is being built so that everyone enjoys

it. Understanding all of these aspects, indigenous

culture and heritage and how we're making the

Credit River system into an outdoor classroom,

getting more youth out. Right. Knowing that I

didn't know that we had 13 over 1300 plants of

plant species in this area. Wow. We have very

unique snakes, salamanders, frogs, birds and.

Unlike any other place in Canada. And so to know

that and to learn that makes me appreciate every

time I have a walk. Sure. I look at nature differently.

Yeah. We're very unique in this area. We have

lots of natural resources. And like, why wouldn't

I want to take care of it? So I do have a different

lens now as I thank God for what he's created

because such unique spaces, but also as a responsibility

to say, you know what, we have to. do something

about this if we want to maintain these wonderful

assets for us. Because personally, in my life,

nature has always been there to provide healing.

Like in my toughest times of life, I go for a

walk and I sit in solitude in nature and I talk

to God and I see his creation. And so nature

is doing its job for us. And we have a responsibility

to do a job to protect it as well. Yeah, yeah,

for sure. I really like that. Recently, so around

last year, I got a job at the city. I was doing...

um skate patrolling basically you know um celebration

square i would just be there i'd be watching

people skate me that's literally my job just

patrolling the rink and one thing that i didn't

really was realized was required in the job was

we would have to pick up so much trash around

the area so what happened was before i got there

like right after school when i got there we would

try to empty out oh right empty out the trash

bins and there's so many of them and i and kind

of also what we had to do which i've never done

before is they just take those bins and you have

like those scoopers you go around you scoop up

all the trash that people leave on the table

on the rink and originally i thought wow like

this is so much work i'm not like fulfilled i

don't like doing this like it's kind of an aspect

of my job i guess i'll tolerate it but sure it's

not really interesting to me but then again i

guess as um sorry as you said earlier i thought

i guess if i changed my mindset and i thought

about oh how all like i'm kind of doing like

jesus a favor in a way i'm kind of doing as he

wanted me to do right i'm picking up all this

trash i'm helping take care of our earth and

even if other people don't do it that's okay

because i guess it is kind of my responsibility

in a way to make sure like this space is maintained

and i always after i thought about that i would

actually start not necessarily like looking forward

to but i would enjoy kind of taking like trash

i would just like walk around i would um do the

benches and it was like 11 like in the night

so no one would be around sure and i'd be like

wow i'm doing i really feel good doing this in

a way i feel like um i feel like i'm doing my

part i feel like this is what um kind of is inspiring

motivates me even though i might not not necessarily

have really enjoyed it And then on my last day,

it's a seasonal job. So it was from, I guess,

December to March. So actually really recently,

on my last day, one of the supervisors, they

kind of just loaded all of the workers on the

last day. And we just got into, it's kind of

like, of course I don't know what they are, but

they just drive around. And we went to these

different like parks of the city. So Korea down,

it's like the Japanese park. And we were there

and we were just picking up trash. And I was

there and it was a pretty cold day. So there's

a lot of snow. I didn't expect to see any animals

or anybody. But there were these little groups

of like kids. they were looking at the ducks

at korea and we were just walking by and and

i guess it was around this time that the trees

and we were also blooming like really cherry

blossoms yeah i was really surprised too because

it was so early yeah and i just thought about

that and i was picking up the trash and i'm really

like helping make this place beautiful i feel

like and i felt really like good i feel like

that's um maybe and like you change your mindset

on the things that you're doing sure right and

you change your outlook like you mentioned earlier

Um, I feel like that kind of makes like a world

of difference for me. And that's what happened

to me. I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's like,

there's like this verse in the Bible that talks

about, you know, whatever you do, do it like

for the glory of God. So whatever you're doing

while you're picking up trash, you're picking

up trash, like for the glory of God. Right. Like

that. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. What about

for you? What would you sort of add to that?

I've lost track of the original question. The

original question was, are there any ways that

sort of caring for the earth and doing some of

this work has enriched your faith or helped your

understanding of God in some way? For me, it

would be more like when I come to church, I really

appreciate the community part of Christianity.

When I'm out in creation, when I'm out in the

world, when I'm out in nature, I really appreciate

the wonder and the spectacle of it all, right?

The creativity. So for me, it's just another

kind of facet of the whole part of being. Sure.

In the family. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And

I think, like, Diana, when you were talking about,

you know, the different species of, like, salamanders

and frogs and all of these different things,

like, that's super cool. And I think, like, just

so interesting to think, like, God... made each

of them. And God was like, you know what you

need? You need 13 species of salamanders because

that somehow expresses more of who God is than

one species of salamander possibly could. Right.

Like that's super cool. Yeah. When I think of

God, like, you know, we, we look at ourselves

like we're really smart people, all of us. Right.

But when you think of the IQ of God to create

All these plants, like when you look at roses

and you look at all the little details, the leaves,

like you said, the snakes, anything around nature,

everything has such detail that I'm like, I could

never even reach a little inch of that creativity.

And so God was so thoughtful in what he created.

And if we love him, it's just we have to take

care of his creation and us included. Yeah, yeah,

for sure. um so i think sometimes when we think

about you know caring for the earth it's really

easy to get discouraged it's really easy for

us to think okay there's especially you know

when you watch the news and you see all of the

bad things that are happening and you're like

this feels like pushing a boulder up a hill and

actually the boulder's just rolling back down

on top of me sometimes it feels that way um So

in the midst of all of that, are there any pieces

that are like giving you hope right now? That

when you like look at it or think about it, you're

like, oh, actually, this is a really good news

story in the midst of all that's challenging.

I could tell you right away, it just jumps out

at me, all of us here. I am so inspired by hearing

what we all do and how we all feel. So, you know,

when you mentioned hope in humanity, this is

it. Like I see hope in you and all of us because

we. We understand that God created this and we

want to please him and we want to take care of

his creation. So what we do in our everyday lives

will be just that. And so as we are light, as

we are working and doing his work around our

own every day, I think we're naturally going

to be that glue, that information. Like now you're

going to look at your friends and you're going

to tell them quite differently. Right. And so

I think if we're all actioning, that gives me

optimism. That gives me hope in that we can do

this. Like we can talk about this. We can educate

each other. And everybody can contribute in so

many different ways that, again, goes back to

taking care of creation. So I feel inspired when

I hear that we are all thinking that we want

to please God and take care of his creation.

And so we get to go out and. And tell others.

Right. And that I think it's how we live out

our faith. It's action driven. Right. And so

that inspires me. Yeah. That's good. I think

also besides, I guess, like. in real life things

another thing i just feel like i know you're

mentioning news stories but all media in general

like sometimes i know a lot of people like it

will gain a lot of traction these these videos

i guess of nature um just be posted out randomly

i guess like on like on social media platforms

or videos of like cute baby animals like you

mentioned like all those different species and

i guess one thing that does really foster in

people i know like it fostered me and my friends

it was just like the sense of a curiosity you

see this initial like thing like maybe you see

like a beautiful like waterfall and you're just

like wow this is great but then maybe you'll

get to wonder like how do we like sustain these

how do these come to be right so through like

the media through like guests like this rapidly

like spreading like social media channels where

everybody can see anything it's good to see both

the good and also the bad that will also be posted

right um because i know that is also kind of

prevalent too just like i guess like you know

landfills like all these oil spills that also

do get posted on this side i know there's like

a certain like group or like certain channel

that is pretty popular that does these like side

-by -sides like look at how beautiful the earth

is and look what we're doing to it i feel like

those kind of videos and the media in general

with the articles which i know um aren't necessarily

as well like much read as like the videos would

be sure they're still like really important i

feel like these um are helping i can only speak

for my generation but through these i know people

who've seen these and decided oh wow like is

there something i can do about this i don't want

this to happen is there something like do i need

to change something do i need to talk to people

do i need to like spread the word um i can give

like i guess a personal example one of my friends

she was i honestly this was um way before i got

very interested into this was like way back in

like grade six um but she was um she saw a video

where it was like these animals i think were

or like the polar bears that were losing their

iceberg like icebergs and she just thought to

herself she's telling us she was like this is

something i wish i really could help out with

so then fast forward a few years i'm in high

school she's founded i think a little chapter

in her own high school of like an eco school

and she's been asking people to like hey can

we donate um all these kinds of things and we

can bring them in so like recycle which i've

always thought was really like admirable and

to think that it just started because of a simple

video I feel like the media nowadays is doing

really good and also kind of keeping like somebody's

curiosity and also like provoking them try to

act on, which I think is also as important as

us going out in real life and also engaging.

Right. So I guess the media could have been used

in good ways into engage. I know it can be used

in a lot of other bad ways, but I just want to

focus on how I guess how I can like, like encourage

people. Yeah. There's two sides. Yeah. Right.

For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. For me, it would

probably be when I actually see... On social

media, for sure. Try to get my algorithm to be

a little more positive. But when we've organized

through Girl Guides a shoreline cleanup or tree

planting and how excited people are for it. To

see people doing work with their own hands and

giving up their own time and energy to do that,

that's hopeful. Because it's hard to be like,

I'm going to recycle this can and it's going

to offset that bomb that was just dropped. That's

not how it works, right? But to only control

what you can control and try to get people around

you. involved it's definitely a grassroots thing

and like the environmental um environmentalism

i guess is really grassroots and getting people

around you engaged and in your community and

when people see it it is inspiring it is motivating

um But it is work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For

sure. For sure. So building on that, then, like,

what are some ways that people can do more? If

somebody's like, I don't know where to start

with all of this. Like, what are some sort of

tips that you might offer? I mean, sorry. You

go ahead. I know for, like, myself and my youth,

there's always so many opportunities. I know

it could be hard to look for. But there will

always be kind of an opportunity maybe waiting

for myself. I was recently able to be a part

of like an ambassador, I guess, for CAGIS, which

is like the Canadian Association of Girls in

STEM. And one thing they love to do is they're

very big on, I guess, conservation. And when

I... join this program i didn't realize wow i

would learn so much again about conservation

i know this from like some of my other like fellow

like ambassadors they're like wow we're actually

doing so much one thing they like to do is that

i think billy bishop airport there's always going

to be kind of this like they have like a booth

there every like year on like this national like

girls in science i think fair which always sound

really cool um and then there last year i was

able to volunteer and they had this very cool

science experiment i think it was about there

in some way like look at gravity and how this

like changes and i thought to myself wow like

i didn't realize i guess i didn't realize this

is a way that i could help out and like like

do conservation i just thought always conservation

was like doing my recycling um making sure i'm

not wasting enough water i just thought like

these are simple ways i'm doing enough but i

feel like you can never really be doing um i

guess enough in a way you can be doing You can

always do more, right? So I guess in that sense,

it kind of opened my eyes into these new different

ways. I would say kind of, I know a lot of like

teens my age, the biggest way to get involved

for us is maybe not even through a job, like

just volunteering. Because we obviously need

like the 40 volunteer hours. And a lot of the

school, like some... things that my school promotes

is that if you go out and you kind of do this

like trash cleanup you can get volunteer hours

you know so many people some of my friends were

telling me hey me i just wanted to go do this

like for my hours but then after like two sessions

or something they would still go to these trash

cleanups and i'd be like wow like do you have

your hours or be like yeah i have all my hours

just one like i felt really good about doing

this so i guess like like volunteering really

helped me i realized i'm doing like a lot more

for like my planet also for like jesus i feel

like i'm doing um it's like for a good cause

so I think through this um volunteering I guess

also like spreading the news on like social media

or anywhere like maybe I feel like all of these

ways are very valid for people of my age I can't

speak to I guess any other age but I feel like

I feel like for my age like getting like this

experience earlier on so we kind of know I guess

in the future like these are ways that like we

can help clean the earth more than just like

your usual i guess things that you're taught

in school so going out and like seeking new experiences

new journeys there's always something that i

feel like we should prioritize yeah and i think

you're in a really sort of unique position where

you have all these like volunteer opportunities

yeah and as you're sort of looking ahead to the

future you can be like okay maybe i want a job

that is you know directly conservation related

but even like okay maybe i want a job that's

like not specifically conservation related but

like i could be an engineer or i could be work

in non -profit or like wherever it is that you

want to be and incorporate like conservation

and environmental future so big right yeah i

feel like a lot of people don't realize like

apart from my age i didn't realize like we have

so many careers you have so many experiences

you have so much like to do ahead of you so it's

better to get like your get your experiences

in and I guess go from there. Yeah. That's something

I really enjoy. For sure. Yeah. I would say like

the foundation does offer lots of opportunities

and works with CVC tree plantings, right? We

work with community groups, school groups, corporations

who want to plant trees, who want to tackle invasive

species that we need to do. And then also like

there's opportunities for community cleanups.

So I would say that there's those volunteer components.

We also offer the school hours. But what I've

learned from our CVC team is at least the colleagues

that I've met, they've been there for like decades.

And so you're right about that. They started

as youth who were volunteering and they really

saw something here and they dedicated their entire

careers. to helping conserve these green spaces.

So I see a lot of that. And I do see that a lot

of youth are very social driven. Like you want

to make a change and you want it now. And I think

it's very important how we use social media and

videos to tell the story. I want to share that

the foundation right now is going through its

spring campaign, which is called the Credit Critters.

So we're highlighting all of the life now at

the watershed. And this week's focus is the bumblebee.

OK, so if you go up onto our social media and

look at that video, it's the sweetest little

video you could see. But I think that those were

the educational components start. Right. And,

you know, like getting involved means. Just small

acts. Like sometimes we look at what's happening

around the world and in every area and you look

like, how can I make a change? How can I tackle

this big problem that is beyond me? And I think

we may not be able to do that, but we are able

to do something for our own club, our own area,

our own community, our own family. And so those

small acts. Like you said, they're pleasing to

God because God is not expecting us to solve

the biggest issues. In fact, we're asking help

to help us guide and solve those issues. But

our small acts by cleaning, you know, like taking

care of our backyard, by planting non -invasive

species in your land, or, you know, even CVC

offers help with tree plantings, like native

plant plantings as well. There's a lot of ways

to work with the community, but those small acts

is how we become heroes of conservation. Right.

Like you said, recycling. I tend to see my neighbors

walking the trail and they're always with a little

bag and a little scooper. Right. And I look at

my neighbor specifically. She doesn't want recognition.

She doesn't do this for anyone. She goes out

on her everyday walk to the grocery store and

takes this with her. And then it comes back full.

So I look at that and I'm like, well, what a

blessing there, right? She's doing her part.

And if we all do our part, I think there could

be lots, there could be a huge change, right?

So those small acts and don't feel overwhelmed

by what's happening around the world. Leave it

to God. but do your part. And I think that's

how we make a difference and we see hope in humanity

and us taking care of creation. Yeah, yeah, for

sure. So I totally love all the volunteering

and all absolutely important for me. I'll just

go through like the lazier ways to do it. Which

would be like avoiding fast fashion, right? Like

the constant need to have new things. Technology

is huge. Keep things until they die. Stop getting

new things every year. Like the amount of digital

waste is insane. Buying used items, right? Like

those things actually make your life cheaper,

easier. But they have a huge impact. Like if

you could get a whole movement of people that

are like, okay, you know what? No new phones

for three years. That'd be crazy. Right. Yeah.

Economically, people would hate it, but environmentally,

it would be amazing. Yeah. So I look at the things.

Excuse me. When when I like people are busy.

So volunteering can sometimes be a big ask. Yeah.

So when I'm like, you know what? Just buy three

less things this week or, you know, like stop

buying balloons are a bigger problem for me.

There's certain things, right, where you're like,

why do we still do this? But avoiding those things

and just being cautious consumers and not just

because, you know, to save money, but just to

save the planet. Like the amount of waste that

we produce is absolutely insane. And so if we

could cut down on that, it would be huge. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. That's true. Very true. I think

the sort of note to end us on is in all of these

things, I think these are all. really important

steps that we can take. And, um, as we're taking

those steps, we're not doing them like, because

we think we can save the planet, right? We're

doing them as faithful acts of worship to God.

And as we trust that God will use all of our

little efforts to have some sort of impact and

that God is ultimately. Over all of it. That's

right. Yeah. We love our world as God loves our

world. Yeah. That's our whole job. That's a good

ending. That's right. Do what you can do. Exactly.

So thank you so much, folks. And thank you for

tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

I hope that wherever you are joining us from,

you are able to find some ways to care for your

space, whether that is just by changing your

consuming habits, by volunteering, by just getting

out and enjoying the beauty of creation. I hope.

Find some time to do that this week. And we'll

see you again next week for our next episode

of Trinity Talks. Bye.