Forest Advocacy Ministry Debunks Myths with New Resource
Furphies, fallacies and falsehoods abound in public discourse about forests. To counter these untruths, the Forest Advocacy Ministry has produced Forest Furphies: Refuting Fake News about Forests.
Furphies, fallacies and falsehoods abound in public discourse about forests. To counter these untruths, the Forest Advocacy Ministry has produced Forest Furphies: Refuting Fake News about Forests. This resource provides short, fully referenced responses to 15 common falsehoods about forests, with more to be added.
The Forest Advocacy Ministry is a ministry of members of the Uniting Church and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) which stands in solidarity with forests, those who defend them and all who depend on them, which is ultimately us all.
Dr Miriam Pepper, author of Forest Furphies, said, “The Forest Advocacy Ministry has prepared this resource for everyone who wants to understand more about why we should protect high-quality forest habitat.
“In Forest Furphies we address biodiversity, climate change, bushfires, economics, employment and human uses of forests. It is important to recognise, though, that public discussions about these matters are not just about a contest of ‘facts’. Underlying them are deeper questions about what we value and how we understand ourselves in relation to forests,” she said.
Rev. Dr Jason John, Forest Chaplain, offers pastoral support to forest defenders. He commented, “What we find among those dedicating hours or years of their lives to defending our remaining areas of high-quality forest habitat is a preoccupation with love. Not just sentimental affection for the forests, but the kind of active love of neighbour Jesus talked about. A desire to see our other-than-human neighbours, or even cousins, thrive in what is left of their homes. This should sit well with us as Christians.
“The Genesis 2 creation story pictures humans as created to serve and protect God’s garden, and with the insights of evolution and many wisdom traditions we now know ourselves to be part of one enormous Earth family, even if many of us are living like the prodigal son before he came to his senses,” he said.
In the words of the Uniting Church Assembly (1991), “God loves the divine creation and wills the development of its life … Nature has a right to the protection of its eco-systems, species, and populations in their inter-connectedness.”
And in the words of the Religious Society of Friends (2008), “We ... strive to live a just life which values the air, the waters, the soil, living things and the processes sustaining all life. We commit to the demanding, costly implications of radically changed ways of living ... out of joy, celebration, reverence and a deep love of life.”
Jason John interviews Miriam Pepper about Forest Furphies at the Bellingen Readers & Writers Festival Fringe event