Roswell Earth Coalition Commits To Protecting Nature

ROSWELL, GA - From the Roswell Earth Coalition: On Sunday, Earth Day local leaders of faith and political leaders of both parties joined the Roswell Earth Coalition at the Roswell Community Masjid to pause and consider our responsibilities to each other and to the earth. The intent of the gathering was to offer assurances to the larger community that leaders are willing to work together to maintain the natural beauty and distinctive character of Roswell and to ensure a sustainable future for all.

Roswell has never deferred to Atlanta and has always been the distinctive place on the Chattahoochee River with distinctive history, natural beauty, and an outstanding parks system. Recent rapid growth in North Fulton resulting in extensive clearcutting is changing the character of the area. One such development in Roswell seems to make light of the situation by removing all the trees and then naming the development Canopy.

The changes have prompted citizens from various backgrounds to form the Roswell Earth Coalition to consider opportunities to insure that Roswell does not lose the distinctive qualities that drew so many here.

Leaders of four different faith traditions spoke at the event of the responsibilities of our species to protect and insure the vitality of life in all its forms. Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner with Temple Beth Tikvah spoke of the urgency of this moment but expressed that our individual actions in combination can become a great wave of restoration. Reverent Dave Dunn of the Unitarian Universalist Church on Crabapple spoke of the divinity in every living thing and the fact that we are the natural world with the critical capacity to sustain the interdependent web of life. Imam Arshad Anwar with the Roswell Community Masjid shared a story from the Koran about the importance of planting seed even when hope is not apparent. The minister from Sikh Gurdwara on Woodstock Road expressed commonality with the other faith traditions in assuming responsibility for nurturing the earth given by God. Matt Tyser liaison to the Roswell Parks Department
speaking on behalf to the four newly elected City Council members in attendance expressed the importance of planting trees to equal all that are lost.

Bassem Fakhoury who initially extended the invitation led the group in planting a fig tree at the Masjid. The fig symbolically referenced in the Bible and the Koran will serve as a reminder of our on going responsibility to the earth, to each other and to future generations.

The Roswell Earth Coalition encourages citizens to work with developers to ensure responsible growth and respect for the natural environment and to assume personal responsibility for the health, beauty and diversity of their yards, their neighborhoods and their community.

Stating simply what we do must be in harmony with the natural world that we are given. It is our delight and our responsibility to cherish and preserve beauty and life in all its diversity for our children and all to come.

Image via Shaheen Bharde