In The Beginning – Our Relationship to God and Creation

A sermon by Brian T. Lynch

1st Reading: Job 12:7-10

In this passage, Job is debating men who hold him in contempt because they believe Job’s misfortune is the result of sin. Job says he is “righteous and blameless,” while their wisdom (or knowledge) is flawed. He quotes to them a passage that speaks to God’s superior wisdom manifested throughout creation.

Job says, “… but ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Something bothers me every Sunday. It arises twice during our church service, first during the call to confession, and again during our intercession prayers. I understand that as many as three living species go extinct every hour of worship. They aren’t just killed; they are eradicated forever due to our abuse and indifference toward nature. I carry a heavy burden of corporate guilt and personal guilt for not including them in our Sunday prayers and for not speaking out more.

Most people seem unaware of how much human actions are stressing other lifeforms on the planet. I'm not just talking about our carbon emissions and global warming, though that's significant. Relatively small changes in CO2 during the distant past have played a role in all five major extinction events in Earth’s history. CO2 levels are a ticking time bomb… or not, depending on who you listen to. But I am not just talking about global warming.

I am also talking about industrial farming, where hundreds of square miles of land are cleared for a single crop, leaving nothing alive that once lived there. And petrochemicals that farmers use to fertilize crops are polluting our water and indiscriminately killing all insects to eradicate just a few. I'm talking about the clearing of half the Amazon jungle by indigenous people who have lived here in harmony with nature for thousands of years, but now must clear the forests to make money to feed their families. There is also the spread of highly toxic "forever" chemicals that do not break down naturally in the environment but accumulate in soil, water, and living creatures, including you and me. There is also the loss of forests and habitat due to overdevelopment, and many other environmental threats that we have created, including the threat of nuclear destruction.

Our thoughtless disregard for nature - our “estrangement” from nature, as I have come to view it, is foreclosing on our grandchildren's future. We know this for sure because the actions of eight billion people have pushed Earth into the beginning of the next great extinction epoch. In biblical times, our population numbers made the idea that humans could harm the natural world unthinkable. Today, our population size makes the risk of damaging our planet inevitable. 

From the dawn of civilization to the advent of the Industrial Revolution, our planet has experienced a long period of stability. The natural extinction rate was around 5 to 10 species per year. Since then, the extinction rate has risen to between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher. If the higher estimate is accurate, God forbid, we lose three living species per hour, including this hour of worship.

I think about this possibility every Sunday. I think about it every day, and wonder, where is the church? 
More specifically, where does Christianity stand on the issue of a dying world?
Where do all of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim religions stand on the question of global salvation? I
Is it not a sin against God to cause mass extinction? Why are all the pulpits so silent on this spiritual issue?

And most disturbingly, how can any of us be sure of our spiritual salvation while we are estranged from God’s natural world?

Where do we begin to answer these questions? From a biblical perspective, we must begin at the beginning. It starts with God and His special relationship with his creation.

Genesis 1: 1-5

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day."

Telling the creation story to people thousands of years ago was a challenge. People back then had no access to the vast amount of information we have accumulated since. They certainly had no conception of just how large or old the universe is compared to the Earth. The first two sentences of Genesis reflect this. It states that the story primarily focuses on the creation of our Sun, Earth, and life. Yes, God created the heavens, but there is no description of that event. The story begins with the formless and empty darkness of the space where the solar system is today. To this purpose, verse 1-5 does a good job explaining it in terms we can all understand. It describes a sequence of creative events that parallel our modern understanding. For example, it says there was darkness, then there was light (the Sun), but no “day” until God separated light from darkness. This suggests the creation of objects that do not radiate light, such as moons and planets. This sequence parallels what we know today about the formation of the solar system. This separation of light and darkness on Earth creates evenings and mornings, and literally, the first day.

How long this sequence took is endlessly debatable, but such questions are not relevant. The creation story is not about how God created life on Earth, but why He created it. Genesis is about the relationships between God, His creation, and His chosen people. So, as we read the first two chapters of Genesis, we should pay attention to the trilateral relationships God establishes between His creation and His people.

If asked what God’s first biblical command is, many people would name the First Commandment written on the tablets given to Moses. That commandment, combined with the second, is undoubtedly the greatest commandment, as Jesus told us. But it isn’t God’s first command. Listen for His first command in this next reading from Genesis 1: 20-23. 

And God said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the skies.” So, God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said be fruitful and increase in number and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds increase on the Earth.

God said, “… be fruitful and increase in number,” to fill the earth! This is God’s first commandment to all life on earth, long before the dawn of man. God’s first command imbued all living things with an imperative to persist, adapt, and evolve when necessary, filling every inhabitable space with an abundance of life. He commanded his creatures to become co-creators of life in an unfolding process of new generation. This remains an essential feature of our natural world. When God saw that this was good, He blessed and sanctified all life on our planet.

We must honor God’s continuing relationship to what we have come to call the “biosphere.” The term refers to that relatively thin layer of inhabitable space that encircles the globe. All living things exist within it, and nothing living exists outside of it. We must not interfere with God’s plan that all life be fruitful to fill the Earth.[K5] We must not, for example, hunt the white rhinoceros or the dodo bird to extinction, as we have already done.

There are some biblical references to support this interpretation of God’s relationship to the living world. Here are a few:

Psalms 96: 11-12 says: “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.”

Isaiah 55: “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; The mountains and hills will burst forth into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Romans 1:20 says: “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse.”

God loves and has blessed all he has created. His wisdom is woven into the fabric of the universe and is available for our discovery.  Life on Earth was sanctified by God long before we arrived. What then is our relationship with this living planet?

We read in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26, that God made man and woman in his own image so that we should, “… rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the livestock, and all the earth.” This is our first clue. God always intended for us to have a measure of control over life and all of nature on this planet.  He gave us the gift of dominion, but it is not without restraint. It must not conflict with God’s universal plan for creation.

Then, after our creation, God blessed us and issued His second command, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” This command is identical to His first command to all living creatures, but for the last three words… “and Subdue it.”

From the very beginning, God intended that we should have dominion over what happens on Earth, a special gift that no other living creature was given. But the word "subdue" may sound troublesome at first. We subdue nature all the time, such as when we take natural resources and use them to create new materials, new chemicals, new medicines, new structures, etc. These are examples of our dominion over the Earth. As long as we make righteous choices, we are fulfilling God's will.

In fact, having “dominion” over the Earth may be what God meant when He said we are made in His image. We take what is and can make something new from it. No other creature can do that. We alone can study, understand, and alter nature, even our own human nature. As Genesis explains in Chapter Three, we can use our dominion to please God or challenge Him.

Next, verse 29 says, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit and seed in it; they will be yours for food." In the next verse, God gives us all the beasts, birds, and creatures that move along the ground, making clear that plants and animals are for our sustenance, not just for any purpose.

Then, in verse 31, we read: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." The Earth and all people are blessed, and therefore holy. Planet Earth, along with the halo of life surrounding it, is holy and beautiful in God’s eyes. It is the pinnacle of God’s creation. It is our Eden, and we are its gardeners.

In Genesis 2, there are additional details to consider. Verse 4 says, "… and no shrubs of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plants of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground." This is both interesting and a significant clue to our relationship with the planet. It’s interesting because we now know there was no rain on Earth for the first half billion years after creation. The atmosphere was filled with water vapor too hot to condense into rain. So, no shrubs or plants could grow. How could people living 6,000 years ago suspect such a thing? And, there being “no man to work the ground,” clearly states God intended us to cultivate the earth long before Adam and Eve.  Our human interventions are part of God’s plan.

Then, in verses 8 and 9, it says, “God planted a garden in the east as a place for man to live when he was formed… And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food." Notice that this preparation preceded us and would not be possible without all that came before. That is, it was possible once God’s creatures had been fruitful and filled the earth. The sequencing of events in Genesis is remarkable for paralleling what we know about the evolution of life on Earth.

After the garden was prepared, we read in verse 7, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

We were not made from nothing, as were the heavens, but from the dust of the Earth. And what is this dust? We know it consists of elements created in the supernova of long-dead stars, minerals from the formation and ongoing processes of the Earth, and organic chemicals from the remnants of long-dead plants and animals. We are made entirely from ingredients found only on Earth. We are not physically exotic in any way. I find this fact humbling.

In verse 15, we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Again, the relationship between man and nature is very clear. We are to work the land and use our special intellectual gifts to care for the Garden.

And then came the fall from grace. God commanded Adam, saying, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2: 16-17

Then a “crafty serpent" said, “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

In keeping with this relational perspective of Genesis, Chapter 3 is about our fall from grace. More specifically, it tells the story of how Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree to gain knowledge of both good and evil, as the serpent had promised. After eating the apple, we possessed both God’s gift of dominion over nature and added this new knowledge of alternatives to God’s will. This gave us the ability to make choices that can both please and displease God. We can use this power to care for or exploit the natural world. It was a defiant act - our original sin. It made us more god-like and capable of being rebellious. It resulted in our estrangement from God, as well as from the garden itself. 

Estrangement is sin, which leads to death. In the middle of the Garden of Eden, there were two trees, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. God banished Adam and Eve from Eden after their disobedience, so they couldn’t partake of the Tree of Life and live forever.

For centuries, biblical scholars have debated whether Adam and Eve lost physical immortality or were condemned to spiritual death. The symbolism here may not be clear, but we certainly understand today that estrangement from God leads to spiritual death, while our estrangement from God’s natural world leads to physical death and the extinction of species.

What has become increasingly evident in just the last one hundred years is that our collective estrangement from nature threatens life on Earth, including human life. Through our burgeoning population and technological developments, we have acquired the power to destroy the biosphere and disrupt the circle of life. The evidence is all around us. We have yet to assume full responsibility or accept the moral and spiritual consequences of our actions.

This god-like power to destroy life represents an evil choice right out of the Genesis story. It is a choice that was never possible in past generations. Spiritual intervention, dating back to before the time of Jesus, primarily focused on the broken relationships between people and our estrangement from God. [KN15] It is what we discuss in Bible studies and hear about from the pulpit each Sunday. That is as it should be, but clearly the theology of personal salvation has to make room for a theology of global salvation. How can we gain the kingdom of Heaven while destroying life in this world? We can no longer ignore God’s earliest commandments and His command for us to be the caretakers of every living thing.

Our physical and spiritual connection with God’s creation, with our NATURAL WORLD, changed abruptly when the first atomic bomb, ironically named "Trinity," was detonated on July 16, 1945. From that moment forward, our species gained the ability to destroy life on Earth. And that god-like capacity has since expanded in many ways. We are eating from the forbidden fruit once again. We are recommitting original sin. Our nakedness is exposed as we hide our guilt from God behind fig leaves of denials and excuses. 

We have one choice – Atonement. We must acknowledge what we have been doing and change. Restoration, reconciliation with creation, and sustainability are pathways we must choose! We are commanded from the very beginning to care for this world, this tiny blue orb of Eden among the vastness of space.

We must change. We trust God’s wisdom, not our own. Again, as Job once said:

“… but ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

Does a Legacy of the Neanderthals Still Haunt Us?

 by Brian T. Lynch, MSW 

 

An Image of a Neanderthal Man
Neanderthal humans had larger brains and were as intelligent as we are. They were also physically stronger than we are. However, according to one theory, they may have been less social by nature. This antisocial tendency ultimately contributed to their extinction if the theory is correct. 

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens interbred, resulting in most humans having 3% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes. While we do not know if antisocial behaviors have a genetic component or if that trait originates from Neanderthal DNA, we know that approximately 3% of the human population has an antisocial diagnosis. 

Regardless of the origins of antisocial tendencies, we often choose government or business leaders who exhibit these traits. We might perceive them as more capable of making difficult moral decisions that we ourselves struggle with.

Regardless of the origins of antisocial behaviors, one current theory about why the Neanderthals became extinct may offer valuable insights for us. Here is a brief summary of that theory:

1. Neanderthals lived in smaller clans, with each spaced further apart than human tribes or clans. There was less interaction and socialization between their clans.

2. Less interaction among clans led to more incestuous relationships, which in turn diminished genetic diversity over time.

3. Genetic diversity is crucial for the survival of any species. It is the foundation from which adaptations emerge and flourish during times of environmental stress.

4. Limited socialization between Neanderthal clans also meant that any innovative tools or technological advancements that could improve a clan's survival were not widely shared within the broader population, preventing other clans from benefiting from these discoveries.

5. Their reduced genetic capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions and their lack of access to knowledge about tools and technologies that would enhance their chances of survival ultimately led to their extinction.

This theory suggests essential lessons for our own survival. First, we should value and promote diversity of all kinds, whether social, cultural, or genetic. We may not recognize it now, but variations that arise among us may one day prove invaluable for our well-being. Second, we should encourage increased cross-group socialization. Excluding, marginalizing, or ignoring other groups is not a sustainable survival strategy.

In addition to fostering broad socialization across all social groups, we should openly share knowledge and technology with everyone. Finally, we should avoid electing or selecting leaders who find it easy to make difficult moral or social decisions. Their aptitude for such matters may reflect underlying antisocial tendencies, which ultimately contributed to the downfall of our ancient Neanderthal relatives.

Photo credit: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/bringing-neanderthals-life-sculptures-elisabeth-daynes

"The Era of AI Employees is Here" - God Help Us All!

 by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Dystopia is on the rise! 

First and foremost, this ad epitomizes the inhumanity, greed, amorality, and social ignorance of corporate owners. It reflects their goals to create the perfect social order for them and a dystopic future for the rest of us. 

You have to be a hollowed-out person to see this use of AI as having a positive social value or even a positive business value. Even on a practical level, it makes no sense. 

Economies are built on consumption, and consumption is fueled by cash. Increase the cash with more productive employment and/or higher wages (government infrastructure spending or government cash stimulus packages are substitutes), and the economy burns brighter. Decrease the cash with more unemployment or lower wages, and the economy smolders. 

For all the extra cash an "AI employee" saves corporate owners, the AI employee spends nothing in the marketplace. Look at this ad again. How much coffee will AI employees purchase in that store behind the sign? Notice also there are no pedestrians on the sidewalks, of course. They would contradict the message being delivered. 

Our whole economy is screwed up because economists leave out one of the most important equations... workers = consumers. 

AI contributes nothing towards the consumption of goods and services, which creates the markets. The corporate aristocracy wants a beehive society of queens, kings (drones), and AI or robot workers to serve them.  There is no room for the rest of us in that small, self-serving world. 

We, the majority, only stand a chance for a happy, productive live if we all stand together. Reject this narrative being pushed on us! Let us broaden our personal bonds with many others as we can, especially with those who not like us.  Then we can start to rebuild our democracy and our economy to serve our core social and moral values. 

The Garden State - A Paradise We Are Losing?

My personal perspective on our time in paradise. 

by Brian T. Lynch

My earlier ancestors came and settled in this region of the New Jersery Highlands 400 years ago. It was a pristine wilderness filled with every living plant, fish, and animal they could ever need to sustain themselves, just as it sustained the people who had lived here for 10,000 years before them. It was a garden of Eden… a fresh start for these disposable Europeans. It was creation as God intended. That was just twelve generations ago.

Two generations ago, my grandfather delivered milk by horse and cart. He also dug water wells by hand, finding the best groundwater with a divining rod taken from an apple tree branch. Charlie Taylor was known in Morris County for this gift. Roxbury Township once hired him to find a well for the town when all their efforts failed. He did his thing and found the water.

I was five when I watched him use a divining rod for his last and my first time. It was awesome to see bark peel off the stick in his massively strong hands as he tried to stop the pointer from turning down to the spot where our well would soon be. It was magical!

I know now that the divining rod worked for him not because it was magic or voodoo but because it was a prayer. It was an act of faith. Why has it taken me sixty years to understand this? And why has it taken me seven decades to see what we have done so quickly to our garden since?

HT: Leo for the graphic and Ted for encouraging me to write my grandfather's story

Root Cause of a Second Trump Term

by Brian T Lynch

All of the reasons people give for why Trump’s followers voted for him may be true. Yet, none of the reasons would get Trump elected if greedy rogue billionaires didn’t spend billions every year on social media operations intended to radicalize people's feelings according to their most antisocial proclivities. The MAGA movement is fundamentally a media-driven, culture-based mass hysteria. So, what is the root cause of our democratic problem?

I believe democracy is at risk because of the nearly unfathomable extremes of private wealth and the social power that it confers on individuals. Our economy is rigged to benefit the rich proportional to their private wealth. It is an exponentially growing disaster for democratic principles of human equality and representative government. The vast majority of Americans have not been fairly compensated for decades. As a result, the collective wealth of our middle and working class combined no longer offsets the growing power of private wealth.

We can’t keep a democratic nation if we don’t stand up for a fair and democratic economy that serves our common interests.

Hercules Testimony Never Given at Roxbury Planning Board

My prepared testimony for the open public Roxbury Planning Board hearing on the  Hartz Mountain application to build a warehouse on the Hercules property was never delivered. The application for the 54-acre warehouse was suddenly withdrawn, so no meeting open to the public on the warehouse was held.  Here below is the testimony I didn't give.

My frustration with the planning board meetings is that all public comments after testimony given in the hearings could only relate to the testimony given by the witnesses. The public was able to raise questions or concerns outside of what Hartz Mountain representatives or planning board members presented.

This restriction is understandable and unavoidable for the functioning of the planning board, but it is still very frustrating for the public. I looked forward to an open public planning Board meeting. I wrote my comments to highlight one small example of the larger need for a more scientific environmental study of habitats on the Hercules property. 

Comments by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Mine Hill, N.J.

May 1, 2024

I am what the Raritan Headwater’s Association (RHA) calls a citizen scientist who volunteers to monitor streams for the organization. This means I have been specially trained by them and certified as a stream monitor by the New Jersey DEP. Since 2018 I have monitored a section of the Black River about 150 yards from where it flows out of the Hercules-Kenvil property. 

I believe the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that Hertz Mountain Corporation prepared as part of their General Site Permit is inadequate for this board’s purposes. The EIS is not sufficiently site-specific to the actual fauna and flora that will be impacted. An adequate habitat inventory and assessment are lacking. My statement here tonight is to provide just one example of why a specific environmental evaluation matters at this site. 

 

A difference of 5 degrees Centigrade, or 9 degrees Fahrenheit, in-stream water doesn’t sound like much. Still, it could be the difference between survival and extinction for the American Brook Lamprey that lives in the Black River between Hercules and Sunset Lake. 

 

American Brook Lamprey are prehistoric freshwater fish that have survived every natural calamity over the past 360 million years. They are essentially unchanged from their earliest fossil records dating back that far. No one knows for how many millennia these “living fossils” have inhabited the Black River in Kenvil, but residents just downstream from Hercules have seen them for the past three years. 

 

This should be good news. The American Brook Lamprey are pollution intolerant. Their presence in the stream is the best proof Ashland Chemical has that an array of toxic chemicals in the soil is staying put rather than migrating into the "Great Spring” in the southern wetlands. These fish are also intolerant of high turbidity, high saltation, manmade barriers such as dams, and water temperatures above 20 degrees Centigrade, or 68 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 

For this reason, the U.S. EPA considers the Brook Lamprey an excellent biological indicator of water quality in our streams.  If the waters flowing from the Great Spring on the Hercules property were tainted with toxins, turbid, salt, or were too warm, the lamprey would not be present at the RHA monitoring site. Some barriers would prevent them from migrating to the monitoring site from below Sunset Lake.

 

I am the New Jersey DEP-certified stream monitor for the Black River site where water exits Hercules. Each year, my volunteer colleagues and I collect samples for laboratory analysis of the macroinvertebrates that live in the stream bed. This section of the stream is not well suited for the HDMI water quality index that is based on the macroinvertebrates analysis because the stream flows over a smooth bed of glacial sand. There are no cobbles or riffles to add oxygen to the water. Because cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, the coolness of this water iscritical for all the aquatic life in this part of the stream. Ialso measure the stream's temperature, volume, and turbidity every year. On the warmest June monitoring day in 2022, after three-quarters of an inch of rain fell 18 hours prior, the water temperature was just at 20 degrees Centigrade (68 degrees F). This is the upper limit beyond which the American Brook Lamprey cannot survive. Also, the water was only slightly turbid after a substantial rainfall that day. 

 

This observation matters because, up until a few weeks ago, I had never seen an unusual amount of turbidity after a rainstorm at the monitoring site. High turbidity after a rain event often signals that an abundance of soil or other sediments is entering the stream. 

 

On April 13, 2024, I observed substantial turbidity at the monitoring site after a significant rainstorm. I photographed the stream and then went to each accessible location where water entered the property. No significant inflow of turbid water was observed at this location. I photographed those sites as well. This suggests that the soil causing this excess turbidity may be coming from the bioremediation area where acres of soil have been excavated and exposed. If so, this raises the possibility of toxins in the soil migrating off-site. For the lamprey, increased turbidity and the possibility of toxins entering the water puts them at risk. 

 

Why Else should the Lamprey’s survival matter?

Among the many good reasons, these ancient survivors have one of the most robust immune systems on the planet. Scientists are convinced that lampreys hold genetic secrets that might someday unlock ways to enhance our immunity from diseases. There is an urgency among scientists to study these fish because their numbers are dwindling. They are already listed as an endangered species in several nearby states. In New Jersey, they will soon be listed as a “species of interest.” This will allow the DEP to study them more carefully and determine if they need to be protected. 

 

My comments here highlight just one example of where the EIS falls short of assessing the potential environmental impacts of the proposed development on the aquatic habitat at Hercules. I would ask this board to take this information into consideration as you make your decision regarding the General Site Plan approval.

POST SCRIPT:  Since I wrote this the NJDEP Fish and Game took an interest in the lamprey in the Upper Black River, conducted a fish survey, and discovered that the stream is also home to first-of-the-year brook trout. The stream categorization will be upgraded to C1-TP which is the highest level of protection. 

A Public Hearing Held on the Thousand-Acre Polluted Hercules-Kenvil Site in New Jersey

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Lake Hopatcong News magazine article does a good job of covering the first public hearing on the Hercules-Kenvil environmental status and clean-up efforts. The link below will take you to the magazine. The article starts on page 10.

CLICK THE LINK: ://www.yumpu.com/.../read/68849475/2024-fall-issue

Correction: I am not on the Mine Hill Environmental Commission. Mine Hill Township in NJ does not currently have an Environmental Commission. It was disbanded years ago.

As rain falls around us

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

• Oceans hold 97% of all Earth's water, which is salty.

• Every drop of rain is freshwater that is distilled and pure, thanks to the rain cycle. 
 • About 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh, two-thirds of which is trapped in ice or permafrost. 
• About half of all rainwater that falls on land returns to the air due to evaporation or transpiration that results from photosynthesis (essentially, plant breath). 
 • Gravity draws most of the other half into river basins and out to sea. 
• Every roadway storm drain is a tributary to a local stream within a river basin. 
• A fraction of all rainfall filters underground to fill aquifers (underground reservoirs). 
• The average rate that rain travels down to the aquifers is 10 feet per year. 
• Under every river or freshwater waterbody is a wider, deeper flow of groundwater heading to the sea: 
   -  When stream banks are full, some water filters into stream banks, which increases groundwater reserves. 
   -  When stream flow is low, groundwater seeps back into the streams, keeping water volume more stable and preserving aquatic habitats. o When air temperature is hot, cool groundwater helps keep stream temperatures cooler. 
  -  When air temperatures are cold, groundwater keeps water temperatures warmer, making streams and rivers more habitable. 
• Riffles (rocky bottom areas) and rapids add oxygen to streams and rivers, • Cooler water holds more essential oxygen than warmer water. 
• Vegetation along streams and riverbanks provides nutrients for aquatic life, keeps the water cooler, and provides essential habitat.  
• The hyporheic, or “liver of the river,” is a subsurface layer where groundwater and surface water meet. It serves an important filtration function: 
   -  A transition zone between two larger ecosystems where species from both zones mingle and unique hyporheic organisms exist. 
   -  It can be dozens of feet thick and many miles wider than the river.     -  Water flows through the hyporheic layer in the same direction as the surface water but at much slower rates. 
   -  The upward flow of groundwater in this zone brings oxygen needed for fish eggs to develop. o In healthy streams, this zone is full of life. Crustaceans, worms, and aquatic insects move between it and the stream bottom. 
   -  Nematodes, copepods, rotifers, and tardigrades burrow throughout the zone, creating pathways that allow groundwater and surface water to mix. 
  -  Microbial life in the zone metabolizes inorganic compounds to create food for other tiny organisms. It functions like our gut bacteria, detoxifying certain harmful chemicals while producing other compounds essential for good health.

HOW PLASTICS HARM HUMANS - TIPS TO AVOID EXPOSURE

New Study Links Microplastics to Serious Health Harms in Humans

A SUMMARY: 

Microplastics have been found all over the world, from Antarctica to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and even in clouds.

A recent study suggests the presence of microplastics in human carotid arteries may double the risk of stroke or heart attack in people with heart disease.

Scientists are finding microplastics in almost every part of the body, including the lungs and stomach.

Microplastics can be contaminated with toxic chemical additives, which can leach into the body and harm the hormone and reproductive systems.

Similarly, pollutants or microorganisms can also jump on microplastic particles and pose health risks to humans.

Scientists have researched the impact of microplastics on animals. Studies on mice showed exposure to microplastics can disrupt the gut biome, lower sperm quality and testosterone, and impair learning and memory.

Plastic doesn’t decompose. Instead, it breaks down into tinier and tinier pieces. When the size of a piece of plastic is about the width of a small paperclip, the particles are known as microplastic. When they become smaller than a micrometer, they become nanoplastics, which can breach the cell barriers in plants and animals.

Microplastics and nanoplastics have found their way into nearly everything, including animal products, water and even air.

A standard-size water bottle (.5 liter) contained an average of 120,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, of which 90% can be nanoplastics according to one new study.

Plastics contain and leach hazardous chemicals, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that threaten human health…EDCs disturb the body’s hormone systems and can cause cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurological impairments in developing fetuses and children.

Tips to Reduce Exposure

1. Dust and vacuum regularly. Removing excess dust can help cut down on the amount of microplastic fibers you breathe.
2. Avoid drinking from disposable plastic water bottles. 
3. If you must use them, keep them out of the sun, in a cool, dry environment.
4. Filter your water. Tap water can contain nanoplastics.
5. Home water filters reduce contaminants including micro/nanoplastics.
6. Avoid plastic cutting boards. 
7. Use wood, glass, or steel.
8. Microwave your food in glass containers. Plastic containers can release millions of microplastic particles into your food.
9. Dispose of all plastic safely either by recycling what can be recycled or by trash disposal to a sanitary landfill.
10. Avoid cutting, sanding, or grinding plastics, especially with power tools. If you must do this work, wear an N95 quality mask.

________________________________

Webliography - and original sources for further study

Main Article: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/03/new-study-links-microplastics-serious-health-harms-humans

Antartic Plastic: https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2127/2022/

Atlantic Ocean Bottom: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/microplastic-pollution-is-found-in-deep-sea

Clouds: https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2023/november/microplastics-found-in-clouds-could-affect-the-weather.html

Carotid Arteries Study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822

Human Lungs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722020009

Human Stomach: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36182891/

Hormone and Reproductive Systems:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969723062939#:~:text=According%20to%20this%20review%2C%20flame,brain%20development%20and%20kidney%20functions.

Microorganisms and pollutants: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37695231/

Animal - Gut Biome: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653519327328

Animal - Lower Sperm quality/testosterone:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389420314199

Animal - Impaired learning/memory
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422002199

Animal Products: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749123022352?via%3Dihub

Water: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/wash-documents/microplastics-in-dw-information-sheet190822.pdf

Air: https://www.ciel.org/breathing-plastic-the-health-impacts-of-invisible-plastics-in-the-air/

Water Bottles: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2300582121

Water Bottle Caps: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/10/whats-your-water-bottle-concerns-about-microplastics-caps

PET plastic Water Bottles and UV exposure:
https://www.plasticstoday.com/packaging/how-uv-light-impacts-pet-containers-and-rpet-options

Plastic Leaches hazardous Chemicals: https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2020/plastics-pose-threat-to-human-health

Massive 1940 Hercules Explosion - an Act of Domestic Terrorism?

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

On September 12, 1940, twenty-five tons of freshly manufactured gunpowder exploded at the Hercules Powder Plant in Kenvil, N.J., leaving a 13-foot-deep crater in the ground. It generated a shock wave felt 90 miles away and leveled nearly one thousand acres of the plant. Fifty-two workers were killed in the blast, and several hundred more were injured. Victims were laid out on the lawn of Dover General Hospital because there were too many to fit inside.

 

The FBI, under Herbert Hoover, was in charge of the investigation. There were local rumors that the explosion was the work of German undercover agents. One contemporary news article reported that the FBI was already investigating these rumors when Hercules blew up. That account said that the FBI already collected information on everyone who worked at the plant before the blast. The article then mentioned that there was a large pro-Nazi, German-American Bund organization operating out of Camp Nordland in Andover, New Jersey. This was true, but was there a connection?



Early into the investigation after the explosion, the FBI informed the press that the explosion was most like the result of an industrial accident. Most newspapers didn’t mention that the FBI already had an open investigation into an alleged plot to blow the Hercules plant. Rumors of German American sabotage remained just that… rumors.

Exactly two months after the huge Hercules explosion, three smaller U.S. military-industrial plants were blown up within twenty minutes of each other. One was in New Jersey and two in Pennsylvania. These plants manufactured torpedoes, signal flares, and ammunition. Sixteen more workers were killed in these apparent attacks.

This did not appear to be a coincidence. The whiff of sabotage now seemed unmistakable. Today, we know that America was under attack, but who was responsible for killing 68 workers at four of our military manufacturing plants? Where are the FBI’s findings? Why was no one brought to justice for these murders?

A fog settled over these questions leaving a memory gap for everyone who lived through it. To this day, if you ask area residents what caused the Hercules explosion, they echo the same response as those who lived through it eighty years ago… It was either an industrial accident or German sabotage. Even as recently as 2015, Roxbury Township, New Jersey, posted a tribute to those who died in the Hercules blast and gave a description of the event. It concludes:

“Still unanswered is the real cause of the fatal 1940 explosion: Industrial Accident or Nazi Spies?”

But, a fresh review of the evidence points to domestic terror as the most likely cause. This makes the Hercules explosion the seventh deadliest domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history. If you search the internet for U.S. domestic terrorist attacks, however, you won’t find Hercules on that list. The fascist extremists who carried out this attack were never publicly identified or brought to justice.

Rachael Maddow reported new details and took a fresh look at the Hercules explosion in Episode 3 of her podcast, Ultra. Her review points convincingly to a terrorist attack by American fascist extremists. The chain of evidence pointing to a domestic attack at Hercules begins in Los Angeles, California, and runs through the United States Congress. Among the principal suspect organizations that planned the attack is the German American Bund in California. 

The German American Bund was originally founded in Buffalo, New York. It was led by Fritz Julius Kuhn. Another suspect organization was the Silver Legion founded by William D. Pelley in Ashland, North Carolina. Both these groups openly aspired to take over the United States government before the United States entered World War II. Both organizations had active branches in California and New Jersey. 

Los Angeles was a hotbed of antisemitic propaganda and pro-Nazi paramilitary groups in the 1930s. These right-wing groups shared a cluster of ideas, values, and actions with the Klu Klux Klan, enough so that political resistance to investigating the Klan helped shield pro-Nazi groups as well. Like the Klan, pro-Nazi groups considered themselves to be true American Patriots as they actively recruited conscripts, raised funds, purchased weapons, trained militia members, and organized military-style marches and demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and many other towns and cities across the country. They held large rallies to indoctrinate the public. They coordinated with pro-Nazi organizations in other states to create a large national network determined to overthrow American democracy. 

While they denied it at the time, it was later shown that these right-wing pro-Nazi groups secretly took instructions and money from Hitler’s Germany. By the late 1930s, their violent rhetoric and extreme anti-semitic propaganda became so strident that it alarmed many ordinary citizens.

Leon Lewis was a World War 1 veteran active in the Disabled American Veterans organization. He was a resident of Los Angeles. In 1938 he became alarmed by the violent rhetoric and threats being made by the German American Bund and other pro-Nazi groups in the area. Seeing that law enforcement agencies were reluctant to investigate these groups, he set up his own private spy operation. He recruited four men from Disabled American Veterans and two of their wives to join fascist hate groups, gain the leader's trust, rise up the ranks, and report back to him every day about what these groups were doing. Lewis kept careful logs of what they saw and heard and accumulated detailed records of their plans and operations. It was through Lewis' spy operation that one of his private spies, Neil Ness, learned of plans to target Hercules Powder Company in Kenvil and several other munitions manufacturing plants for an attack.

A year earlier, Martin Dies, was a Democratic Congressman from Texas when he and Samuel Dickstein created the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities, (HUAC). The Committee was initially called the Dies’ Committee, and Dies was its chairman. The committee was created to root out right-wing and left-wing subversives in the government and other organizations. The committee mainly targeted communist infiltrators and left-wing sympathizers, but also right-wing pro-Nazi organizations. Some members of the Committee were reluctant to investigate the "Klan". When the committee’s Chief Counsel announced that the Dies Committee would not be investigating any KKK activities he said, "The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe", to which the ranking Committee member John E. Rankin added: 

"After all, the KKK is an old American institution."

Lewis wrote to Congressman Dies about the trove of information he had collected on the activities of right-wing groups. In 1939, Martin Dies invited Leon Lewis to come to Washington D.C., to testify before his Committee. Lewis accepted the invitation and brought with him Neil Ness who had direct eyewitness information about the plot to sabotage the Hercules and other manufacturing plants.

In October of 1939, Neal Ness testified under oath before the HUAC in Congress. He detailed his involvement and high position in several German American and right-wing pro-Nazi groups in Los Angeles. He provided shocking testimony on how these groups were making plans to blow up military defense plants. He said specifically, “We talked about blowing up the Hercules Powder Plant.” These coordinated attacks were referred to as Der Tag. The phrase "Der Tag" (The Day) was a popular German toast to an imminent military engagement.

Ness’ testimony was so shocking the Committee found it hard to believe. Nevertheless, the Committee made a criminal referral to investigate the reported plot and sent the transcripts to the FBI.  Eleven months later Hercules blew up. 

After the explosion, Congressman Martin Dies, the Chairman of the HUAC, gave a statement to the press in which he said:

"Everyone laughed when a man named Ness testified before our committee a year ago about plans to blow up the Hercules Company. When the plant blew up, it happened the way he said it would.”

While the FBI managed to interrupt many death threats against Jews, Jewish organizations, and other targets of right-wing fascist extremists during this period, its eleven-month lead in the Hercules plot was not enough time to stop it. Nor did an additional two months of investigation foil the three additional attacks. Eighty-four years later there is still no vindication for the victims. We end up today with the same questions people asked from the start. Who was responsible for killing 68 workers at four of our military manufacturing plants? Where are the FBI’s findings? Why was no one brought to justice for these murders?

We have a few additional questions to ask ourselves today. Where did all the fascist extremists go after Pearl Harbor? They seem to have disappeared into the woodwork. What became of the children they were grooming in German American Bund camps to be their movement's future leaders? Is there a link between these fascist youth camps from the past and the dangerous parallels that exist today with this dark history?  Most critically, what lessons from the past can we apply to help understand and navigate the resurgence of fascist extremism today?