Earth Day

http://youtube.com/watch?time_continue=220&v=f0QGmY5wevQ

What is Earth Day, and what is it meant to accomplish?

A message from the president, Kathleen Rogers

Close to 48 years ago, on 22 April 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development.

In the US and around the world, smog was becoming deadly and evidence was growing that pollution led to developmental delays in children. Biodiversity was in decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants.

The global ecological awareness was growing, and the US Congress and President Nixon responded quickly. In July of the same year, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and robust environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, among many.

One billion people

Earth Day is now a global event each year, and we believe that more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.

It is a day of political action and civic participation. People march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads. Corporations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Faith leaders, including Pope Francis, connect Earth Day with protecting God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet that we all live on.

Earth Day Network, the organization that leads Earth Day worldwide, today announced that Earth Day 2018 will focus on mobilizing the world to End Plastic Pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics.  EDN will educate millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife, and about the growing body of evidence that decomposing plastics are creating serious global problems.

From poisoning and injuring marine life to the ubiquitous presence of plastics in our food to disrupting human hormones and causing major life-threatening diseases and early puberty, the exponential growth of plastics is threatening our planet’s survival. EDN has built a multi-year campaign to End Plastic Pollution.  Our goals include ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 percent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics.

EDN’s End Plastic Pollution campaign includes four major components:

• Leading a grassroots movement to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution;
• Educating, mobilizing and activating citizens across the globe to demand that governments and corporations control and clean up plastic pollution;
• Educating people worldwide to take personal responsibility for plastic pollution by choosing to reject, reduce, reuse and recycle plastics, and
• Promoting local government regulatory and other efforts to tackle plastic pollution.

April 9 tragedy

The April 9 tragedy (also known as Tbilisi massacre or Tbilisi tragedy) refers to the events in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, on April 9, 1989, when an anti-Soviet demonstration was dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 21 deaths and hundreds of injuries. April 9 is now remembered as the Day of National Unity (Georgian: ეროვნული ერთიანობის დღე erovnuli ertianobis dghe), an annual public holiday.

The anti-Soviet movement became more active in the Georgian SSR in 1988. Several strikes and meetings were organized by anti-Soviet political organizations in Tbilisi. The conflict between the Soviet government and Georgian nationalists deepened after the so-called Lykhny Assembly on March 18, 1989, when several thousand Abkhaz demanded secession from Georgia and restoration of the Union republic status of 1921–1931. In response, the anti-Soviet groups organized a series of unsanctioned meetings across the republic, claiming that the Soviet government was using Abkhaz separatism in order to oppose the pro-independence movement.

The protests reached their peak on April 4, 1989, when tens of thousands of Georgians gathered before the House of Government on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. The protesters, led by the Independence Committee (Merab Kostava, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Giorgi Chanturia, Irakli Bathiashvili, Irakli Tsereteli and others) organized a peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding the punishment of Abkhaz secessionists and restoration of Georgian independence.

Local Soviet authorities lost control over the situation in the capital and were unable to contain the protests. First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party Jumber Patiashvili asked USSR leadership to send troops to restore order and impose curfew

In the evening of April 8, 1989, Colonel General Igor Rodionov, Commander of the Transcaucasus Military District, ordered his troops to mobilize. Moments before the attack by the Soviet forces, the Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II addressed the demonstrators asking them to leave Rustaveli Avenue and the vicinity of the government building due to the danger which accumulated during the day after appearance of Soviet tanks near the avenue. The demonstrators refused to disband even after the Patriarch's plea. The local Georgian militsiya (police) units were disarmed just before the operation.

On April 9, at 3:45 a.m., Soviet APCs and troops under General Igor Rodionov surrounded the demonstration area. Later, Rodionov claimed in his interview that groups of Georgian militants attacked unarmed soldiers with stones, metal chains and rods.^[2] The Soviet troops received an order from General Rodionov to disband and clear the avenue of demonstrators by any means necessary

The Soviet detachment, armed with military batons and spades (a favorite weapon of Soviet special forces ), advanced on demonstrators moving along the Rustaveli Avenue.During the advance, the soldiers started to attack demonstrators with spades, inflicting injuries both minor and serious to anyone who was struck.

One of the victims of the attack was a 16-year-old girl who tried to get away from the advancing soldiers, but was chased down and beaten to death near the steps of the government building, receiving blows to the head and chest. She was dragged out of the area by her mother who was also attacked and wounded. This particularly violent attack was recorded on video from the balcony of a building located on the other side of the avenue. The video was used in the aftermath as evidence during Sobchak's Parliamentary commission on investigation of events of April 9, 1989. Groups of Soviet soldiers were reported to chase individual victims, rather than dispersing the crowd.

The stampede following the attack resulted in the death of 19 people, among them 17 women. Autopsies conducted on the victims concluded the direct cause of death of all those who died, with the exception of one case of serious skull and brain injury, was suffocation (asphyxia) caused by both the compression of the body and the inhalation of chemical substances.

Official Soviet reports blamed the demonstrators for causing the clash, saying that the troops were attacked with sticks and knives.According to Tass, the soldiers followed orders not to use their weapons, but that extremists attacked them with pieces of metal, bricks and sticks. Tass described the demonstrators as stirring interethnic strife and calling for the overthrow of the Georgian government. President Gorbachev slammed "actions by irresponsible persons" for loss of life. He said that the disturbances sought to overthrow the Georgian government and stir ethnic tension in Georgia. Foreign ministry spokesman said that the clashes were sparked by "die-hard nationalists, extremists and political adventurists who are abusing democratization to the detriment of our new policy of openness and of our very society."

CN and CS gas were used against the demonstrators;vomiting, respiratory problems and sudden paralyses of the nervous system were reported.

The unarmed police officers attempted to evacuate the panicked group of demonstrators, however a video taken secretly by opposition journalists showed that soldiers did not allow doctors and emergency workers to help the injured people; even ambulances were attacked by the advancing soldiers^[ Captured on film, the image of a young man beating a tank with a stick became a symbol of the Georgian anti-Soviet movement.

On April 10, the Soviet government issued a statement blaming the demonstrators for causing unrest and danger to the safety of the public. The next day, Georgian TV showed the bodies of the 19 women violently killed, demonstrating alleged brutality by the Soviet soldiers, as the faces of the deceased women were hard to identify due to the facial injuries and blows to the head. The Soviet government blamed the demonstrators for the death of the 20 people, claiming that they had trampled each other while panicking and retreating from the advancing Soviet soldiers.Ironically there was some truth in this, as Soviet troops had blocked all exists from the area except for one narrow passage, which made flight from the area difficult and induced the crush of the crowd and, possibly, some desperate defensive violence by the trapped demonstrators

A Parliamentary commission on investigation of events of April 9, 1989 in Tbilisi was launched by Anatoly Sobchak, member of Congress of People's Deputies of Soviet Union. After full investigation and inquiries, the commission confirmed the government's claim that the deaths had resulted from trampling, but another contributing factor had been the chemical substances used against the demonstrators. It condemned the military, which had caused the deaths by trying to disperse demonstrators. The commission's report made it more difficult to use military power against demonstrations of civil unrest in the Soviet Union. Sobchak's report presented a detailed account of the violence which was used against the demonstrators and recommended the full prosecution of military personnel responsible for the April 9 event

On April 10, in protest against the crackdown, Tbilisi and the rest of Georgia went out on strike and a 40-day period of mourning was declared. People brought massive collections of flowers to the place of the killings. A state of emergency was declared, but demonstrations continued.

The government of the Georgian SSR resigned as a result of the event. Moscow claimed the demonstrators attacked first and the soldiers had to repel them. At the first Congress of People's Deputies (May–June 1989) Mikhail Gorbachev disclaimed all responsibility, shifting blame onto the army. The revelations in the liberal Soviet media, as well as the findings of the "pro-Perestroika" Deputy Anatoly Sobchak's commission of enquiry into the Tbilisi events, reported at the second Congress in December 1989, resulted in embarrassment for the Soviet hardliners and army leadership implicated in the event

The April 9 tragedy radicalised Georgian opposition to Soviet power. A few months later, a session of the Supreme Council of Georgian SSR, held on November 17–18, 1989, officially condemned the occupation and annexation of Democratic Republic of Georgia by Soviet Russia in 1921.

The events of April 9 also gave rise to the so-called 'Tbilisi Syndrome'. This syndrome was characterized by the reluctance of military officers and soldiers to take any tactical decisions or even obey orders without a clear trail of responsibility to a higher authority. It arose because of the Soviet leadership's refusal to take responsibility for the orders to clear the square and the commission report's and Shevardnadze's criticism of the military in general. 'Tbilisi Syndrome' continued to spread in the coming years, especially following events in Baku and Vilnius, and contributed in 1991 to the refusal of soldiers to prevent demonstrations during the August 1991 putsch.

On March 31, 1991, Georgians voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum. With a 90.5% turnout, approximately 99% voted in favor of independence. On April 9, the second anniversary of the tragedy, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia proclaimed Georgian sovereignty and independence from the Soviet Union.

A memorial to the victims of the tragedy was opened at the location of the crackdown on Rustaveli Avenue on November 23, 2004.

Happy Easter

WHAT IS EASTER?

Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's rising from the dead (His Resurrection) after His crucifixion which took place on what we now term Good Friday.

Easter is usually celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the Vernal or Spring Equinox on March 21st. This can be any Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th. It is the most sacred of all the Christian holidays or celebrations.

Christ's return (or rising) from death is called the Resurrection. According to the scriptures, Christ's tomb was empty three days after His death, which is commemorated on Good Friday. His followers saw Him and talked to Him after this. Christians therefore believe that they have the hope of a new life (an everlasting life in Heaven) after their earthly death.

HOW EASTER WAS CELEBRATED IN ANCIENT DAYS?

Although of course Easter is a Christian festival, it has many pre-Christian, Pagan traditions. While the origin of its name is uncertain, some scholars accept the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, also know as The Venerable Bede, whose tomb is in the magnificent Durham Cathedral in North-East England. Bede believed the name probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. A month was dedicated to her, corresponding to our month of April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox and traditions associated with the festival live on in the modern day Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored Easter eggs. These were originally painted with brilliant colors to represent the warmth and sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.

Easter festival celebrations probably embody a number of other traditions occuring at around the same time. Most scholars speak of the relationship of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew. The Passover celebrates the safe flight of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, lead of course by Moses, and as described in the Book of Exodus.

PASSOVER

At this time Jews remember how the children of Israel left slavery behind them when they left Egypt. The Israelites had been under the rule of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, until Moses led them out over 3,000 years ago.

Despite pleas from Moses, every time Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites. He warned that unless his people were released from slavery and allowed to leave Egypt, God would send terrible plagues into Pharaoh's land. The ten plagues were blood, frogs, gnats, flies, blight of the livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the first born.

God told Moses to tell the Israelites to daub the doors of their houses with lamb's blood so God could 'pass over' their houses and ensure they were spared this last plague. Thus was born the Passover Festival and because many of the early Christians were Jews brought up in Hebrew traditions, a link was created between Passover and Easter. The link is strongest during the Seder, the very special family meal held on the eve of Passover, when during the drinking of four small glass of wine, an extra glass is poured for the Prophet Elijah. It was Elijah who foretold of the coming of the Jewish Messiah.

Our Lord Jesus Himself was of course from Jewish parents, and many of the early Christians too were Jewish and raised in the Hebrew tradition. They regarded Easter as an addition to the Passover festival, which of course is a partly a commemoration Elijah's prophecy

CHRIST AS A THREAT TO ROME AND THE JEWISH HIGH PRIESTS

As the Gospels tell us, Christ's message of peace, and love of your fellow man, began to worry the Roman Military Governor (Procurator or Prefect) of Judea (the Holy Land), Pontius Pilate, as He was beginning to gain quite a following. It also began to worry the Jewish leaders of the time, although they had very different reasons. Christ was beginning to be thought of as the Jewish Messiah.

As the representative of Roman Emperor Tiberius, Pilate was responsible for tax collection, maintaining the huge Roman estates in the Holy Land, and maintaining order. It was this latter responsibility which he felt threatened by the following Christ was beginning to command.

We know from writings at the time of Romans, Philo Judaeus and Flavius Josephus, that Pilate was a cruel man, brutal in enforcing his will but also probably incompetent, despite ruling for 10 years from 26-26AD.

Brutality at the time was almost a norm, but Pilate was so brutal that he was recalled to Rome after he'd massacred a group of Samaritans at Mount Gerizim.

The Military governor of Judea had complete judicial authority over all who were not Roman citizens, but many cases, notably those relating to religious matters, were decided by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council and tribunal.

The Gospels tell us that after the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, it committed him to Pilate's Roman court, as it had no power to declare and carry out a death sentence. The blasphemy, the Sanhedrin said, was because Christ was openly saying He was the Son of God, and therefore the Messiah. Christ stated this under affirmation to the Jewish High Priests of the Sanhedrin.

Interestingly and rather surprisingly, Pilate refused to approve the blasphemy judgment without investigation; the Jewish high priests then made other charges against Jesus, and the governor had a private interview with him.

Pilate appears to have been impressed with the dignity and with the frankness of Jesus' answers to his questions and is said to have tried to save Him. Nevertheless, fear of an uprising in Jerusalem forced Pilate to accede to the demand of the populace (releasing the criminal Barabas instead of Jesus) and Jesus was then executed by crucifixion.

As the Sabbath (Holiest day of the week) was now approaching, and burials were not permitted, Christ's body was laid in a new tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. It is thought that this was a tomb that Joseph had prepared for his own death, but having pleaded with Pilate for the release of Christ's body, he urgently needed a suitable safe place for the body to be kept until burial after the Sabbath. Assisted by a Roman called Nicodemus, Joseph bought fine linen in which he wrapped Christ's body as it was brought down from the cross. At the entrance to the tomb was placed a large bolder.

Nearly three days later, on the Sunday, Mary Magdelene and Mary, Mother of Jesus's disciple, James, entered the tomb to anoint Christ's body and prepare it for burial. However, upon entering, they were shocked to find the tomb empty. Christ's body had gone. The two Mary's saw an Angel who announced that Christ had had resurrected, and assumed life after death. Naturally, they were very scared, but strangely comforted, especially when they spoke with several of Christ's disciples, who said Christ had appeared to them, and assured them that He had risen. From that time on, followers of Christ were assured the hope of life after death, an everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven. The real meaning of Easter had begun.

Roman Emperor Constantine and the real start of the Easter Festival

As we say above, a long time ago people used to celebrate when Spring arrived. People used to believe that changes in seasons were guided by spirits or gods, and that the blooming of plants and flowers and animals coming out of their hibernation and the return of birds brought life back to the land. This new life in spring symbolizes the new life Christians gain because of Jesus's death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection.

In ancient Egypt, Easter was celebrated at the same time Jesus was crucified during the Jewish Passover. This was so for many years. However, in A.D. 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine (after whom the old Turkish capital of Constantinople is named) convened the First Council of Nicaea (now called Turkey), which determined and published the first ever Christian Doctrine, called the Nicene Creed.

One result of the council was an agreement on the date of what they called the "Christian Passover" (Pascha in Greek) and of course what we call today, Easter in modern English, and the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar. Actually, some Christians in the US especially, still celebrate a Christian Passover Seder, the special family meal, but with different meanings to that of the Jewish Passover Seder.

The council decided in favor of celebrating the resurrection on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, and authorized the Bishop of Alexandria (presumably using the Alexandrian calendar) to announce annually the exact date to his fellow bishops. Thus the dates for Easter were fixed within a range of March 22nd and April 25th. Vernal means "spring" and equinox means "equal night". This special Sunday is the one 24-hour period in spring when both day and night last exactly twelve hours.

WHAT IS LENT?

Lent is the forty days special season prior to Easter Sunday. Sundays are not counted because it is the Lord's Day and should be celebrated and therefore no fasting. Lent is a period of fasting or doing without certain foods, praying and repentance. This is to serve as a reminder of the forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness. Some countries have celebrations like the Mardi Gras, which means "Fat Tuesday" in French, the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It is also called "Carnival" sometimes. While the largest celebration is probably in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, is probably the most spectacular.

WHAT IS THE HOLY WEEK?

The Holy week is the last week of Lent. It begins with the observance of Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The name, Palm Sunday originated from Jesus's entry in Jerusalem. The crowd laid carpets of palms on the street for Him. The Last Supper is commemorated on Holy Thursday of special week (often called Maundy Thursday) and Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Lenten season and Holy week end with Easter Sunday (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ).

NAMES OF EASTER

Easter was called Pesach by early Christians. It is the Hebrew name for Passover. Today, the name for Easter in many cultures in Europe are similar to the word Pesah. For example :

France -Paques 
Spain -Pascua 
Italy -Pasqua 
Albania -Pashke 
Greece -Pascha 
Norway -Paaske 
Holland -Pasen 
Sweden -Pask

HOW DID EASTER GET ITS NAME?

The English name "Easter" is much newer. Before Christianity in early England, the people celebrated the vernal equinox with a feast honoring Eostre, the Pagan goddess of spring. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity. Some believed that the word Easter came from an early German word "eostarun", meaning dawn and white. Newly baptized Christians wore white clothes as a sign of their new life on Easter.

The hare is also an ancient symbol for the moon. The date of Easter depends on the moon. This may have helped the hare to be absorbed into Easter celebrations.

The hare or rabbit's burrow helped the animal's adoption as part of Easter celebrations. Believers saw the rabbit coming out of its underground home as a symbol for Jesus coming out of the tomb. Perhaps this was another case of taking a pre-existing symbol and giving it Christian meaning.

The Easter hare came to America with German immigrants, and the hare's role passed to the common American rabbit. Originally children made nests for the rabbit in hats, bonnets, or fancy paper boxes, rather than the baskets of today. Once the children finished their nests, they put them in a secluded spot to keep from frightening the shy rabbit. The appealing nests full of colored eggs probably helped the customs to spread.

According to an old German story, a poor woman hid some brightly colored eggs in her garden as Easter treats for children. While the children were searching, a hare hopped past. The children thought that the hare had left the eggs. So every Easter, German children would make nests of leaves and branches in their gardens for the hare. This custom was brought to the United States when the Germans came. The hare became a rabbit because there were more rabbits in the United States. Today, it is called the Easter bunny.

Back in Southern Germany, the first pastry and candy Easter bunnies became popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This custom also crossed the Atlantic, and children still eat candy rabbits - particularly chocolate ones - at Easter.