We Need Mountains

About three-fourths of the poems in this book are concerned with the world around us, which we need to protect and preserve. They are the necessary prelude to the importance of creation care, which is addressed specifically in the concluding poems. The mountains and valleys are a source of sustenance for human beings, as well as for their animal population. The season cycles in the mountains are a delight with the tree leaves changing color. Riverbeds become almost dry from lack of rain, but in late spring they flow with the waters of melting snow. With each change of season, the sun circles the earth and sheds its light on places passed over in a previous season. This is experienced particularly in the mountain ranges of North America. They provide an amazing diversity of landscape, flora, and fauna, and options for the human food chain. Global warming, however, threatens the seasons, the life of the mountains' flora and fauna, and even the ozone layer of the heavens. Hence, there is a call for creation care. Unless world powers step up and commit to preserving nature, forthcoming catastrophes can be clearly foreseen through careful scientific analysis. The responsibility is in the hands of the world's most powerful nations.