Oikos-2

Connecting to care for our common home: The Oikos Network

The Oikos Network brings together Christians from around the world who are passionate about caring for the environment and tackling climate change in their churches and communities. Oikos, Greek for ‘home’, was the brainchild of Ruth Valerio when she worked at Tearfund. She’d noticed that many Christian leaders around the world were passionate about addressing climate and creation care but felt isolated and under-resourced. ‘I was meeting Christians all around the world who were caring for God’s world but often feeling lonely and encountering similar issues despite different contexts,’ says Ruth. ‘There is such power in meeting like-minded people, and so inspiring to learn, share and pray together.’  
  
After chatting with A Rocha’s Dave Bookless, whose work had led him to the same conclusion, the Oikos Network was launched in 2022 in partnership with Micah Global, Renew Our World, the Anglican Alliance and the Lausanne / World Evangelical Alliance Creation Care Network, and initially led and resourced by Tearfund. A Rocha has recently taken on the leadership of the network.  
  
Oikos creates peer-support cohorts of five to eight people who then gather online monthly over six months to discuss, learn, pray and inspire each other about the changes they are seeing.  Each has a facilitator who helps create an accepting, listening atmosphere, and leads the group through discussion, sharing, Bible study and prayer. Many groups meet in English but as demand has grown, there have also been groups in French, Spanish and Portuguese. There are also global plenary meetings, with a guest speaker.  
  
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have felt inspired, encouraged and connected to a wider movement. If you want to know more about the Oikos Network or would like to explore joining or leading a cohort, please contact us at [email protected]. 

IRL Story - Horseshoe Crabs

Protecting understudied species before it’s too late

In the Indian River Lagoon, a heron vaults from the shallows, while anhingas dry their wings on the rocks. Shads, minnows, sardines and killifish pierce the water like darts. As mullets leap, rays stir the sand with their ghostly glide, and comb jellies drift about like lozenges of blown glass. Flowing down the east coast of Florida, USA in roughly the shape of a dragonfly’s wing, the Indian River Lagoon harbours about 4,000 plant and animal species, making it the most biodiverse estuary in North America.

If you kayak on a summer evening, you can see the lagoon limned with nebulas of phytoplankton casting a blue light. On certain beaches in the winter – when the wind or tides are right – thousands of ancient-looking horseshoe crabs will swarm. In A Rocha USA’s study area, which only covers a northern portion of the lagoon, at least 3,065 species have been spotted.

Green Heron by Peter Harris

Unfortunately, the lagoon ecosystem has suffered many blows in recent decades. According to a 2022 study in Frontiers in Marine Science, the lagoon lost about 19,000 acres (about 58%) of its remaining seagrass between 2011 and 2019 (Morris et al., ‘Seagrass in a Changing Estuary’). Meanwhile, development projects continue to fragment the lagoon’s habitats, and inputs from wastewater and stormwater wreck the water quality, contributing to the decline of oysters, pipefish, stingrays, and many other creatures.

In a biodiversity report on the Northern Indian River Lagoon (NIRL), A Rocha USA identified 23 marine species with an IUCN Red List status of ‘Near Threatened’ or worse, as well as ‘Data Deficient,’ which means that the creature hasn’t been studied enough to get an official ranking. Some of these species tend to be more popular than others – even among scientists. In a survey of NIRL-related research papers, most of the 23 species of interest appeared in just three studies or less, whereas the charismatic manatee appeared in about sixteen. Four species had no NIRL studies at all. Many of these under-studied creatures could play vital roles in their ecosystems, but we don’t even have enough data to understand them, let alone advocate for their protection.

In total, A Rocha USA identified six species of conservation concern that are under-studied and bereft of legal protection: the Blueback Herring, Bluntnose Ray, Cownose Ray, Smooth Butterfly Ray, Southern Stingray and False Killer Whale. Similarly, two species – the Tropical Flounder and Whitefin Sharksucker – are listed as ‘Data Deficient’ yet lack any regulations on their killing or capture. All these creatures deserve our attention. Without more research, we won’t know the full impact of any potential decline or extinction of these species, and we may inflict even greater damage on the Indian River Lagoon than we already have.

The more biodiversity an ecosystem has, the healthier it is, and the more benefits it offers human beings. Creatures like the Butterfly Ray or the Whitefin Sharksucker could be crucial for maintaining the health of the Northern Indian River Lagoon. Beyond that, we also want to protect them for their own sake, regardless of how useful they may be.

God never asked creation to earn divine love. On the day each animal was made, before they’d done much of anything, God deemed them good, blessing them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’. As a mother loves her child from the day of their birth, so God loves every creature, in all their colour, ferocity and diversity.

Learn more about A Rocha USA’s marine conservation work in Florida at arocha.us/florida

Waynesburg University Students join ARUSA for a nurdle hunt

Tackling the enormous impact of tiny plastics

If you have ever attended a beach cleanup, you have likely found all sorts of plastic and other waste littering the shore. Straws, wrappers and bottles abound, washed up by the waves. But it’s the smaller plastic pieces, called nurdles, that are often overlooked in cleanup efforts, although they can cause a great deal of harm. 

Nurdles are small plastic pellets that are molded to make most of the plastic products we use every day. Billions of nurdles are produced each year and are easily spilled during manufacturing or transport. Difficult to clean up, they often wash into streams and oceans where they wreak havoc on marine life. According to FIDRA, ‘Nurdles are the second largest source of primary microplastic pollution globally. Each year an estimated 445,970 tonnes of nurdles enter the environment worldwide.’ 

Because of their size and colour, nurdles look like fish eggs, making them especially tempting for seabirds, shellfish, whales and other marine wildlife who mistake them for food. These pellets can be toxic and lead to injury, starvation or even death when they accumulate in the gut and stomach. Over time, nurdles break down into smaller and smaller microplastics, which can travel up the food chain along with the toxins they carry. The harmful effects of toxic plastic pollution are felt by larger marine mammals, humans and entire ecosystems.  

The good news is that plastic pollution is preventable, and everyone can make a difference. Since nurdles are so difficult to clear up, the best solution is to reduce our use of plastics and call on the plastic industry to take responsibility for stopping pellet loss. In countries like Kenya, Portugal and the USA, A Rocha takes part in FIDRA’s Great Global Nurdle Hunt each year, an event which removes nurdles from the environment as well as contributes to research and raising awareness. Over the last 10 years over 20,000 volunteers have taken part, finding nurdles on every continent except Antarctica!  

Everyone can take part in this global citizen science event: each year, we see children, interns, scientists and dedicated community members on their hands and knees in the sand, searching for nurdles. Inquisitive beach goers sometimes ask what we are looking for, a perfect opportunity to explain the problem of nurdles and microplastics, the actions people can take and our motivation as followers of Jesus to care for all of creation. 

This year, the International Coastal Cleanup is on 21 September: why not join the Great Global Nurdle Hunt, as well? Running from 1-30 September, this global event is an empowering and impactful way to address microplastic pollution. You can find more information on how to identify nurdles and organize a nurdle hunt in the A Rocha Plastics Toolbox, available now on our new Resource Hub! Visit resources.arocha.org/resource/plastics-toolbox/