Bells of Natures Church- vocals and music by Patty Ann Smith, lyrics by Chris Highland from the poem Bells of Natures Church, photography by Chris Highland with additional photos and Guitar by Craig Smith.
As an example of the destructiveness of war upon nature, consider the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions. Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because in addition to being weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal.
It is weakly radioactive and remains so because of its long half-life (4.468 billion years for uranium-238). The aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel.
During a three week period of conflict in 2003 in Iraq, 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes of DU munitions were used, mostly in cities.
Multiple studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure. A 2005 epidemiology review concluded:
“In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU.”
Y.K.J. Yeung Sik Yuen in accordance with Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights resolution 2001/36 argues that the use of DU in weapons, along with the other weapons listed by the Sub-Commission, may breach one or more of the following treaties:
- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
- the Charter of the United Nations,
- the Genocide Convention,
- the United Nations Convention Against Torture,
- the Geneva Conventions including Protocol I,
- the Convention on Conventional Weapons of 1980,
- and the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The unnatural acts of our governments must stop. Only the united power of people standing together can stop them.
Chris Highland is an author, nature photographer, teacher and interfaith chaplain. Patty Ann Smith is a singer-songwriter, environmentalist, animal behaviorist-”cat whisperer”, and an advocate for human and animal rights.
* * * * Artists’ Statement * * * * *
From Patty Ann Smith: Peace and Nature are dear to my heart. We need to understand the laws of nature, its cycles, and rhythms and how important movement and change is in our lives.
When we don’t understand these basic things, man is out of sync with the natural world that supports us.
Drawing from ancient cultures around the world, we can all learn how to connect more with nature and the parts of ourselves that we have been separated from.
These lost or forgotten connections are important to both our physical and spiritual well-being.
The animals and nature are key to teaching us this.
From Chris Highland:
John Muir once said, “… that near a waterfall all the air is music.”
Living near flowing waters my entire life in the Northwest and Northern California, I’ve found the grounding of peace in the simple sanctuaries of Nature. I had to leave the church to find the congregation, wander away from the choir to hear the chorus, walk away from the preachers to listen to the real teachers, of a greater, wilder gospel, a breathing scripture–earthy, free, open, inclusive, liberating.
“The Bells of Nature’s Church” was written after a walk into a deep, verdant forest in the mountain cathedrals. There was a ringing in the wind and an electricity in the river. Beyond the artificial ring-tones and incessant chatter a natural bell was sounding, a call from different, more primal cells.
These call us to remember our interconnection, a relation that offers what no religion or politics can–but the owl, the hawk, the wolf, the coyote, the salmon, the beetle know, because they always hear the music, and live in it.
Peace is local, practical, individual, communal. And peace is global, universal, limitless.
My writing, teaching, social work, poetry and songwriting brings me back each step of the way to the moment, to ask the hard and honest questions: What is really going on? Who is suffering here? What can I do? How can we act together, beyond differences?
Listening to prisoners and homeless folks, spending time among women and men with physical and mental challenges, with others who feel left out, cast out, castaway to the edges of our communities and our minds, has taught me to be awake for the bells, the call to attention and active response. Whether as a chaplain, a teacher, a social worker or a writer, a friend, father or husband, the bell calls me back to my own humanity, and my part in the great waterfall of Nature.
The collaboration with Patty Ann, including her ringing voice on “Amazing Beauty,” continues to remind me of what someone once said of the word P.E.A.C.E.: People Embracing All Creatures of the Earth.
Working for justice, compassionate healing, educational cooperation or artistic celebration, we are each and all nearer the waterfall than we realize.
Thanks to Patty, Craig, Willie Nelson and everyone at Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute!
