Praying for Clean Air

Aeolus, Keeper of the Winds¹, I thank you for your part in maintaining the cycles of our home and the heath and welfare of all creatures that share it. I ask you to hear this heartfelt plea.

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.²

Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned your clean air. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests, the lungs of our world, to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction. Lord of the Winds, in your mercy, hear our prayer.³

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.

I believe the time has come to better fulfill our role as guests of your home⁴. May our leaders have the courage to set noble goals that reach beyond short-range political expediency, short-term economic profit, and short-sighted self-interest. May sight be given on those that are blind to the mess that we have created and give them the wisdom to act in a way that benefits the health and welfare of those of us that depend on clean air and life-giving breath. Impress upon all of our consciences our sacred duty to bequeath to our children and grandchildren a healthy and thriving environment rather than a world in climate crisis. Lord of the Winds, in your mercy, hear our prayer.⁵

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.

If we fail to take the necessary action, we will have violated your hospitality⁵. If we fail, every person will be affected, including generations not yet born. Please help to rouse us all to action in righting this wrong. Lord of the Winds, in your mercy, hear our prayer.⁷

I pray that I may draw a lifesaving breath. This is the most important element of health, to breathe clean and unpolluted air.

 

 

Notes:
Having spent most of the evening in the ER for breathing problems, I learned first hand what it feels like to not be able to breathe…its sort of important. They call it the Breath of Life for a reason. So I felt a little inspired this morning.
1. Aeolus is either the divinely appointed but mortal Keeper of the Winds in Greek mythology, or according to some writers, a god in his own right. I prefer the latter. But, if Greek mythology isn’t your thing, there are other cultures with wind or sky gods that might fit into this prayer with some changes for personality and culture.
2. From Philyllius, translated by Ian C. Storey in Fragments of Old Comedy via the blog Laudator Temporis Acti.
3, 5, 7. These are (some more heavily than others) modified portions from the Prayer for Copenhagen, written before the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
4,6. In both Greek religion (as well as many global religions, ancient and modern) hospitality plays a huge role in an individual’s responsibility. And in my opinion, we are guests in this home of the gods, and have a responsibility not to trash the joint (and to pay for the cleaning bill when we have)–conservation is just as much a part of hospitality as a good bottle of wine.