Halloween (or All Hallows Eve) has become a largely secular holiday, now known mostly for its excess of candy, costumes, and horror movies. In Christian liturgical traditions, however, it precedes the feast of All Saints, a time to remember those who have died, but who live on in memory.

Imagine if we remembered the spirits of the animals, plants, birds and insects we eradicated with the same tenderness and intensity?

“Even a recent memory can be ghostly,” said Lisa Williamsthe wildlife biologist who is head of wildlife diversity for the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program.

If I’m lucky enough to walk there at the right time, I can sometimes see an eagle soaring above the waters of Marsh Creek Lake in Chester County. In 1983, when the Pennsylvania Game Commission had to import eaglets from Saskatchewan in an effort to restore the population, Williams reminds me, there were only three nesting pairs. throughout the state. There are now more than 300 nests across the state.

It’s easy, comforting, and perhaps natural to focus on the beauty and mystery of what we see around us. But just because we see a migratory bird now doesn’t mean it will be there in fifty years – or even in ten years, as I found in this analysis from the World Wildlife Fund, which says that global wildlife populations have plummeted a shocking 73% between 1970 and 2020.

Habitat loss, degradation and overexploitation due to our interconnected food system are the main threats to global wildlife populations, according to the report. WWF.

Williams is currently working on the restoration of the Allegheny Woodrata creature that lives nowhere else on earth except Appalachia, she said. The loss of woodrat habitat can be attributed in part to the decline of the American chestnut at the beginning of the 20th century.

“Perhaps more than any other species, this tree has helped people survive and establish themselves on the land,” Williams told me. “The data shows that each generation views its surroundings as normal and has little awareness of losses and gains – and how these changes were experienced by our ancestors,” she added. “The memories of the wild lands and wildlife that our grandparents saw as children are gone. »

The list of what we no longer see in southeastern Pennsylvania is sobering, reminding us that humans continue to shape the natural environment, sometimes to the detriment of the creatures that share our world.

Bounties for killing the eastern wolf began in the late 17th century and persisted until the animal’s disappearance in the late 19th century. Eastern mountain lion carcasses were also rewarded. The last fisherman was killed (as a chicken thief) just north of Bird-In-Hand in Lancaster County, according to Williams, and the beaver was extinct by the early 1900s (although the Pennsylvania state legislature quickly passed a law to protect them).

“The memories of the wild lands and wildlife that our grandparents saw as children are gone. »

Consider it Carolina parakeet. Native to southeastern Pennsylvania, it went extinct in the 1930s, with the last known individuals (Lady Jane and her companion, the Incas) dying in a zoo in 1918. They were targeted by hunters, their habitats being devastated by deforestation, Williams said, just as the heather henwho disappeared when Booming Ben, the last maledeceased around 1932.

The lost species that almost makes Williams cry is the homing pigeon. Like chestnut trees, wiped out throughout their range in the 1950speople thought passenger pigeons would be around forever until they disappeared.

There is still much work to be done – and the chances of saving most of the world’s species seem questionable at best. In a few decades (in geological time, less than the blink of an eye), approximately one Millions of species are threatened with extinction.

At the same time, a vibrant local conservation movement, born largely from hunters and fishermen, now under state supervision, has been instrumental in sparking the recovery of species from the brink.

This includes beavers (reintroduced to Pennsylvania in 1917)white-tailed deer (brought from seven different states starting in 1917), elk, wild turkey, osprey, peregrine falcon, otter and fishermen, Williams said.

Older generations, facing the biodiversity crisis, coupled with the far-reaching impacts of climate change, know that these challenges cannot be complacently left to future generations to resolve. They can, however, take inspiration from how many colleges and universities are responding to the growing demand for courses and degrees focused on sustainability and environmental science.

The popularity of an interdivisional minor in sustainability studies at Villanova The university is growing rapidly, said François A. Galganothe geography teacher who runs the program. He pointed out that his department, which also offers a specialization in geography and environmental sciences, has a total of almost 200 students.

For Villanova’s sustainability manager, Augustinian priest Father John Abubakarfaith adds another dimension to science. “The intellect must be there, but the heart must also be converted.”

Abubakar, originally from Nigeria, said many non-Christian and less individualistic cultures have a strong sense of connection to the natural world. “We don’t have an American sky, or a Nigerian sky, or a Mexican sky,” he said. “We have something in common. This shows how interdependent we are.

The big picture can seem bleak at times, but individuals can make a positive impact in many ways, Williams said. Avoid rodenticides, which can move up the food chain and poison animals that eat them. Keep bird killer cats indoors (which is also safer for the cat). Renovate your windows with bird-resistant glass. Participate in the Lights Out programdesigned to save migratory birds.

In this age of spirits and saints, Williams has a plea for us all. “Look around you. What could we possibly be missing now? What opportunities are there to restore species that we have lost over time?

Open your eyes and see what can still be seen.

As fall moves toward winter, it is the season in which we mark not only the strange specters that haunt our dreams, but also the lives of the saints who have gone before us. If nothing else, our heightened awareness of human beings’ dependence on the complex web of life on this planet might lead us to recognize that not all saints walk on two legs.

Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans is a freelance journalist in Chester County. His writing has appeared in Religion News Service, the National Catholic Reporter, Sojourners, Christian Century, the Washington Post, and The Inquirer.