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Nov 24, 2011

Off to Rome

There will be a brief hiatus of posting until the first week of December. I'll be in Rome for about a week, and unless something big comes up, this will be it until my return.

This trip will include several opportunities to hear the Holy Father, including his Wednesday Audience, the first in the Season of Advent 2011. So stay tuned for much more, because besides my research in Rome, I have some key events coming up, and you, dear readers, will be the first to hear of them.

For now, here's something to mull over in my absence. It's the video version of a 2009 column just after Benedict XVI issued Caritas in Veritate. If you want to sum up what Catholic ecology is all about, these five minutes may help you do just that.

Buon divertimento!

Nov 23, 2011

Whatever happened to Happy Thanksgiving?

All day today—the day before the American holiday of Thanksgiving—I was greeted with the words Have a good holiday, or Enjoy your holiday. This isn't entirely new. I've noticed such generic Thanksgiving wishes for the past few years.

This has me wondering: Whatever happened to Happy Thanksgiving?

While I can understand (if not agree with) the term Happy Holidays as a substitute for Merry Christmas, I am perplexed that Thanksgiving seems to have become a term to avoid.

Case in point: An otherwise cheerful young waitress at lunch today seemed embarrassed and befuddled with my Thanksgiving wishes. She mumbled her echo of my words, but not comfortably.

Has the growing shadow of Godlessness hidden the beauty and the unitive graces of the Thanksgiving holiday? Are we no longer thankful for the great gift of creation and, indeed, our very lives?

I suppose given the increasing numbers of broken homes, the idyllic concept of Thanksgiving dinner is, for many, not possible. But there may be another problem: If we’re going to give thanks as a people, the question becomes, to...
Nov 19, 2011

Christ the King: The heart of behavioral climate change

The science of human behavior can only get us so far

My job required my attendance on Friday at a conference on climate change, sponsored by the University of Rhode Island Climate Change Collaborative and Rhode Island Sea Grant. It was a day well spent.

The science was solid, objective and a little scary. The blend of international and local studies made for dramatic testimony of what will be happening to our globe and to my shoreline over the next couple of decades. As if this wasn’t enough, in a brilliant stroke of collaboration with other fields, the key thrust of the day was not the natural sciences, but behavioral ones.

Dr. James Prochaska presented this latter component—and it made quite an impression.

First, a little on Dr. Prochaska: He’s clinical psychologist who directs URI’s Cancer Prevention Research Center. He’s done an enormous amount of work on smoking cessation and other health issues that can be mitigated by human behavioral changes. Moreover, it doesn’t take long to realize that he is a kind, genuine man.

I won’t go in to the details of Dr. Prochaska’s many presentations, but what struck me was his overview of what behavior change is and when it happens....

Nov 16, 2011

Clean water is never inconvenient

I did it without thinking. Then I realized the fortune that I had just swept aside.

At the end of lunch with a friend discussing business, she asked the waiter for water. He brought two large glasses filled with clear ice water and a lemon slice. But because I had eaten and drank my fill, I impatiently moved the glass to my side, out of sight.

Then it hit me: All the cost, labor and infrastructure that went into allowing me to be presented with that glass of cold drinking water—and the subsequent cost of the infrastructure to convey it to a wastewater treatment facility after it would be dumped into a sink—were all wasted.

Moreover, by God’s grace I remembered that many millions needed that water. Countless men, women and children would have done anything to have it for themselves or to bring to a dehydrated, dying loved one.

This got me thinking of all the many ways that we can help others get clean water for themselves and their families. (And here, as I watch my mom...
Nov 11, 2011

Ignoring the pope: when Catholics fear ecology

Photo: M.Mazur/www.thepapalvisit.org.uk

A November 9th story by the Catholic News Agency, “US bishop links environmental justice with pro-life cause,” has resulted in dozens of reader comments, many of which lambaste the bishops and anyone else who seeks to suggest that ecology and human life have a connection.

The comments may surprise readers of this blog, who routinely find here information about how and why the Church has and continues to speak of ecological matters. And when I say “the Church,” I mean not a mere pontifical commission or a handful of episcopal councils. I refer mostly to Benedict XVI, who has been about as clear on this matter as one can.

But as seen from the comments in the CNA story, many Catholics object to placing ecology in the realm of Church teachings—especially as a teaching about life.

Here’s a sampling of what readers shared:

Carlos writes: “Poor bishop! He needs our prayers since he can't distinguish between political correctness and...
Nov 11, 2011

Don’t always blame the regulators

I’m an environmental regulator that is currently embroiled in a small but insane situation thanks to government mandates and an industry that is apparently short-sighted and unimaginative. It’s a story that speaks to greater issues of government regulation, which implies a lesson for environmental oversight.

In July, I had a new entry door fitted for an upstairs bathroom. I wanted the door to be a retro-looking, ten-pane French door with smoked glass. This way light can go in and out while maintaining privacy. The contractor installed the door at night. The next morning, as the sun came streaming through the window, I noticed what you see at right. All ten panes had clear writing in the smoked glass. The writing is the text of various industry codes to assure any building inspector passing by that the glass is tempered safety glass.

Now, imagine seeing all ten panes with their laser-like points in the bottom corner. It's like ten evenly-spaced supernovae in a smoky sky. Worse, one can get close to the writing and peer in.

Now, I understand the need for...

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About the Blog

Catholic Ecology posts my regular column in the Rhode Island Catholic, as well as scientific and theological commentary about the latest eco-news, both within and outside of the Catholic Church. What is contained herein is but one person's attempt to teach and defend the Church's teachings - ecological and otherwise. As such, I offer all contents of this blog for approval of the bishops of the Church. It is my hope that nothing herein will lead anyone astray from truth.