Home / Front Page

Jun 28, 2011

You, climate change, and the reports behind it

Since part of what this blog is about is the sharing of information pouring through the eco-academic-decision-making world, here are two links that you may find interesting.

One is from the “Clean Air-Cool Planet” site, which links to a particularly interesting report on dealing with climate change science in the Northeast.

The second is an EPA report on “Rolling Easements.” It has a good amount of information—and some bias—that you’ll read more about when I have a chance to digest it.

So, as always, stay tuned for more . . .
Jun 24, 2011

Ecology teaches us about love, what it means to be human

June 2011


The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development.

Thus wrote His Holiness Benedict XVI in Charity in Truth, his 2009 letter to the church and the world. Last week, the pontiff referenced these words when speaking to new ambassadors to the Holy See.

Each time Benedict XVI speaks about environmental issues he challenges us to consider what it means to be human. He asks us to see ourselves and our world as a unified whole.

He teaches us that the “book of nature” connects the myriad ways in which human life comes into being, grows, is nurtured (and nurtures), relates, sacrifices, loves, and is ultimately offered eternal and fully human life with God.

All this came to mind the other day at a meeting about marriage. The discussion kept coming back to basic issues at the core of why too many marriages in the Western world fail—such as the...
Jun 22, 2011

US Bishops connect mercury and abortion

Below is a letter from the bishop's of the United States to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Its subject is the issue of mercury emissions from power plants. This is a unique issue for supporters of both ecology and human life because the impact that mercury has on all life demonstrates the urgency in defending the lives of unborn children—from pollution, yes, but also from abortion. After all, if mercury is bad for unborn children, so is any procedure that ends their innocent lives.  No?

This can cause some confusion and soul searching on the part of many in the media, which is a good, good thing.

As an example of how the facts behind mercury poisoning can help everyone understand the Church's teaching on abortion, here's the bishop's most excellent letter:


Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
3211
FOURTH STREET NE
 • WASHINGTON DC 20017-1194 • 202-541-3160
WEBSITE: WWW.USCCB.ORG/JPHD • FAX 202-541-3339
...
Jun 17, 2011

Our Lord's advice on worry: heed nature

In Saturday’s Gospel, our Lord once again uses nature to remind us of the natural order and what it means to be human . . .


Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 6:24-34.
Jesus said to his disciples: "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They...
Jun 9, 2011

Reasons why B16 spoke today on ecology

Benedict XVI met with new ambassadors to the Holy See today. In his talks he made it clear that ecological protection is an issue that must be seen in relation to how the Church and the state partner to building up the common good. The Holy Father's emphasis on ecology still has people wondering why he's so emphatic about environmental protection.

I’ll get to that below, but first, his words. In his address to Mr. George Robert Furness Troup, ambassador from New Zealand, the Holy Father said:

Faithful to the best of its traditions, New Zealand is called to use its position of influence for the peace and stability of the region, the encouragement of mature and stable democratic institutions, and the fostering of authentic human rights and sustainable economic development. The desire for development poses a number of important challenges concerning the environment, some of them with serious consequences for people’s well-being and livelihoods, and especially for the poor. I would like to encourage the work being done to promote models of development at home and abroad that...
Jun 8, 2011

Bishops respond to murder in the Amazon

From Nova Ipixuna comes news that the Roman Catholic Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Charity, Justice and Peace of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) issued a statement about the brutal May 24 murder of the environmentalist leader José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva, and his wife, Maria do Espirito Santo Silva.
"The Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Charity, Justice and Peace of the CNBB, joins in the many expressions of indignation for the brutal murder of the couple" says a passage in the declaration. The Commission itself, in November 2010, had issued another statement, signed by José Cláudio in front of more than 400 scholars from different fields of research, in which the leading environmentalist said: "I live in the forest, I protect it, so I live waiting for a bullet in the head at any time, because I am always in full view, before everyone, and I denounce what I see."
Like Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, who was shot to death in February, 2005, the murder of José and Maria shows us the great...

Pages

Subscribe to

If you like Catholic Ecology,
you’ll love…

A Printer's Choice

The sci-fi novel with a Catholic twist.

A Printer's Choice

Learn more

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.