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As noted earlier in these pages, ecologists are once again running head on into Original Sin. This time it’s with the issue of compact fluorescent bulbs, or “CFLs.”

Because the more energy consuming, traditional incandescent light bulbs are being phased outat least for now—technologies like CFLs are being used more and more.

The problem is, while CFLs save tons of energy (and reduce tons of greenhouse gas emissions), their use and improper disposal is releasing tons of mercury into our air and water. And as you know, mercury is not something we want in our air, water or us.

The LA Times reports about it here, with some snippets below:

The nation's accelerating shift from incandescent lighting to a new generation of energy-efficient bulbs is raising an environmental concern: the release of tons of mercury every year.

The most popular new bulb — the compact fluorescent light bulb,

...

No, this isn’t a misplaced Halloween post. News about two not-well-loved critters—bats and Australia’s Tasmanian devil—has prompted researchers and advocates to help these unpopular members of Earth’s biota.

First, the bats. A study of the economic impact of bats has shown that losses of these only true flying mammals could cost agriculture in North America somewhere between $3.7 and $53 billion a year, with a best-guess around $22.9 billion a year. The loss is due to a spreading fungal disease. The price tag is due to bat’s dietary intake of troublesome insects that harm crops. According to a report in the International Business Times:


"Without bats, crop yields are affected. Pesticide applications go up. Even if our estimates were quartered, they clearly show how bats have enormous potential to influence the economics of agriculture and forestry."

According to the researchers, a single colony of 150 big brown bats in Indiana

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The mangled remains of Japanese nuclear power plants continue to attract worldwide media attention. Sadly, our obsession with smoke belching from these crippled facilities has drawn our attention from the despair and loss of so many who’ve lost so much and who grieve their dead or missing loved ones. I suppose this is because there’s not much you can do about natural disasters. On the other hand, technological ones are ripe for cultural self-examination.

Of late, nuclear power opponents hold up Japan’s crisis as justification for a global moratorium on such technologies. And to be sure, the effects of these damaged reactors are spreading. Scientists have found residual radiation on the East Coast of the United States and even in Israel. The amounts aren’t a health or safety issue, but the news does give one pause.

No wonder, then, that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines—a volcanic, earthquake-prone nation—has expressed “vindication” over their anti-nuke stance. Rome’s own spokesperson...

Some ecologists might shy away from this blog because of the title and my intent in writing it—to examine ecological (and related) issues through the lens of the Catholic faith. If you know anyone that may be that person, or anyone that may be interested in dialogue, please send them my link.

Ecology is a wonderful platform to allow people of all faiths, or no faith, to speak of common issues and help express specific worldviews. After all, we all have to breathe!

As Pope Benedict XVI notes in this message below, love and authentic dialogue are the keys to understanding and peaceful, neighborly relations.

(The Holy Father will be speaking below in French; the English translator kicks in briefly into the video.)

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Tonight, the World Wildlife Federation’s Earth Hour campaign will roam across the planet as the sun sets over mile after mile of the globe. Earth Hour’s goal is for us to all come together and use less electricity, and so create less pollution for just an hour.

Are you doing it? A scan of the news shows that many of the big cities are making some attempt. Some aren’t. And it certainly isn’t getting the buzz of previous years.

I’ll be in a restaurant when Earth Hour comes and goes here on the East Coast of the USA. I’m not sure if shutting the lights off then will be a good idea.

Then again, I haven’t made up my mind if the campaign is worth the bandwidth that propagates it. It all seems rather intended to help urban dwellers say “look-at-me-I’m-a-good-environmentalist!” It comes across a little gimmicky.

But ... it does...

This may sound odd, but I was delighted yesterday when I heard a team of college students discuss how a flood can wipe out a lifetime of memories. Well, let me put it this way: I found it comforting that these students (a team from all over the globe) thought to include peoples’ memorabilia among the losses in floods that hit my state and neighborhood last year.

It was wonderfully refreshing. Scientists can sometimes be a cold group. Worse, sometimes they think they have no choice but to operate so. I remember fellow college students in the 1980s that seemed to think that suppressing their humanity was the best way to be a good engineer.

But science should not merely be an objective study of data—of statistics, databases, and end notes. Scientists and engineers are first and foremost servants of the common good—of the human person.

And so when floods consume communities along a usually quaint river, the damage can be...

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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.