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Those low, low prices of made-in-China goods come at a high price after all. China’s industrial hyper-activity is causing problems. In what is seen as a rather unusual note of honesty, China’s leaders are admitting that the damage being done to their country’s ecology is something they can no longer ignore.

And so we read this from the New York Times:

China’s environment minister on Monday issued an unusually stark warning about the deleterious impacts of unbridled development on the country’s air, water and soil, saying the nation’s current path could stifle long-term economic growth and feed social instability.

In an essay published on the agency’s Web site, the minister, Zhou Shengxian, said the government would take a more aggressive role in determining whether development initiatives contributed to climate change through a new system of risk assessment.

Ignoring such risks, he

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General Electric (and other companies) has a scheme: Make technology look clean and glorious on television and we might overlook the price that every innovation brings.

While Catholic ecologists are ever wary of equating technology with salvation, it’s foolish to argue the good that science does. God gave us a mind to use. And use it we must to make things clean, tidy and healthy as we go about our business—remembering always our Holy Father’s words. “It is not science that redeems man; man is redeemed by love.” (Spe Salvi, section 26.)

Okay, back to GE. They do have some very, very creative commercials, and in the spirit of the American motion picture industry’s big award night this Sunday, here are my finalists for the category of Best Commercial From A Corporation Selling Eco-Technology To A World that Badly Needs It.

(Care to vote in the comment section?)


Number 1: The Line Dance

 

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The saying “we’re from the government and we’re here to help” usually comes in jest. But EPA means it.

Check out these eco-grant offerings for which faith communities, conservation groups and even individuals might be eligible. It's real funding for good ideas and programs . . . and you may just have one or two to offer.

Peruse the EPA grant site, and look especially at grants for the Environmental Justice Small Grants Program (the main page is here or here). There’s an environmental education grant program, too, which will be offering its 2011 allotment soon. More specific announcements include:

Environmental Fellowships: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requests proposals for the National Network for Environmental Management Studies Fellowship Program. This fellowship program provides students with an opportunity to participate in a project directly related to their field of study.  Fields of interest include:  Environmental Policy, Regulation, and Law; Environmental...

The Denver Post has some good news about the people in the great American West:


A new survey has found a majority of voters in the Rocky Mountain region regard clean water, air and land that sustains wildlife as very important.

Two thirds of surveyed voters said these natural resources are fragile and must be cared for and protected.

The "Conservation in the West" survey, commissioned by Colorado College and released this morning, also found that two thirds of voters believe current laws protecting air, land and water should be strengthened or better enforced.

Even when offered an economic rationale for relaxing environmental standards, 77 percent of voters surveyed said standards that apply to major industries must be maintained. Only 18 percent favored relaxing standards in an effort to boost the economy and generate jobs.

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Today’s breaking eco-news from Nairobi sounds promising, but forgive my caution. Reuters has a lengthy account of the United Nations’ hope for better ecological and energy coordination among its member states, but this AFP report (New 'environment governance' on agenda in Nairobi) captures both the good news and the bad.

Read the report, below, then I’ll explain my hesitancy. 


NAIROBI — Environment ministers and experts gathered in Nairobi on Monday to discuss reforming "world environment governance" in order to better manage crises linked to climate change and environmental degradation.

Delegates from 140 countries, 80 of them at ministerial level, attended the 26th session of the governing council of the United Nations Environment Programme, headquartered in Nairobi.

The delegates will discuss beefing up international environmental management tools, deemed to be insufficient given the scale of the problems facing

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Much of the Western world was built from the power of coal and the men who mined it. In many places, this is still the case.

All this makes a new study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences so meaningful. Read through the report, it has some chilling statistics on the harm brought about by the mining and use of coal. Overall, the negative costs are said to be some $500 billion. In short, the study finds that coal is dirty, dangerous and needs to be phased out. Well, it’s hard to argue with many of the findings, and it’s also difficult to be surprised.

Here’s a few points to ponder:

  • The deforestation and landscape changes associated with [mountain top removal] have impacts on carbon storage and water
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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.