Climate Change Will Cause Greater Humanitarian Crises Unless We Act Now
Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight of Caritas Internationalis (a 162-member Catholic charities/aid organization) told the Global Humanitarian Forum that the effects of climate change will be felt the most by the poorest who lack the resources to protect themselves. The Global Humanitarian Forum brought together concerned leaders at its 2009 Forum in Geneva on June 23 and 24 to formulate a response to the human impact of climate change.
Read more here.

Wallets, Votes: Two Tools for Environmental Change
Christian environmentalists meeting in Pistoia, central Italy, June 27-28 called for an end to mass consumption and a return to family values. Bishop Mansueto Bianchi of Pistoia, Italy read a message from Pope Benedict XVI who pledged his support for the conference and underscored the need for "better rapport between man and the universe."
Read more of National Catholic Reporter's account of the meeting here.

Stories: What Our Partners Are Doing-- ADVOCACY
Featured Partner: Francisican Action Network (FAN)
The Franciscan Action Network, a Catholic Coalition on Climate Change member, successfully organized over sixty Congressional visits as members of Congress debated climate change legislation. The effort was part of the Franciscan Campaign on Climate Change. The Campaign reflects FAN's commitment to the Catholic Climate Covenant and the St. Francis Pledge. "FAN members believe that no threat to the sustainability of the human species is more urgent--and thus better able to unite diverse interests--than climate change." Read more here.

Parishioners of St. Mary's Church in Pompton Lakes, NJ, recently joined the Franciscan Action Network's (FAN) efforts to help influence U.S. legislation addressing climate change. The parish's June 13 to 14 Climate Change Weekend-sponsored by the parish's Environmental Advocacy Group-focused on HR 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act which has since passed the House of Representatives. Read more here.

Pope Benedict's "Caritas in Veritate" (Charity in Truth) Outlines and Elaborates on Environmental Justice
On Tuesday, the Vatican released the Holy Father's third encyclical letter, Charity in Truth, emphasizing that "charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples." Focused primarily on international economic issues, Pope Benedict calls for a "true world political authority" to promote the common good of all and for "greater social responsibility" by businesses.

The encyclical re-emphasizes that the truth of the sacredness of human life and human dignity are to guide all we do as Catholics: "Openness to life is at the center of true development."

In this context, Benedict XVI devotes the fourth chapter of the encyclical to "The development of people, rights and duties, the environment." Here, the pope says that, "The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole."

"In nature, the believer recognizes the wonderful result of God's creative activity, which we may use responsibly to satisfy our legitimate needs, material or otherwise, while respecting the intrinsic balance of creation."

Benedict warns against seeing nature as more important than people. But neither should the opposite be held as true: "which aims at total technical dominion over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a 'grammar' which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation."

The problem of unequal distribution of non-renewable energy is a global responsibility and, "Here we are dealing with major issues; if they are to be faced adequately, then everyone must responsibly recognize the impact they will have on future generations, particularly on the many young people in the poorer nations, who 'ask to assume their active part in the construction of a better world.'"

An authentically Catholic response to the climate change as articulated by the Vatican and the U.S. Catholic bishops and carried out through the partners who are members of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change has always been about the care of creation and protection of those most vulnerable to climate impacts. Pope Benedict reinforces these twin goals: "the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate obliges all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet."

The document goes on to say: "The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere. In so doing, she must defend not only earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to everyone. She must above all protect mankind from self-destruction…when 'human ecology' is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits…the ecological system is based on respect for a plan that affects both the health of society and its good relationship with nature."

You are encouraged to read the full document. It is a rich and power re-articulation of Catholic social teaching and its application to many important moral issues of today including environmental issues.

Climate Change Legislation
There have been false reports or assumptions that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change have called for the support of the climate change bill that recently passed the House of Representatives. These reports and assumptions are false.

The Coalition takes its lead from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other partners. Bishop Howard Hubbard, chairman of the bishops' Committee on International Policy and Ken Hackett, President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services wrote to members of the House recently and did not endorse the bill as a whole but did outline both the positive elements of the bill as well as areas needing improvement. See the text of the letter here.

A primary concern was the lack of money dedicated to assisting the poorest nations around the world adapt to climate change impacts.

Because of its highly technical nature, many aspects of the bill are beyond the competency of the bishops. For example, how many of the CO2 allocations are auctioned or given away. But they have insisted that the fundamental moral test for this legislation is that it does, in fact, begin to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and thus help protect the climate upon which all depend and that the burdens of climate change or public policies designed to address climate change do not unduly fall upon poor people at home and abroad.

As the bill stands now, it appears that both the policies and the resources to protect poor people at home are sufficient. Those provisions must not be weakened as the bill moves to the Senate. The policies that help poor nations adapt to climate change appear to be sound but the resources allocated to this goal are far from where they need to be.

In short, the bishops will support or oppose only those provisions in the bill concerning impacts on poor people here and abroad.

Please promote the Catholic Climate Covenant-- do one of the following:

Link to the website and share this website among your social networks, colleagues, and friends.
The Catholic Climate Covenant is also on Facebook. Post it on your Facebook page.
Forward this email to your friends and ask them to sign up here or go to our tell-a-friend page now.
Take the St. Francis Pledge today! Invite others to do likewise.

Prayer for the Environmental Common Good

By: Jane Deren

As we breathe the very air which sustains us,
We remember your love, God,
which gives us life.
 
Fill us with your compassion for Creation.
Empty us of apathy, selfishness and fear,
of all pessimism and hesitation.
Breathe into us solidarity
with all who suffer now
 
especially our sisters and brothers
 
who are homeless and hungry
and the future generations who will suffer
because of our environmental irresponsibility.

Move us into action
to save our earth
and to build your sustainable Kingdom.
Amen.

Make Green Choices

Choose a reusable shopping bag
More than 380,000,000 plastic bags are thrown away in the United States every year.
Paper bags biodegrade more effectively, however an estimated 14,000,000 trees a year are cut down to make 10 billion paper bags.

Choose a reusable water bottle
One liter of water at the store requires FIVE liters of water to cool the plastic.
Consider also the grade of plastic (safe grade bottles are numbered 2, 4 or 5)

Save energy by avoiding Phantom Power
All together, Phantom energy can account for 10% of your electricity bill.
Cell phone chargers, appliances, computers, televisions, household gadgets all continue to draw power, even when they’re TURNED OFF.

Get rid of the JUNK
Cutting down on junk mail also cuts down on the est. 100,000,000 trees & 20,000,000,000 gallons of water necessary for producing junk mail.
Organizations like Greendimes will stop 70-90% of the junk mail you’re receiving. They also plant a tree a month for every one of their members.

A FAMILY
Elaine Piegdon of Joliet, Illinois, says that "Our family always has a supply of reusable grocery bags in the trunk of each car to use when shopping. We recycle everything in our home that we know to be recyclable, and we take our soda cans to a recycling truck to turn in. We have changed all our light bulbs to the energy-saving flourescent spiral bulbs, and have tried to unplug anything that is unnecessary when we aren't home. We recently down-sized from a large passenger van to two small compact cars to save gas. There are only two of us, but we feel that even two people could help make a difference in this world."

A SCHOOL
Renee Dantonio from St. John the Evangelist Early Learning and Childcare Center in Naples, FL, shares the following about her the school's kindergarten: "In recognition of Gods Earth Day yesterday we have focused this week on the Catholic Climate Coalitions Gods Earth Day initiative that calls for us to care for all of Gods creation and for the poor and vulnerable, by reducing our impact on the planet. (I have given everyone a copy of the St. Francis pledge.) After teacher led discussion and student sharing children prayed and wrote their own pledges to care for creation and the poor. As we have reinforced all year, they focused on thinking of the good of all versus ourselves. We discussed the video on your website, as well. Our centers service act, which children participated in yesterday, was to gather litter on our campus sorting recyclable from non."

A RETREAT CENTER
Patricia Sills-Trausch, from the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Arizona: "The Franciscan Renewal Center is a retreat center with a large worshiping community in Scottsdale, AZ. Our new Casa Advocacy Network is joining with the Franciscan Action Network on the climate change campaign. We have held two educational events to raise awareness of the problem and learn ways we can effect change both on the personal level and with advocacy. Next, we are setting up visits with our congressional reps when they are home for the Memorial Day recess. Small groups of community members will meet with the reps and bring with them signed postcards and letters from other constituents. We included the Canticle of all Creatures in our educational sessions prior to even knowing about the St Francis Pledge. We are encouraging people to incorporate that prayer in their prayer life for the next month or so. The Franciscan Renewal Center has put effort into being more green itself over the last few years."

A PARISH
Claire McSwiney of St. Thomas More Catholic Student Parish in Kalamazoo, Michigan says, "We are settling into our new environmentally friendly building. Last year, during Lent, we focused on decreasing our carbon footprints and this year our Lenten exercise was about tackling solid waste. We are currently collecting newspapers to be converted to insulation for homes, as well as batteries and compact fluorescent light bulbs so that they do not go to landfills. Most recently, our church has discontinued the use of foam cups and containers at our meetings and after the morning masses on Sundays. A recent article in the Kalamazoo Gazette describes the changes accomplished in our parish over the last two years."

How Long Does it take to Biodegrade?

Brown paper bag – 1 to 5 months
Cigarette butts & filters – 12 years
Plastic bags, caps and lids – decades
Aluminum cans – 2 to 5 centuries
Styrofoam cups and containers – virtually forever

Where to Recycle?

Electronics mygreenelectronics.org

Computers haztech.net

Floppy disks & videotapes greendisk.com

Cell phones & rechargeable batteries rbrc.org

Appliances hawaiimetalrecycling.com

Paint earth911.org

Tires epa.gov/garbage/tires/live.htm

10 Ways to Save Your Planet

1. Use a mug of your own – every year 25 billion cups and water bottles end up in landfills.

2. Choose ice cream cones over cups.

3. No more plastic or paper bags when shopping.

4. Stop junk mail!

5. Choose a better TP.

6. Replace old bulbs with CFLs (use 4 times less energy).

7. De-lint the dryer (save up to 30% in energy costs).

8. Pick safe paints – volatile organic compounds create photochemical smog. Choose No VOC.

9. Shorten your showers – for every 2 minutes you shave off your shower, you save 10 gallons of water.

10. Shut down your computer – the average computer left on all day uses nearly 1,000 kilowatt hours a year. Note: the screen saver uses more energy than the sleep mode.