Pope Benedict XVI added to his growing reputation as the “green Pope” on Tuesday with the release of a new encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). A call for sustainable development in the broadest sense, the Pope’s letter addressed the human and environmental costs of “business as usual,” and established “doing well by doing good” as the business philosophy most consistent with Church doctrine and Biblical teaching.
A well-respected Indian scientist nearly died after a 38-day hunger strike in protest of construction on a hydropower dam on a tributary of the Ganges river.
AD Agarwal, a 77-year-old former professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi at Kanpur, began his strike last month when the Indian government refused to study the impacts of the dam before beginning work. The Ganges river’s free-flowing abundance is sacred in Hindu culture.
Hey, you know that old conflict between religion and science? Remember the Scopes monkey trial in 1925 or the 1960 film about the case? How about the legislative battles of the last few years in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Kansas over the mandatory inclusion of intelligent design alongside evolution in public schools?
Waiting for worldviews to change to accommodate new science is like watching the emergence of multicellularity. Keep in mind that Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is only 150 years old. Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres was published in 1543. That book wasn’t completely dropped from the Vatican’s list of banned books for another 300 years. (I wonder if foundation-shattering books would fly under heresy radars if the titles didn’t start with “On the…”)
Chuck, on the other hand, just got fast-tracked! On Darwin’s 200th birthday, the Vatican is officially on board with evolution! Also, more than 800 pastors and rabbis are celebrating “Evolution Weekend” following Darwin’s 200th birthday February 12.
An order of Episcopalian nuns in New York City are setting a high bar for devoted ecoratti as they embark on a quest to build a new green convent. The new building will feature, solar heating and on-roof vegetable garden, rainwater collection and even compost toilets.
Like many states, Oregonians can opt out of school required vaccinations by claiming religious exemption. Statewide, 3.7 percent of kindergartners were exempt in 2007; however in Ashland, 28.1 percent of kindergartners were not vaccinated making it the least vaccinated city in the US. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) wants to know why.
Pope Benedict XVI has once again called on Catholics everywhere to go green. This past week, he used his Epiphany Day homily to call for action against global warming and polluting.
This isn’t the first time the Pope has pushed to save the environment. In September of 2007, the Vatican installed solar panels; in December, he talked about our need to conserve energy; and last [...]
“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” (Romans I: 20)
“Have you not seen how God sets forth a parable? A good word is like a good tree whose roots are firm and whose branches reach heaven. It gives its fruit during every season, by leaves of its Lord. And God sets forth parables to people that they may remember.” (Al-Qur’an I4: 24-25)
As you likely know, people of faith and environmentalists don’t always see eye-to-eye. The narratives of faith and the green movement can seem to diverge pretty widely at points, and members of both sides have often viewed the other with suspicion and distrust. In recent years, though, we’ve seen efforts by both groups to “reach across the aisle,” and the development of concepts like “creation care,” which attempt to bridge religious beliefs with environmental concerns.
In November, the Sierra Club joined the conversation with its publication of Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation. Bringing together clergy, lay people, and thinkers on the topics of religion/spirituality and the environment, Holy Ground is an anthology of meditations (essays just doesn’t seem to work) on the role of caring for the Earth while remaining faithful to the tenants of one’s faith.
May Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and even Cinco de Mayo… lots to celebrate in May. We had lots to celebrate at sustainablog, also… especially a bevvy of new voices who joined us during the month.
Those new writers got us over our Spring fever slump, and took sustainablog in some very interesting new directions…
With several new GO blogs launching in March, a few of sustainablog’s regulars moved on to other posting assignments. We were fortunate that a number of friends, such as the folks at Life Goggles, Environmental Defense Fund, and Eco-Libris, did admirable jobs in filling the gap. Additionally, we were pleased to republish several posts from the University of Kansas’ “Media and the Environment” course blog.
The original content we did publish was great stuff, of course. Take a look below, and see a few of the goodies from March (and not a single post on green beer!).
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has praised Vatican and Pope Benedict for stepping up its fight against global warming by installing huge solar energy system, thus cutting its carbon monoxide emissions considerably.
Pope Benedict XVI added to his growing reputation as the “green Pope” on Tuesday with the release of a new encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). A call for sustainable development in the broadest sense, the Pope’s letter addressed the human and environmental costs of “business as usual,” and established “doing well by doing good” as the business philosophy most consistent with Church doctrine and Biblical teaching.
