Green Options

What do you get when you combine an undergraduate degree in sociology and three masters degrees in sociology, divinity studies and urban planning with an intense love for the Lord? A priest on a mission … that’s what!

Since 1998, Rev. Charles Morris has been on a mission to make his church a sustainable place to worship, and the results are quite impressive. St. Elizabeth’s Church, in Wyandotte, Michigan, is not only a

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When Amy wrote about green magazines, she mentioned GOOD as being one of her favorites. I, too, a self-described magazine junkie, am a big fan of GOOD since it’s inception last year. With all the depressing news out there on any given day, GOOD always reaffirms my faith in humanity. Its focus is, like its name implies, good stuff: those things that are

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The Vatican may be a key link in the mass shift toward environmental sustainability. Pope Benedict XVI is concerned by "the growing recognition of the need to preserve the environment," and he’s not alone. His progressive stance on environmental responsibility could potentially bring the world’s estimated one billion or more Catholics into the fold of the environmental movement.

On Saturday, the Pope called on youth to "change the world." This was at the Vatican’s first

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How guilty to do you feel when you forget to recycle your rubbish from lunch, or accidentally put the wrong material out for the recycling company? If you suffer from Eco-Guilt Syndrome, there just may be a cure. Dom Anthony Sutch, a Benedictine Monk from Suffolk, is offering people the chance to confess their eco-sins.

At the Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend, Brother Sutch will be on hand to hear

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As schools and fall activities start their momentum, so too does the need for funding. I spent many fall afternoons in my school days hauling a box of chocolates door to door in the name of a field trip or project, all while resisting the urge to eat them… sometimes successfully.

It is not common to think of where our chocolate bars come from. I did not even know what a cacao pod looked

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Pope Benedict reads Ecorazzi every morning, just bought a solar powered pontif’s hat, and thinks Victoria E is hawt. He also wants his flock to start caring for their home- or as we put it around the PS office- stop f*&$ing up the planet.

“We all see that today man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his Earth,” he said.

“We cannot simply do what we want with this Earth of ours, with what has been entrusted to us,” said the Pope, who has been spending his time reading and walking in the scenic landscape bordering Austria.

World religions have shown a growing interest in the environment, particularly the ramifications of climate change.

The Pope, leader of some 1.1 billion Roman Catholics worldwide, said: “We must respect the interior laws of creation, of this Earth, to learn these laws and obey them if we want to survive.”

“This obedience to the voice of the Earth is more important for our future happiness … than the desires of the moment.

“Our Earth is talking to us and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive,” he said.

Last April the Vatican sponsored a scientific conference on climate change to underscore the role that religious leaders around the world could play in reminding people that wilfully damaging the environment is sinful.

Community activism—getting involved in your community to make positive change—is both thrilling and rewarding. But fighting against the current to do it can be hard work. To be effective at making change in your community, it’s a good idea to first learn what the community itself sees as its major issues. By learning about and responding to your community’s needs, you can generate popular support for your actions and more easily find

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People of faith from around the globe are taking the lead on global warming solutions. Following on the heels of an alliance among some U.S. faith leaders to fight global warming, the Vatican has announced plans to install a giant solar power system.

The 1,000 solar panels will adorn the football-sized roof of the Paul VI audience hall, one of the top energy guzzlers in the sovereign city state. The solar system [...]

Photo Credit: GreenspringsThe move towards a greener lifestyle extends even to the end of life. Choices for the final resting place include some relatively new approaches. Many of these developments seem to be coming out of the United Kingdom and from Europe, though they are being adopted in other countries, as well.

Green burials are now being performed in park- or forest-like settings. The more familiar green lawn

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Last week, leaders of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faiths formed a pact to fight global warming. They delivered a letter to the White House and Congress announcing their alliance and calling on lawmakers to create limits on carbon global warming pollution.

Citing the Koran, the Hebrew Bible, and the teachings of Jesus Christ, the interfaith body declared global warming “a moral issue” in An Interfaith Declaration on the Moral Responsibility of the

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Editor's note: In the newest edition of Red, Green and Blue, writers Jimmy Hogan and Shirley Siluk Gregory take a look at the "big issue" of environmentalism vs. humanitarianism.

Jimmy: I was thinking the other day, and it struck me that I don’t have a very well-formed stand on the distinction between environmental and humanistic issues. Is there a point where being green comes at the expense of human welfare?

The statement

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