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According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center released in May 2008, the proportion of Americans who believe the earth is getting warmer has declined since January 2007. Though the falling numbers are modest, it is a warning sign that the American people need to hear a prophetic voice that rises above partisan politics and quick fix solutions to the issue of climate change.
As people of faith, we have been called to be a voice of compassion for the Earth and the people that suffer because of over consumption and misuse and abuse of our natural resources. At the 2006 Columban General Assembly, climate change was named as one of our top two JPIC priorities. At the Assembly we said that, "Global Warming is the most serious ecological challenge facing humanity and the planet. As a people of faith, we believe we have a moral obligation to act."
In September 2007, an international Columban meeting was held of JPIC Coordinators and invited guests to strategize an action plan for the Society. A statement was released by the delegates of the meeting which says, The endangered Earth demands a new prophetic way of being missionaries. Our response to the crisis of Climate Change must be prophetic, that is good news for the poor and the planet. Part of our strategic plan includes carbon audits of our properties and overall lifestyle.
Columbans in the United States were awarded a grant from the National Religious Partnership for the Environment and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to put towards our efforts to address climate change. Over the next year we will share with you our struggles and successes to make a difference.
Columban Response: Los Angeles – Light Bulbs
As we reinforce our commitment to reduce global warming through lifestyle changes we share this process of conversion with our members, collaborators, employees and supporters, inviting all to join us in this urgent, global mission of the new millennium. We integrate climate change into our theology of mission, spirituality, and ethics. We try to capture the imagination of the believer by emphasizing how, through our lifestyle choices, we are on mission to the ends of the earth every day. As a motivator for change we stress the ethical impacts of global warming, especially as they affect the poor and indigenous, most of who have had little or no responsibility for the present crisis.
In our residential house for missionaries in Los Angeles, CA, as an initial step towards reducing our carbon footprint, one Columban decided to single-handedly change all the incandescent light bulbs for the energy efficient, compact fluorescents in February 2008. This was no small feat. Over 120 light bulbs were changed!
The impact was immediate. In March / April 2008 there was a 760 kWh reduction and a cost savings of $61.49 compared to the same period in 2007.
In May / June 2008 there was a 1,320 kWh reduction and a cost savings of $123.99 compared to the same period in 2007.
We recognize that our efforts are modest in the scope of the problem, but we believe that it is in these small steps taken in unison with other individuals, families, communities and nations around the world that true change is possible. For the next year, we will share with you other “little steps” we take to lighten our carbon footprint. We hope they will inspire and challenge others to also take small steps towards a more earth-conscious lifestyle.
And we want to be inspired by you! If you’ve made a change in your life big or small to combat climate change we want to hear about it! Send your stories with pictures if you have them to the Columban JPIC Office at
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Climate Change News
Bishops of G8 Nations Urge Their Leaders To Address Global Poverty And Climate Change At July G8 Summit
http://www.usccb.org:80/comm/archives/2008/08-091.shtml
WASHINGTON – In a letter to leaders participating in the G8 Summit in Japan on July 7-9, the presidents of all the Catholic bishops’ conferences of the G8 nations urged Summit leaders to “deepen your commitments and actions to reduce global poverty and address global climate change.” The bishops wrote: “Our religious and moral commitment to protect human life and promote human dignity moves us to be particularly concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human family, especially those in developing countries.” The G8 leaders include President Bush and the heads of state of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, signed the letter.
The bishops remind Summit leaders of Pope Benedict XVI’s April address to the United Nations in which he called on all nations to work together in good faith to protect the environment, reduce global inequalities and promote solidarity with the weakest regions on the planet which are at risk of experiencing “only the negative effects of globalization.” The bishops support efforts to increase development assistance, to promote just trade policies, and to address the impact of the world food crisis and HIV-AIDS and other deadly diseases.
The bishops note that the poor have contributed least to the factors that aggravate global climate change, but they will be disproportionately affected by “its harmful effects, including potential conflicts, escalating energy costs, and health problems.” They urged Summit leaders to recognize that the “costs of initiatives to prevent and adapt to the harmful consequences of climate change should be borne more by richer persons and nations who have benefited most from the emissions that have fueled development and should not unduly burden the poor.”
The full text of the letter is available at: http://www.usccb.org:80/comm/archives/2008/08-091.shtml
August Action
Need some summer reading? Check out a great book on the environment called Cradle to Cradle by Michael Braungart and William McDonough. Our JPIC summer intern, Christine Whalen shares a book review.
Cradle to Cradle: Changing the way we make things
Christine Whalen
Combining the brainpower of German chemist Michael Braungart with the ecologically savvy architect William McDonough, Cradle to Cradle presents us with a new model for design, production, and ultimately human development. Using historical narratives, the authors argue that the dominant “cradle-to-grave” model of production and consumption (forced obsolescence) is not a necessary evil, but rather an intentional product of the Industrial Revolution. Significantly, this model was expedient at the Industrial Revolution’s inception in that it allowed for demand to keep pace with an increasing capacity to provide on the part of manufacturers, but its side effects have outlasted its expedience. Given the intention behind this design paradigm, McDonough and Braungart argue we can, and must, rework the model’s framework to be both compatible and complimentary with a living earth.
In the latter part of the book, the authors lay out the fundamental tenants of their new design paradigm. At its core, their manifesto rests on the notion that design and production must be locally relevant, efficient both from a production and environmental standpoint, and aim to enrich the community both during and after its intended use. This “cradle to cradle” model injects production and consumption processes with ecological justice, making it an important model for addressing climate change and other environmental concerns. In the new model, human life is intended to cooperate with nature, meaning development and advancement need not run contrary to environmental concerns.
In a theological sense, Cradle to Cradle presents an important context for our understanding of the Christian tradition of “care of creation.” In our call to be stewards of God’s creation, we must act with a solid consciousness of our environment and community in order to achieve right relationships between all members of God’s creation. In this sense, design and development must not compete with the ability of humans nor the environment to flourish.
What is so progressive about the cradle to cradle model, then, is that it calls on innovation to enhance creation rather than stifle it. Moreover, the book does not stop at broad theoretical calls to action; it presents case studies and pragmatic suggestions for a new model; such as using indigenous materials, functional aesthetics, and incorporating plants into urban life and design. In this way, the cradle to cradle model renders the power of humanity to invent and innovate as compatible with our environment. As a quality bestowed upon us, this power ought to be used in conjunction with the beauty of God’s creation. Furthermore, insofar as our production-consumption system can coexist with the environment, it has the capacity to augment it—to care for creation by installing systems that nourish and replenish the earth.
Though a broader approach to innovation and ecology in general, Cradle to Cradle is also extremely relevant to climate change. By advocating for responsible designs, the authors highlight the underlying, systematic causes of environmental concerns such as global warming. Specifically, the authors distinguish between programs that regulate carbon and other harmful emissions, and programs that seek to find alternative processes to the ones that create carbon. In this way, they see global warming as an opportunity to showcase human innovation by redesigning our production systems in a way that is more efficient economically and ecologically in the long run. For Braungart and McDonough, the accelerating pace of global warming’s effects requires that emphasis and incentive be lent to the cause of implementing new production-consumption systems.
While I found every facet of the book intriguing and incredibly relevant, the most important takeaway point for me was about intention and responsibility. That is to say, that the current design paradigm was an intentional one. It was built to serve a purpose, and it came with a whole set of originally unintended negative impacts. We have a responsibility to create a more just relationship between ecology and economy. For as difficult as it is to acknowledge our complicity in this system, doing so provides an opportunity: to share in the beauty of creation through establishing a production-consumption model that productively engages creation rather than combats it.
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