December 14, 2011

From The Director

What Happened in Durban?

The United Nations Climate Change Conference that ended on Sunday, December 11, offered both hope for future international efforts to combat climate change and challenges in the years ahead. The negotiators reached agreement on the “Durban Platform,” a package of commitments which extend the Kyoto Protocol, launches the Green Climate Fund (a $100 billion/year fund—by 2020—helping to offset climate impacts on the poorest nations), charts a pathway to a future legally binding agreement on cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, and begins the implementation of the agreements reached last year in Cancun.

Future challenges—especially for the Catholic community and other people of faith—include whether or not the cuts in emissions are deep enough or fast enough to stop the worst impacts of climate change (Care for Creation), and whether the developed nations’ pledges to the Green Climate Fund will be realized (Care for Poor People). First-hand observers from Caritas Internationalis (a team led by Cardinal Rodriguez of Honduras) do not believe the cuts are deep enough or fast enough. Read more on CI’s blog here.

New Poll

Religious Americans Want International Climate Agreement

A new University of Maryland poll of 1,500 Catholics and Evangelicals suggests that nearly 8 in 10 believe that the U.S. should support a global agreement to reduce emissions and nearly 60% believe it would be morally wrong to violate any such treaty. The messages that the Coalition partners have been insisting are at the heart of a Catholic approach on climate change poll very well, namely, that we are motivated to care for God’s creation and that our obligation to the poor, who are already suffering the consequences of climate change, demands action.

Unfortunately, in the same poll, Catholics and evangelicals confusion about the science corresponds with the public at large where around 40% of US citizens believe that most scientists are in agreement that humans are causing climate change while the same number believe there is a wide gulf among scientists. Last year the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying that 97 percent of climate scientists agree that humans are the primary drivers of climate change. To see other findings in the poll, click here.

New Covenant Partner

College of St. Benedict becomes a Covenant Partner

The College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN has become the latest Catholic institution of higher education to commit to the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. College officials see this as a natural extension of their promise to the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment and demonstrates an approach more consistent with Catholic teaching by linking the schools ongoing efforts to reduce their carbon footprint with care for creation and care for the poor. The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change welcomes St. Benedict College, the fourth Catholic institution of higher education, as a full Covenant Partner. Check out St. Benedict’s sustainability page.

From The Pope

Environment Among Issues Pope Benedict Will Address in Trip to Mexico, Cuba

On the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, His Holiness announced his intention to visit Mexico and Cuba before Easter. Among the messages he will deliver during his visit will be to encourage all of Latin America to protect the environment, to promote reconciliation, to strengthen efforts to overcome poverty, illiteracy and corruption and the violence caused by drug trafficking, extortion and other injustices. Read more here.

From a College

Loyola University in Chicago Bans Bottled Water

The student newspaper, The Loyola Phoenix, reports that bottled water will be banned from the campus. The enormous environmental footprint of bottled water was one of the arguments upon which both supporters and opponents of the ban could agree. Supporters and opponents also weighed other moral questions including restricting products in keeping with university values versus stifling choice.

Please read the article here.

From an Archdiocese: Los Angeles

Creation Sustainability Ministry Offers Advent Resources Using the St. Francis Pledge

Using the St. Francis Pledge as a framework, The Advent 2011 Resource Guide: A Time of Waiting in Hope, Peace, Joy and Love produced by the Los Angeles Creation Sustainability Committee, provides suggestions for Individuals, Parishes, and Children to fulfill the Pledge during Advent preparations for Jesus' birth: Each liturgical season, we plan to offer resources and a bulletin announcement for individuals and parishes to integrate the St Francis Pledge into their lives and see the relevance of caring for God’s creation as a precept of faith.

The Bulletin insert included in the Advent Guide focuses on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love with a quote from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church: serious ecological problems call for an effective change of mentality leading to the adoption of new lifestyles, in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion with others for the sake of the common good are the factors that determine consumer choices, savings and investments...

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