FROM THE Director

What Kind of Person Do I Want to Be?

Few things boil my blood faster than witnessing people throw trash out their car window.  I really don’t know why—there are far more serious environmental transgressions—but if you want to push one of my buttons, this one is guaranteed.  Cursing ensues and, if I can catch the perp at a light, I give them an evil stare—what my kids would call the “you better stay clear of dad right now” look.

I thought of “those people” when I read the story below about Philippine priest, Fr. Benjamin Beltran, SVD.  He believes that merely talking about environmental preservation doesn’t really motivate people to change their behaviors, just as I’m sure my stare is pretty ineffective.  Instead he asks a “virtue” question: what kind of person do you want to be?  Asking the question this way personalizes both the problem and a way forward. Embedded here are big questions: Do I want to leave the planet compromised for future generations?  And smaller ones: Do I want to use cleaning products that harm my children or the local streams?  Or, Do I want to be the person who is mindful that nearly every daily decision has environmental consequences?  For tips on how you can be more mindful and become the person you want to be, check out our “tips” page and this helpful list of ways to Reduce your carbon footprint: Care for God’s Creation and poor people!

PLEASE NOTE: There will be no weekly e-mail update next week, June 20.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

Support a Fair Farm Bill

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Catholic Relief Services—all members of the Coalition—recently sent an Action Alert urging Catholics to advocate for a fair Farm Bill as the U.S. Senate begins debate. 

At stake is a Senate plan [that] proposes reducing agriculture funding over 10 years by $23 billion.  All three partners support important provisions in the 2012 Farm Bill that will uphold the life and dignity of the human person and promote stewardship of creation.  Read more and take a look at a list of particular items to support in the 2012 Farm Bill.

Please add your voice today to ensure that the Senate supports programs that feed hungry people, preserves creation and supports small family farms and rural America.  The alert includes instructions for how to contact your Senator.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The Philippines: A Virtue-Based Approach to Sustainability

A recent article notes that while stewardship is a hallmark of Christian life, Fr. Ben Beltran recognizes the persistent problem . . . that the message of stewardship has not tipped the scales in favor of sustainability. Despite the recurrent message of the Pontiff, we’re still not doing enough . . . We lack action.

In order to move more Christians to action, Fr. Beltran has begun to take a virtue-based approach to sustainability.  The strategy, Fr. Beltran said, is to make environmental preservation a personal mission. Rather than insist on the message that the destruction of Mother Nature is immoral, we need to rephrase the question into: What kind of a person are you to do this on purpose? This shifts the focus to something directly relatable to every person, not only Christians. What you do to nature mirrors who and what you are. By asking this question, we change people’s mind-set and motivate them to do something positive for the environment right now. This should be the basis of new environmental movements.

Read the entire article here, and learn about the good works at Fr. Beltran’s Sacred Heart Parish in Kamuning, Quezon City.

From the INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Australia: Gas and coal a justice concern

The Archdiocese of Brisbane’s Catholic Leader newspaper reports  that the Australian archdiocese's Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) has hosted a World Environment Day screening of a documentary film, "Bimblebox," depicting the struggle of central Queensland communities against coal and gas extraction in their region.

CJPC executive officer Peter Arndt said the documentary "built a picture of the broader implications of Australia's mining boom, while focusing on one woman's fight to protect the land she loves".  Arndt went on to say that "Brimblebox" gives us the chance to hear the views and feelings of people living in the central west of Queensland whose lives and lands will be directly affected by very large mining developments.

FROM the International community

Great Britain: Ecumenical Preparation for Rio+20

A recent article reports that the Anglican Diocese of Bath and Wells and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton are jointly organising “Making it Happen Locally” on June 16, which is being staged as the Rio+20: Making it Happen summit on sustainable development opens.

The Bath conference will explore the way in which humans treat natural resources, which in many places determine quality of life and life expectancy. It will also give an insight into how, in the UK, Brazil and Zambia, the Church is showing ways forward for the environment and development.

Ruth de Barros from Brazil will speak at the conference.  She said, We cannot forget that the environment is not just a bunch of trees and a few streams of fresh water. Within those trees live thousands of people who struggle to keep the ecological balance working, while they witness all around them whole ecosystems of trees, bushes and plants being destroyed to plant soy-bean or to farm cattle. As a church we are working on the awareness of those who live in the city as to what is going on around.

FROM A PARTNER

National Catholic Rural Life Conference

The current summer issue of NCRLC’s publication Food and Faith features an article about God’s Garden of Eatin', a regional parish food pantry and community garden in Cincinnati.  Founding director Sue Stack described the work at God’s Garden of Eatin’ for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  There, she says that God is found in the fellowship of community gardening and describes that [t]he garden is about the joy of putting the plants into the bounty of God.   It’s about the excitement of understanding that in gardening somehow you participate in very concrete ways with the grace of creation; it’s about knowing that you are a co-creator of the earth. 

And it’s even more, she says: It’s about willingly living Catholic Social Teaching, the themes of providing for the dignity of others through fresh organic produce; about working communally for the common good; about our duty to use our talents and time as God calls us to; and of course about being in solidarity not only with our less well off neighbors, but with the earth itself.  This is about caring for creation as we should.

Finally, she says, this effort is prayer. It is the hope that one day the unity created by the peace of Christ will be a reality, that the greatest commandment will be lived by all who profess themselves to be Christian (and even those who do not!).  It is a prayer of hope that we will be willing to look beyond our own immediate wants and needs to truly care for the body of Christ in its broadest sense.