Eco Catholic

The campaign to create the Keystone XL transnational pipeline continues, as Senators sought Monday to attach pro-pipeline legislation to a transportation bill.

An amendment (S.A. 1537) to the bill S. 1813, proposed by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and co-sponsored by five GOP senators, would authorize the pipeline’s construction by TransCanada Corporation “to construct, connect, operate and maintain pipeline facilities,” while negating the need for a presidential permit.

In its 2011 National Environmental Scorecard, the League of Conservation Voters labeled the first session of the 112th Congress in the House of Representatives as “the most anti-environmental session in [its] history.”

The League rates every member of Congress on how they voted on environmental bills and legislation over the past Congressional session, basing this year’s rankings on 11 Senate votes and 35 votes in the House, a sample from the more than 200 votes on environmental-related issues put before its 435 members.

[Full report for the LCV National Environmental 2011 Scorecard]

For states, the highest marks went to Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, all ranking among the top House and Senate scores. At the other end of the spectrum, Kansas ranked among the least environmentally-active legislators in both the Senate and the House.

The Pacific Institute, a progressive think tank in Seattle, has given the Republican presidential candidates bad marks for their views on climate change. In fact, the institute is awarding them "The Climate B.S. (Bad Science) of the Year Award," reports Anne Roan Thomas, a doctoral candidate at the Catholic University of America.

Thomas' article appeared on the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good's website Wednesday. She contrasts Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney's "disheartening" difference of opinion with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' strong statements that global climate change is not about economic theory or political platforms, nor about partisan advantage or interest group pressures.

"It is about the future of God's creation and the one human family ... and our responsibility to those who come after us," reads a USCCB statement from 2001.

Greenpeace International and the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change are reporting good news on the environmental front.

Greenpeace's ongoing campaign to stop rainforest destruction in Indonesia has prompted Kroger, the giant grocery store chain, to stop carrying Paseo paper products, manufactured by Asia Pulp and Paper, on its shelves. These throwaway tissue products are made from wood fiber from pulpwood plantations that encroach on rainforests in Indonesia and destroy the habitat of the remaining 400 Sumatran tigers. Kroger discontinued carrying the Paseo line after 50,000 activists contacted the company asking them to stop being a part of rainforest destruction.

Next on Greenpeace's list is Kmart. For further information on how to help convince Kmart to follow in Kroger's footsteps, go to the Greenpeace website.

In last night’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama dedicated around six and a half minutes of his 65-minute speech to energy and environmental issues. (You can view the entire speech here; the energy discussion begins at the 27:25 mark. Here's a transcript, as well.)

The president covered a wide spectrum – from oil to alternatives – of proposals likely to both encourage and irritate fossil fuel supporters and clean energy advocates alike.

In 2008 the Federal Farm Bill instructed the Department of Agriculture to write rules for competition in the meat industry. This directive was to complete the details lacking in the 80-plus-year-old legislation on competition in the meat industry from the Theodore Roosevelt era. That legislation was to be enhanced with detailed directions on contracts, anti-trust policies and mandates requiring greater justice in meat production, processing and distribution.

The rules were to be developed by a small administrative unit of the United States Department of Agriculture: The Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyard Administration. J. Dudley Butler, who had a career as a plaintiff’s attorney challenging poultry companies’ control of the poultry industry, was brought in to direct the effort. This was a conscious effort by the Obama administration to tame the meat industry and challenge its control by a few corporations.

The Catholic Green Initiative, a project launched in January 2009 by San Jose (Calif.) Diocesan Bishop Patrick J. McGrath, has been opening parishioners’ eyes to the seriousness of ecological issues in California as well as across the world.

For a progress report from its water committee, go to The Valley Catholic newspaper website’s Dec. 13, 2011 edition.

Jesuits: Drought causing widespread hunger among Mexico's Tarahumara

By Catholic News Service

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- Jesuits working in Mexico's remote Copper Canyon in Chihuahua state have warned of widespread hunger among the indigenous Tarahumara, who have been negatively impacted by drought conditions considered to be the worst in more than 70 years.

The St. Ignatius of Loyola Foundation began a campaign Jan. 16 to raise money to buy corn, a staple in regional diets and a crop unable to be grown in an area that has received only 25 percent of its normal precipitation in 2011. The foundation estimated that 60,000 Tarahumara were impacted and 90 percent of the local bean crop had failed.

Mexico is experiencing drought in seven northern states, where the federal government says a lack of rain has caused the driest conditions in 71 years and negatively impacted 2.5 million residents.

In his annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI restated his stance on the need for greater protection of the environment, Catholic News Services reported today.

"Environmental protection and the connection between fighting poverty and fighting climate change are important areas for the promotion of integral human development," he said.