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PDF versionPope reiterates environmental protection
by Brian Roewe on Jan. 09, 2012
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.
According the CNS, the pope cited the environmental disasters of 2011 - like the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan - as reasons to continue to urge government leaders from across the world to act on threats to climate and the environment.
World leaders are next set to meet June 20-22 in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
In other environmental news:
Grand Canyon. (Photo: Grand Canyon NPS)
New regulations from the Department of Interior will prevent new mining and mineral exploration (including uranium) at the Grand Canyon for 20 years, a welcome ban by supporters who feared mining would disrupt the canyon's majesty, the quality of water provided by the Colorado River and Native American sacred sites. [Sierraclub.org]
South Florida counties are taking steps to "adapt early" to potential rising water levels by constructing a comprehensive plan for the southeast region of the state, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The plan includes redesigning low-lying bridges and roads, restricting development in vulnerable areas and acquiring land to use as buffer zones. [Orandlosentinel.com]
Following 2010's record snowfall in the Rockies, Colorado skiers are finding historically dry slopes this year. Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, is quoted in the Colorado Indepenent article, saying "for the first time since the late 1800s, it did not snow at all in Tahoe in December.” [Coloradoindependent.com]
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Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington reflects on the starry sky scenes the three wise men must have seen as they made their way to Bethlehem, wondering if today's city dwellers will ever have a chance to gaze upon the same awesome skies. [Blog.adw.org]
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Very interesting. But the
Very interesting. But the pope does not say those things in the USA. If he did so Republican heads would be exploding because they believe not in conservation but in the rape of our God given earth for their own personal profit. That idea is not only their economic belief but also their religious belief.
Conservatives are not conservatives but instead they are plunderers.
Bob, I make a distinction
Bob, I make a distinction between Conservitives and the present GOP. I tend to be more Left in my thinking than Right, but this distinction has helped me to keep a focus on all that is good about so much that is conservative.
Anonymous, Thank you for your
Anonymous, Thank you for your post. I too share the distinction you express in your post for the very same reasons you give. My basic nature is Liberal, but I have come to realize that there is no one size fits all political structure for the complexities of so many of the situations in which we find ourselves (it may, even, be a bit lazy to think so). This has allowed me to see all that is good about so many conservative principles and avoid, in this hyper-partisan world, always seeing the opposition as "the enemy" that needs to be vanquished. None-the-less, I have become increasingly alarmed about the GOP being the standard bearer of the conservative movement and wonder why more conservatives don't share this concern.
"Environmental protection and
"Environmental protection and the connection between fighting poverty and fighting climate change are important areas for the promotion of integral human development"
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Yes, linking climate change and the deepening of poverty to the environmental wasting of undisciplined corporate profiteering is on point, but so is failure of religious institutioons and religious leaders to identify the holiness of nature as the place where joined divine/ human experience happens.
Grace supposes nature as faith supposes reason. People of religon should acknowledge the sin of their houses before pointing fingers at others. If they (popes and church hierarchy) were free of complicity and pretentiousness in disadvantaging people and nature, they would be more believable and would'nt be passed off for using righteous indignation as a smokescreen to hide the beam in their eye.
God is found in creation, nature, not in the obscene trappings of imperial, pretentious religion.
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