Eco Catholic

In the days of the Canadian frontier, indigenous peoples and fur traders used liquid bitumen to seal their canoes.

With the advance of technology, however, the substance has become a lucrative boon for the oil industry. For the rest of us, it has all the makings of an ecological horror story. Bitumen is a viscous, low-grade petroleum. It is the chief ingredient in the dirty oil mix now being exported from the Alberta tar sands to the United States.

With a name like Francis, it’s not hard for a pope to draw the attention of environmentalists.

It's even easier when the Francis in reference is Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology.

For some, the namesake indicated Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would place respect and protection for creation as a central tenant of his papacy, following the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

While it is all but assured the next pope entered the conclave Tuesday wearing a red hat, will he exit with a green mentality?

Pope Benedict XVI was lauded in both religious and environmental circles for his calls for environmental stewardship and care for creation. His sudden exit has left observers wondering whether his successor will follow his lead.

What does daylight savings time mean to an environmentalist?  Does it ratify our sense of the simultaneity of the local and the global?

After all, California has a different time “zone” than New York, and it is hard to sing “White Christmas” at any time in Florida. Australia has winter when Chicago has summer, and vice versa. The clock has long been the great relavatizer and, therefore, globalizer. What China does with carbon matters to what Cincinnati does with carbon.