News Archives » Ecology

Chilean Bishop at Enel’s Annual General Meeting to Argue Against Big Dams in Patagonia April 28th, 2010

“No to new big dams in Patagonia;  Water should be public again”

Luis Infanti De La Mora, Bishop of Aysén region (Chile), will attend Enel’s Annual General Meeting today to say “no” to a project for the construction of five big dams on the rivers Baker and Pascua, and to get Chilean water back in public hands. The Bishop will be delegated to attend the meeting by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, by initiative of Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica. The Oblates are shareholders in Etica.

“We wanted to involve the international network of religious investors”, explains Ugo Biggeri, the Foundation’s Chairman. “The Oblates are part of Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of more than 275 religious orders, based in New York, that submit over 200 shareholders resolutions each year to the AGM’s of US most important companies and they are founding members of the International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG).”

Enel has inherited the big dams projects in Patagonia by Spanish utility Endesa, acquired by Enel in 2009. It’s a project with devastating impacts on a real natural paradise that poses serious risks on the security of dams, since Aysén is a seismic region.

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Earth Day 2010! April 22nd, 2010

April 22nd marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future. Consumption patterns also pose a threat. Today’s consumption is undermining the environmental resource base and exacerbating inequalities.

Daniel LeBlanc, OMI – now in Bolivia for the Alternative Climate Summit sent the following for our contemplation and action on Earth Day:

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World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth April 20th, 2010

This week, Bolivian President Evo Morales is convening the People’s World Conference on Climate Change, an alternative to the unwieldy and U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change that fell so far short of expectations last December. NGOs, scientists, activists, indigenous leaders, and representatives of 60 to 70 national governments are coming together for this alternative conference – in all, about 7,500 attendees from 110 countries.

Daniel LeBlanc, OMI – Oblate representative to the UN – is attending the conference and sent this update yesterday:

Cochabamba, Bolivia, 19 April 2010

The Conference officially begins Tuesday morning with President Evo Morales doing the honors.

However, today there were already several events and huge crowds. Fr. Gregorio Iriarte OMI was to give a talk at 4:30, along with 3 other panelists, and so I accompanied him to the stadium where credentials were given to those who had registered through the internet, as well as to those who had neglected to do so. I had already picked up my pass, and Fr. Gregorio is over around 80 years old and had to give a talk, so they let him through. Once they gave him his credentials, he was told that apart from the credentials for those who had already registered and those who had come later, 20,000 credentials had been distributed. There were still long line-ups out on the sidewalks – I estimate between 7 and 8 blocks long – and they had to send to the printer to get more passes printed – so attendance will be good, better than expected.

Please see on-line for much more information in Spanish and in English (choose language) at http://pwccc.wordpress.com/

Read a summary of the positions being advocated by Bolivian President Morales during the conference.

Mastermind Behind Murder of Sr. Dorothy Stang Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison. April 16th, 2010

A jury in the Brazilian city of Belém has sentenced one of the two men believed to have ordered the murder of American-born nun, Sr. Dorothy Stang, SND, to 30 years in prison. The rancher, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, was convicted of ordering the 2005 murder of Sister Dorothy who was originally from Dayton, Ohio. She was a longtime organizer of rural settlers and the poor in their efforts to protect their land from seizures by cattle ranchers and timber merchants.

The Sisters of Notre Dame in Belem, Brazil were following this trial of Mr. Moura – his third. They sent a letter to their fellow Sisters in the US telling of the successful conviction, unprecedented in Brazil.

The letter is available here… (Download PDF)

Recent Developments at the United Nations April 14th, 2010

Daniel LeBlanc, OMI – Oblate representative at the United Nations – shares about recent meetings at the UN. His report focuses on:

1. Two High Level Meetings on the Global Financial Crisis
2. Summit on MDGs + 10 Review
3. Extreme Poverty: An Affront to Human Rights

Read the Report (Download PDF)

World Bank Approves $3 Billion Loan for Controversial Coal Plant in South Africa April 12th, 2010

On April 8th 2010, the World Bank approved a controversial $ 3 billion loan for a coal-fired power station to ESKOM, the South Africa-based, state owned electricity utility, despite serious concerns from environmental organizations and the faith community. United States, Britain and Norway, Italy and the Netherlands abstained from voting for the coal loan due to unresolved environmental concerns and economic impacts on local communities.

More than 200 organizations across the world have endorsed a critique of the loan saying it will be a burden to poor people who will likely see their household bills increase, while international extractive corporations will continue to receive subsidized energy due to special pricing agreements with Eskom

Eskom is the world’s fourth-largest power company and Africa’s largest carbon emitter, and accounts for 40% of South Africa’s total emissions. The loan raised serious environmental concerns such as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and raised questions about the World Bank’s commitment to renewable energy sources.

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