A Yale Environment 360 article details one campaign’s success:

“In the Amazon, Greenpeace released… [a] report last June linking deforestation by cattle ranchers in the Amazon to major consumer products, including Gucci handbags and Nike shoes. The fallout was immediate: Brazil’s cattle industry — the largest in the world and a dominant force in Brazilian politics — was brought to a standstill virtually overnight. Brazilian officials raided the offices of the country’s cattle giants and suspended or revoked some of their loans. Several of the cattle companies’ biggest buyers publicly rebuked the firms and demanded greater accountability for their supply chains.”

“Wal-Mart, Nike, and Timberland — all identified in the report as buying leather products or meat that came from cattle raised on deforested Amazon land — immediately announced new sourcing policies requiring full traceability and transparency from their suppliers to ensure beef and leather products weren’t coming from former rainforest. Under pressure from their customers and the government — which threatened billions in fines — Brazilian cattle producers, processors, and traders fell into line, declaring moratoriums on deforestation. The hottest commodity in the Brazilian Amazon became credible supply-chain management, spawning a rush to develop certification systems and land registries for “responsible” ranches.”

Learn more at Yale Environment 360…

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.

In the spirit of solidarity with Oblate missions in South Africa who will likely be impacted by this deal, the Oblate JPIC staff, in partnership with other coalition groups in Washington D.C., joined forces in a campaign to raise awareness with officials at the World Bank and in the United States Congress about the potential negative impact of the plant on poor people’s access to energy and environmental impacts in South Africa.

The Oblate JPIC Office endorsed a letter signed by more than 200 organizations addressed to the World Bank, and joined in lobby meetings with South African community and environmental leaders who came to the United States.

One of the South Africans who came is Mr. Desmond D’Sa of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance in Durban. He is also an active member of a Catholic Church staffed by the Missionary Oblates in Durban. Before Desmond left Washington D.C, he did a TV/Radio interview with Democracy Now. Click here…

The organizations noted that “by focusing on this three-pronged strategy (i.e., carbon cap + efficiency + renewables), it may prove unnecessary – for the moment at least – to tackle either of the two most controversial options for addressing climate change: creating a “trading system” for emissions credits or imposing carbon taxes.”

The letter also stressed that “climate legislation that promotes continued or expanded use of fossil fuels and/or nuclear power, or which rolls back existing environmental safeguards, could result in a bill that might actually be worse than no bill at all.”

Specifically:

• The United States should establish a mandatory cap on allowable greenhouse gas emissions as well as both a near-term and a longer-term schedule for reducing overall emissions to levels consistent with the best science now available (e.g., 30% or more by 2020).
• The cornerstone of near-term U.S. climate policy should be quickly reducing energy waste and fossil fuel consumption. Rapidly curbing energy consumption by 30% or more is well within reach.
• The goal of 25% renewable energy by 2025 – or an even stronger one – should be formally incorporated in Senate climate or energy legislation.

On the other hand,

• U.S. climate policy should include the aggressive phase-out of coal-fired plants and oil use in the transportation sector. Federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industries should be ramped down considerably, if not completely eliminated.
• There should be no financial or regulatory incentives for new nuclear construction or relicensing of existing plants.
• Existing environmental or human-health safeguards should not be rolled-back; in particular, the authority of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO2 emissions should be left intact.

The letter was spearheaded by the Sustainable Energy Network which is an unincorporated network founded in 2006 comprised of 625+ organizations, businesses, and individuals advocating aggressive development of sustainable energy technologies to curb energy imports, slash greenhouse gas emissions, and phase out nuclear power.

The full text of the letter and list of signers are available here (Download PDF)

An Oblate priest, Fr. Joseph Gomes, OMI and other colleagues from the environmental community have been working with the Khasi people to protect the forest and their villages. We urge all parties in a position to do so, to raise serious concerns with the Government of Bangladesh regarding this situation.

Two years ago, four thousand trees were chopped down on lands traditionally controlled by the Khasi people of the Sylhet region of north eastern Bangladesh. The owner of a local Tea Estate was initially granted permission by the government to cut the trees. But the logging created serious ecological damage, and threatened the very existence of the Khasi inhabitants of the four villages. The indigenous communities organized against the logging and protested vigorously. For the Khasi, trees are essential for Pan (betel leaf) cultivation, their only livelihood. The Khasis still do not have clear title to their lands, leaving them vulnerable to this sort of exercise of power.

In a huge victory for the Khasis, the local Deputy Commissioner decided in early January that no more trees may be cut from any Khasi Punji (indigenous village) in the area. This victory, that would have saved many villages and thousands of trees on the Tripura Border with India, has been short-lived. In response to a case filed by the Tea estate owner, the Bangladesh High Court in late February over-turned the decision to stop the logging.

Learn more…

In a case that focused on a Red Chris mining company project in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not split projects into artificially small parts in order to avoid comprehensive environmental impact studies.

Learn more…

“The environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole.” — Pope Benedict, Encyclical Caritas in Veritate

A Lenten Carbon Fast calendar is available from the Environmental Outreach Committee of the Archdiocese of Washington. Please use it as part of your Lenten discipline.

The calendar says: “As Catholic Christians we have a responsibility to be wise stewards of God’s Creation and each of us must decide how we can improve our stewardship to safeguard God’s creation now and for future generations. The Archdiocese environmental Outreach Committee suggests the following list of 40 carbon fasting actions everyone can consider as a part of your Lenten preparation for the Easter season. Each of these actions will reduce our production of climate change pollution and help to preserve God’s great gift of Creation.”

Download a PDF of the Lenten Calendar here…

The Pope made his comments in a speech to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican, an annual appointment during which the pontiff reflects on issues the Vatican wants to highlight to the diplomatic corps.

Pope Benedict has been very vocal about the need to protect the environment, taking steps to decrease the carbon footprint of the Vatican. Protection of creation is a moral issue for the pontiff who highlighted the fact that climate change is particularly critical for island nations, and also for the African continent where the battle for resources and increasing desertification has led to armed conflicts.

In his speech, Benedict criticized the “economic and political resistance” to fighting environmental degradation and creating a new climate treaty at last month’s negotiations in Copenhagen.

Learn more…

Visit our Spanish site and look for the post: Nuevos Folletos sobre Uso de Agua, Alimentos, Productos de Limpieza Inofensivos, Comercio Justo y Más!

Oblates interested in receiving printed brochures can request copies from the US Oblate JPIC Office. Please email Mary O’Herron.

He wrote a number of excellent brief articles from Copenhagen that give a vivid sense of the conference, as well as valuable information on the  climate change debate.

Read his articles here:

• COP-01- Setting the Stage for COP 15 in Copenhagen (December 8, 2009)
• COP-02-How Robust is the Science of Climate Change (December 9 2009)
• COP-03-There is a need for urgent action on Adaptation (December 10 2009)
• COP-04-Politics and the UN Framework Convention Climate Change Conference (December 11 2009)
• COP-05-Tuvalus intervention on December 9th 2009 (December 14, 2009)
• COP-06-Q&A on Copenhagen and Reflections on the Church (Dec. 14 2009)
• COP-07-Tight Restrictions at COP15 (Dec 15 2009)
• COP-08-Politican Leaders Converging on Copenhagen (Dec. 16 2009)

Watch the video…