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Virtual Tour of the Community Supported Garden at LaVista June 17th, 2011
Watch this virtual field trip to the Oblate-sponsored Community Supported Gardens at LaVista, near Alton Illinois, located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. LaVista is a CSA/organic farm, offering weekly fresh vegetable shares. The video was created by Green Spiral Tours.
Learn more at LaVista CSA
For the Oblate-sponsored LaVista Ecological Learning Center, go to http://www.lavistaELC.org/
Oblates Join Call for a Financial Speculation Levy June 17th, 2011
The Oblates have joined calls for a levy on financial speculation, specifically on trades of stocks, options and swaps. A modest levy of 0.25 percent could provide a permanent, reliable revenue stream of approximately $100 billion a year.
The small financial transaction levy proposed would exempt the middle class and those who hold securities for longer-term investment. It would discourage dangerous financial gambling and high volume, rapid speculative trading that ratchets up prices on precious commodities while inflating the bonuses of those on Wall Street.
The IMF has confirmed the feasibility of such taxes. In fact, the United States had a transfer tax from 1914 to 1966, which levied a 0.20 percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled the tax to help financial recovery and job creation during the Great Depression.
Critics charge that if the United States reapplies this tax domestically, it would push trading overseas. This claim is demonstrably false as the United Kingdom currently levies a similar tax and has the highest volume exchange in Europe.
Learn more: Read the letter to Mr. Gene B. Sperling, Director of the President’s National Economic Council
Faith Groups Call on Obama to Stop Dirty Oil Sands Pipeline June 2nd, 2011
The Oblate JPIC Office has joined 45 other faith-based groups in asking the Obama Administration to deny the presidential permit needed by TransCanada Corporation to construct a pipeline to carry dirty oil sands from Alberta, Canada to Houston, TX.
The construction of such a pipeline would have devastating impacts on people living in the refining processing area as well as on the 500 miles of farmland and 1300 miles of privately-owned land that the pipeline would cross. It would also cross over the great Ogallala Aquifer, which provides roughly 30% of all the water used for irrigation on American farms. The aquifer would suffer as a result of any oil spills.
The tar-sands oil under the Boreal Forest in Canada is some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet. Once extracted and burned, tar-sands oil produces high levels of sulfur oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide.
We need to get our energy from clean sources, and not continue to look to ever more environmentally damaging and expensive sources of fossil fuels.
Read the letter on the Keystone Pipeline XL project.
Oblate JPIC Work in India June 2nd, 2011
This OMI JPIC video features the Indian Oblate Provincial, Fr. Francis Nallappan, OMI, who describes the JPIC work done by Oblates in India.
Fr. Francis was hosted by the JPIC office in Washington D.C, who connected him with the U.S. Bishops Conference and Catholic Relief Services staff.
For more videos click the YouTube icon on our home page.
Spring Issue of JPIC Report Now Available May 31st, 2011
The Spring issue of our bi-annual print publication, JPIC Report, is now available on line.
Hard copies copies will be sent to those on our mailing list as soon as it is printed. Please let the JPIC office know if you are interested in receiving a copy. You can reach us through the comments feature on this website.
