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Catholic Moral Concerns on Fracking December 20th, 2013
Anti-fracking protest in Pittsburg, photo: Marcellus Protest/Creative Commons.
Catholic News Service has a good article on fracking that looks at the church’s contribution to the discussion about this rapidly expanding source of energy in the U.S. Catholic social teaching focuses on the importance of protecting creation and promoting the common good, and the emphasis in this debate has been on the moral concerns.
Some bishops have raised concerns. While not supporting a ban, Bishop Paul D. Etienne of Cheyenne, Wyo., president of Catholic Rural Life, said he harbors deep concerns over fracking. “I think the public needs more information than is presently being provided about the chemicals in this mix that is being injected into the earth to release the gas and oil,” he told Catholic News Service.
The bishop also expressed apprehension about the amount of water fracking requires, especially in parts of the country where water is a precious commodity.
Philippines’ Foreign Debt Payments Dwarf Relief Aid After Typhoon Haiyan December 20th, 2013
More than a month after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, the country has paid approximately $900 million in debt repayments—more than twice as much as it’s received in pledged aid from countries around the world to support the recovery effort. The Philippines government will spend a total of $6.7 billion on debt repayments this year alone, some of which originates from the corrupt and abusive regime of Ferdinand Marcos, who was responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 Filipinos and the torture of 35,000.
Jubilee USA is calling for a major shift in debt policy vis a vis the Philippines. “The World Bank and international lenders have yet to cancel the debts that fueled Marcos regime corruption. While Filipinos were tortured and lived in poverty, we watched Marcos’s wife accumulating one of the world’s largest shoe collections,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network. “If these debts were cancelled they could rebuild the Philippines and safeguard the country from the impacts of climate change.”
The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan is now at more than 6,000 people, while nearly 2,000 people remain unaccounted for. Meanwhile, more than 4 million people have been displaced. ”The World Bank and other international lenders must be subject to an independent debt audit,” said LeCompte. “It’s also critical that lenders offer unconditional grants to the Philippines rather than loans that will further drive the country into poverty.”
Pope Francis and the Social Responsibility of Corporations December 20th, 2013
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI argues that the “recent distraction about the purported “Marxist” beliefs of Pope Francis pronounced by people who have obviously not taken the time to read his recent exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”, (The Joy of the Gospel) is just that, a distraction.”
The real news, intentionally buried by this distraction, is that a growing portion of the business community acknowledges that their “social license to operate”, their corporate charter and their commitment to “good citizenship” demands that they integrate the social values and policies that the Holy Father and others in the faith community espouse into their business models.”
Read more about how the corporate sector is responding to the demands for more ethical and sustainable practices. Read Fr. Finn’s latest blog on Huffington Post.
ICCR Shareholders Confront Banks Over Recent Scandals December 20th, 2013
The efforts of the Missionary Oblates and other ICCR faith-based shareholders to call the major banks to account in the wake of a flood of legal scandals and regulatory investigations, has won the attention of the media.
An article in the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch, highlights the shareholder proposals filed by religious shareholder groups with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM , Bank of America Corp. BAC and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC asking for a report on “business standards”. The proposal says, “We believe shareholders deserve a full report on what the bank has done to end these unethical activities, to rebuild credibility and provide new strong, effective checks and balances within the bank,” the shareholders write in the Wells Fargo proposal, with similar language for the other two banks. “While press releases describe specific settlements or new reforms, the overall picture has not been reported adequately to shareholders.”
Father Seamus Finn, a board member of ICCR, and a shareholder lead with several of the banks, called the requests “a win-win” for the banks and shareholders, giving them an opportunity to showcase how they’re addressing “the many issues of the day.”
Learn more. Read the WSJ article…
Climate Change Impacts on Water December 18th, 2013
Along the Rio Grande River in Texas; photo courtesy of Patti Radle
An increase in global temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius would likely result in chronic water scarcity—less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year—for 21 percent of the global population, according to new climate models developed by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Climate Progress reported. An increase of just 1 degree Celsius would create chronic water scarcity for 13 percent of the population and absolute water scarcity—less than 500 cubic meters per person per year—for 6 percent of the population.
A newly released study of the Lower Rio Grande River Basin predicts that climate change will reduce water supplies by more than 86,000 acre-feet each year by 2060, leaving a total annual supply shortfall in the basin of 678,522 acre-feet, Science Daily reported. The shortfall is expected to create problems for irrigators in the basin, and the study suggested looking at desalinated brackish groundwater as an alternative to surface water supplies.
