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Diverse Coalition Calls for Transparency as the Senate Undertakes Comprehensive Tax Reform July 26th, 2013
The Missionary Oblates joined a diverse group of civil society organizations concerned about reports that Senate correspondence on comprehensive tax reform would be kept secret for 50 years. The groups called for greater transparency in the Senate deliberations, arguing in a letter sent to Senate Finance Committee leaders, that “transparency is essential for your final product to have credibility with the public…. Taxpayers across the United States have a right to know what their elected officials are advocating and what their justification is. We strongly urge you to reconsider this approach that smacks of backroom deals. The House Ways & Means Committee urged lawmakers and outside interests to submit their priorities and made them public. We urge a similar approach.”
Faith-Based Investors Urging Bold Action with Companies on Climate Change July 26th, 2013
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) recently released a white paper on engagement with the energy sector to address the serious risks posed by rapidly rising levels of CO² in the atmosphere. The paper is, in large part, a response to the fossil fuel divestment campaign coordinated by 350.org, and serves to lay out a range of responses open to concerned investors in response to the looming climate crisis.
Read: Insights for Investors Working for Bolder Intervention on Climate Change
Alaskan Bishops Enable Young People To Attend World Youth Day July 23rd, 2013
Alaskan youth faced with the possibility of losing a long-planned trip to World Youth Day were rescued by the three Alaskan Bishops, one of whom is an Oblate. The youth had worked hard to save for the trip, but their travel deposits – amounting to some $180,000, were lost due to the bankruptcy of the travel agency making their arrangements. The Most Rev. Roger L. Schwietz, OMI, ArchBishop of Anchorage, Bishop Edward Burns of Juneau and Bishop Donald Kettler of Fairbanks stepped in to raise the money needed for the youth to experience the event with Pope Francis.
Read the story in The National Catholic Reporter
Water Pollution in Bangladesh Threatens Human Health and Agriculture July 16th, 2013
Rivers and canals in Bangladesh are becoming increasingly polluted from industrial wastewater dumped by factories, many of them in the textile industry, The New York Times has reported. Leather tanneries are also a significant source of toxic pollutants to the air and water. The water pollution threatens food production and is raising both environmental and human health concerns.
Human Rights Watch issued a report late last year on the human health effects of unchecked pollution from the leather industry. The report, Toxic Tanneries, documents an occupational health and safety crisis among tannery workers, both men and women, including skin diseases and respiratory illnesses caused by exposure to tanning chemicals, and limb amputations caused by accidents in dangerous tannery machinery. Residents of the area where the tanneries are located are also seriously affected. The government has consistently failed to enforce labor and environmental laws in Hazaribagh, a suburb of Dhaka, and has ignored High Court orders to clean up or move the tanneries.
Stop Trafficking!! July 15th, 2013
The July issue of Stop Trafficking! contains compelling stories from the US State Department’s 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report. Stop Trafficking! is sponsored by the Sisters of the Divine Savior.
