Posts Tagged ‘ecology’

Letter for life to Pope Francis

Monday, April 8th, 2019
Letter for life

Tēnei te mihi ki a koe a Pāpā Werahiko, te kaihautū o te waka o te Hahi Katorika,kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. Greetings to you Pope Francis leader of the Catholic Church. I write to you in light of a call from the global campaign organisation Avaaz, Letters for life on Read more

Eco-friendly Christmas decorations

Thursday, December 13th, 2018

Before you head out to the shops to buy bags of shiny tinsel and plastic gold bells, consider these ideas for eco-friendly Christmas decorations you can make at home. Continue reading

Individualism leads to ecological disaster Cardinal Parolin tells bishops

Monday, April 16th, 2018
individualism

The ideology of individualism has a great impact on our approach to questions of ecology and the environment the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told the bishops attending the assembly of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania  (FCBCO). “This ideology whose origins can be traced back to the Age of Enlightenment,” Read more

Prelate says natural birth control can ease climate impact

Friday, December 11th, 2015

A cardinal has said natural birth control could “offer a solution” to the impacts of climate change, particularly the lack of food in a warmer world. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana told the BBC the Church has never been against natural family planning. During the Pope’s trip back from the Philippines, the Pontiff invited people Read more

Environmental disaster in Indonesia

Tuesday, November 10th, 2015

In the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st Century (so far), Indonesia has been blotted out by smoke. And the media. I’ve often wondered how the media would respond when eco-apocalypse struck. I pictured the news programmes producing brief, sensational reports, while failing to explain why it was happening or how it might be stopped. Read more

Will religion save the environment?

Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

Back in 2009, I ran a very large event in the Ha’apai Islands of Tonga. We managed to motivate over 3,000 people (from a total population of 4,500) to clean up the coastline and shipped 50 tonnes of rubbish to a location with a proper landfill to make an example of how a waste management Read more

The worst place on earth

Friday, April 17th, 2015

From where I’m standing, the city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Between it and me, stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge. Dozens of pipes line the shore, churning out a Read more

Pope Francis and making climate change a moral issue

Tuesday, April 14th, 2015

This summer, Pope Francis plans to release an encyclical letter in which he will address environmental issues, and very likely climate change. His statement will have a profound impact on the public debate. For one, it will elevate the spiritual, moral and religious dimensions of the issue. Calling on people to protect the global climate Read more

What to expect in the pope’s encyclical on ecology

Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

Pope Francis has made no secret of his conviction that human-induced climate change, along with other forms of environmental degradation, represents a grave threat to humanity’s future. At times he even speaks in quasi-apocalyptic terms: “Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world!” His forthcoming “ecological encyclical” Read more

The economics of the Pacific rubbish dump

Friday, March 6th, 2015

If you haven’t already, meet the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of oceanic junk that has ballooned over the last four decades. No one is sure how big it is, but it’s probably enormous. A new study in Science Magazine tried to pin down some firm numbers by digging into various data: waste generation Read more