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ENVIRONMENT

Group issues deforestation plea
Indonesian president urged to extend moratorium
Environmental activists have urged Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to extend and toughen a two-year deforestation moratorium which will expire in May.  

Pacific Island nations call out
Australia and New Zealand's neighbours in the Pacific: the Cook Islands, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau and Tuvalu are asking for our solidarity as they face the consequences of human-induced climate change. The Torres Strait Islands at the northern tip of Queensland face similar threats.  

China's not-so-good earth
China admits its 'brilliant' economic advances in the past 30 years have been at the expense of the environment and now faces a balancing act between further economic progress and arresting the degradation of the environment.  

Pacific warriors raise further awareness of climate change
'We are not drowning, we are fighting'
Young people from 14 Pacific Island nations have sent this message with songs, dances and war challenges as part of 350.org Pacific Warrior Day of Action on climate change.  

Pervasive palm oil boosts greenhouse emissions
The extent to which palm oil is a part of our everyday diet is little known. Yet it features in ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, crackers, chips, margarine, fruit juice, batters, soap, toothpaste, laundry powders, detergents, cosmetics, pet food - it is almost impossible to buy products free from palm oil.
It has also been touted as a biofuel - although palm oil-based diesel actually increases greenhouse emissions.  

A red-hot globe, heat records shattered for 2012
As Australia watches the continent burn up in sweltering heat, the United States reflects on the record-shattering effects of the wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes and scorched 9.2 million acres, the Great Drought that covered 61.8 percent of the contiguous U.S. in July, making it the largest since the Dust Bowl drought of December 1939, and heat damages causing shrivelled crops across the farm belt at an estimated cost of $35 billion, being connected.  

Coal mining, civil disobedience and the public good
Fake ANZ media release activist Jonathan Moylan did the wrong thing in undermining public confidence in the share trading system. But he would not have seen the need to act if governments and the coal industry were acting with integrity and in the public interest.  

Oysters killed by climate change's 'evil twin'
The oyster industry is in trouble. A few years ago, oyster hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest began losing their "seed," as oyster larvae are known, by the millions. They scrambled to figure out what was behind the massive die-off and discovered that it had to do with "ocean acidification," also known as climate change's evil twin.  

A renewed call for a mining ban in the Philippines
The Jesuits in the Philippines have released a discussion paper aimed at supporting the bishops in their call for a halt to mining in the country because, 'the Mining Act destroys life'.

The Catholic Bishops Conference in the Philippines said in 2006 that 'allowing the interests of big mining corporations to prevail over people's right to [sources of food and sustenance] amounts to violating their right to life'.  

Catholics and the environment
One test of the way in which we care for the world is how we look out for the poorest and weakest people in our world. Solidarity with the poor means that we shall not allow them to bear the costs of the ways we adjust to a changed world. If people are made homeless by rising waters, for example, we have a responsibility to help them find a home. We should be happy to share the costs of supporting the neediest people, writes Andrew Hamilton in Australian Catholics.  

Indigenous peoples can model low-carbon living if their land rights are recognised
Many indigenous peoples are living examples of societies thriving with sustainable, low-carbon lifestyles. Successfully meeting the global climate change challenge requires that much of the world shift from high carbon-living to low. This shift is daunting. Current emissions for Australia and the United States average about 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person. In the coming decades this needs to fall to two tonnes per person as it is currently in Brazil or the Dominican Republic.  

'Dirty Money'
An inside look at Australian mining companies and their practices both at home and abroad comes from Matthew Benns’ book Dirty Money: The True cost of Australia’s Mineral Boom. In 13 chapters it gives a clear picture of the behaviour of Australian resources companies. Besides the well-known destinations and producers, Benns introduces us to Australian ventures from Mongolia to the western Sahara, from exploiting rare earth minerals to phosphates.  

Fukushima a man-made disaster
With the first anniversary of the Fukushima explosion just gone (March 11) more details are emerging about mismanagement and corruption in Japan’s nuclear industry, writes Jim Green for New Matilda.  

New mining policy – not-so-new concerns
We are now living in a context of scarcer and more degraded natural resources, severe environmental problems from unabated consumerism and unsustainable lifestyles, and a deepening social dilemma driving more people into poverty.  

Assisi Formation - animators for sustainability
A three day intensive formation program has been developed for those who are passionate about and have responsibilities for bringing about ecological sustainability in their organisations.

Your next opportunity to participate is scheduled for April 13-19, 2012.  

Healing a broken world - Jesuits respond to environmental and ecological challenges
In the time leading up to the General Congregation (GC) 35, there was much excitement about how the supreme governing body of the Society of Jesus would treat the subject of ecology.  

Solving Kiribati's water needs
There aren't too many nuns who are also water engineers. In a video report from Sean Dorney, the ABC's Pacific Correspondent, find out how Good Samaritan Sister, Marella Rebgetz is helping to solve Kiribati's critical water needs as a water engineer.  


Flights for forests
Jesuits in the Asia Pacific region have initiated a new carbon-offset scheme to reduce the impact of air travel on the environment, with the Australian Province one of the first to sign on.  

Share Sweet Water for a Just Climate
Sweet Water is a short documentary from Caritas Australia that explores the impact of climate change on communities living in the coastal regions of South-West Bangladesh. Sweet Water illustrates how these vulnerable coastal communities are responding to the impacts of climate change in their region – the rapid rise of sea water, the destruction of vital soils through increased salinity and the increased frequency and ferocity of cyclones in Bangladesh. Watch and share Sweet Water ...  

Ecology
The created world is a gift of God and a common good. To be in right relationship with God and with others, including future generations, we need to respect the integrity of creation rather than treating the environment as simply an economic resource to be used for our own interests.