Climate Change Reflections of the Pope's Visit to the US

Original Post by Carolynn

at The Skywriter, 1Sky's Blog

QUIZ: Who said the following?

“Indeed, the challenge of climate change is at once individual, local, national and global. Accordingly, it urges a multilevel coordinated response, with mitigation and adaptation programs simultaneously individual, local, national and global in their vision and scope.”

 
a) Stephen Johnson, Head of the EPA
b) Gillian Caldwell, Executive Director of 1Sky
c) Arnold Schwarzenegger
d) United Nation representative for the Pope
e) Van Jones, Green for All

The answer is D. Although the title of this post would give you a clue, this quote is from Monsignor Celestino Migliore, the UN representative for the Pope.

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Clergy urged to speak on environment

By Yonat Shimron

Staff Writer at www.newsobserver.com

The Rev. Sally Bingham is the godmother of the environmental movement in the religious community.
Back in the 1990s, when religiously based environmentalists were still viewed as nature worshippers, she founded Episcopal Power & Light. Now called Interfaith Power & Light, the nonprofit organization has 27 chapters across the United States, including North Carolina. The mission of the organization is to mobilize a religious response to global warming through the promotion of renewable energy and conservation.
Bingham, the president of Interfaith Power & Light and the environmental minister at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, met with 20 religious leaders at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Raleigh last week. She said religious communities have made remarkable strides in addressing the intersection of faith and global climate change, and she encouraged them not to give up.
"You clergy need to talk about it," she said. "I think it should be in every single sermon.

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Gas Tax Distractions

Original post by Jason, May 1, 2008

"Oil is nearing $120/barrel, food prices are going up, ice sheets six times the size of Manhattan are falling off of Antarctica, and election season is in full swing. Now, more than ever, our politicians will respond to big problems with short term pandering. Case in point: increased demand for gasoline will make summer gas prices go up, and instead of telling us to drive less, 2/3 of the presidential candidates promise us two weekends of artificially low prices: (video).

Obviously this is a bad idea. and there are plenty of people backing that up. But to be honest, it's more of a symptom than anything else. Our leaders are responding to desperation with false hope at a time when we need some straight talk: 'Gas prices are high because global demand is high, because the entire world is replicating the unsustainable American way of life. To free ourselves from dependence on mostly and unpredictably priced commodities, we're going to need society-wide commitment to a long-term strategy that will wean us from our addiction to fossil fuels.'"

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Counting the Omer and Lent: New Eco-Spiritual Customs

"There has been a resurgence of interest in Sefirat HaOmer of late, as people are striving to reconnect with agricultural, natural cycles. While the Omer focuses on the maturation of the barley crop in Israel (as Liore taught a few posts ago), many of us have added a local focus as well. I live in Philadelphia and the Omer brackets a period of phenomenal greening and flowering as every dogwood and azalea struts its stuff. I love the progression of each flower and plant in a beautifully synchronized symphony of color, shape, fragrance and inflorescence."

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The Dream Reborn

"Reflections on the Dream Reborn"

Original post by Van Jones on April 11th, 2008

"This year, I was proud to help launch a new, national organization, Green For All. Our advocacy organization is committed to building an inclusive, green economy, strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty.

Green For All wanted to do something special on April 4, 2008 - to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

So we did something unusual. We brought more than 1,000 people to Memphis, the Southern city where he was assassinated.

And then and there: we declared the Dream ... REBORN."
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Video - Going Green - The Renewal Project

Video - Cleaning Up School Buses in Texas