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Have a beef with global warming?

31 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday asks God to "renew the face of the earth." With climate change threatening the earth's ecosystem, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, last year suggested that ordinary citizens could help by refraining from eating meat. In Belgium an entire town is taking his advice to heart. The Flemish city of Ghent has designated every Thursday as "Veggiedag"-Veggie Day-calling for meat-free meals to be served in schools and public buildings and encouraging vegetarianism among citizens by promoting vegetarian eateries and offering advice on how to follow a herbivorous diet. According to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, meat production accounts for 18 percent of annual greenhouse-gas emissions-more than transportation, which accounts for roughly 14 percent. Each year millions of acres of rain forest are cleared for cattle ranchers and suppliers of animal feed, further accelerating climate change. There are also human health issues. The world feeds much of its grain to cattle and other animals even as millions of people starve. Those wealthy enough to consume fatty animal products are themselves at higher risk of certain health problems, including heart disease and some cancers, say health experts. A number of organizations and countries hope to reshape meat consumption from an animal rights issue into an environmental and public health one. Germany’s federal environment agency, for example, issued an advisory earlier this year urging Germans to return to pre-World War II norms of eating meat only on special occasions. According to Tobias Leenaert, codirector of the government-funded nonprofit organization Ethical Vegetarian Alternative, since Ghent's Veggie Day was launched on May 13, environmental health officers from several other cities-including Sao Paulo, Brazil, with a population of 13 million-have expressed interest in copying the program. Source: An article by Eben Harrell for TIME

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Energy debate heats up

05 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s readings the Lord sends Ezekiel to speak to a rebellious people, “whether they heed or resist” that word. The Obama administration’s quest for a comprehensive energy and climate change legislation, which gained approval in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, will likely face stiff resistance in the Senate. The bill passed by the House would require large companies, including utilities and manufacturers, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050 through a “cap-and-trade” program that allows pollution permits to be bought and sold. Other features of the bill included controlling carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels and limiting other greenhouse gases; allowing companies to meet emission-limiting targets by investing in offset projects such as tree planting and forest protection; and establishing standards that will require new buildings to be 50 percent more efficient by 2016. Consumers would be protected from rising energy costs through rebates and credits to low-income households. The bill was loaded with hundreds of pages of special-interest favors in order to secure the necessary votes, critics said, and environmentalists lamented that its greenhouse-gas reduction targets had been whittled down. But key sponsor Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) defended the bill. “We worked hard to craft compromises that addressed the legitimate concerns of industry without undermining the environmental integrity of the legislation,” Waxman said. Although watered down from the original version, it was still the first time either house of Congress passed a bill imposing a limit on the emissions blamed for the warming of the planet. Articles by Jeff Mason for Reuters, John M. Broder for the New York Times, and the Associated Press

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Heated divisions stall global warming accord

16 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Letter to the Ephesians this Sunday counsels its hearers to "watch carefully how you live." Global warming is making the urgency of this advice ever more apparent to an energy-hungry world. But time is running short for agreement on a new global warming treaty amid deep divisions over key issues, according to the United Nation's top climate official. Speaking at the start of the latest round of U.N. discussions, Yvo de Boer said political signals were positive but progress still too slow. About 1,000 officials are meeting in Bonn for a week of informal talks. The aim is to clear the way for the adoption of a new U.N. climate treaty in Copenhagen in December. "We've got a 200-plus-page text riddled with square brackets [where issues are unresolved]," de Boer said. "And it worries me to think how on earth we're going to whittle that down to meaningful language with just five weeks of negotiating time left." One of the toughest disputes is over which countries should commit to reducing their levels of greenhouse gases. Another source of tension is over the financial aid the developing world says it needs in order to cope with the effects of climate change. Bernaditas de Castro-Mueller of the Philippines, a senior coordinator for the G77 group of developing countries, said the nations that had caused the most greenhouse gases had an obligation to help those suffering from them. "It's just an outrage that countries cannot live up to their responsibilities. We're all parties to this convention, including the developed countries," she said. Source: An article by David Shukman for BBC News

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Nike jumps into the climate-change fray

04 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday employs lush images drawn from nature, such as a fruitful vine and olive plants, to describe the blessings that come to those who walk in the Lord's ways. Supporters of climate-change legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress were cheered this week when Nike Corporation became the latest member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to protest the organization's stance on the legislation. Nike will remain a member of the Chamber but is resigning its seat on the organization's board of directors, saying it "fundamentally disagrees" with the Chamber's position on the climate bill. Although environmentalists called on Nike to quit the lobbying association altogether--as several other high-profile corporations have done recently--Nike planned to continue its membership in the Chamber in order to "advocate for climate change legislation" from within the organization, the company said. A large part of the campaign against Chamber membership stems from the group's call to launch a "Scopes Monkey Trial of the 21st century" about the science of climate change, referring to the 1926 trial that challenged Tennessee law mandating the teaching of divine creation and forbidding the teaching of evolution. "We find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored," wrote Pacific Gas & Electric, a major California utility, in a letter resigning from the Chamber last week. "In our opinion, an intellectually honest argument over the best policy response to the challenges of climate change is one thing; disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges are quite another." Source: An article by Lisa Lerer for Politico

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Partisan politics leads to heated climate-bill debate

08 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Because of their pretentiousness, the scribes will receive "severe condemnation," Jesus warns in this Sunday's gospel. Republican senators who oppose climate-change legislation working its way through the U.S. Congress condemned it in the strongest way possible Tuesday by refusing to show up for a committee hearing on the bill. Only one of the seven Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee--Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio--showed up for the panel's opening session. He then left the meeting after delivering an opening statement. Committee rules require at least two minority party members to be present to reach a working quorum. An exception, however, could allow the committee to proceed without any Republicans, according to committee staff members. Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for the committee's Republicans, warned that applying the exception would be a "nuclear option" on the part of Democrats that would worsen the panel's already strained political climate. In his remarks Voinovich asked the committee to hold off its debate until getting a full Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) analysis of a bill that he said would affect every American. Committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) responded that the panel had held dozens of hearings on the issue and that she had taken the unprecedented step of scheduling a session with EPA experts later Tuesday to answer any questions by committee members. When the hearing proceeded, Voinovich exited the room, leaving only Democratic members at the table. Boxer said the panel would continue to meet, including the session with the EPA representatives later in the day. "We're going to just be here every day until they join us," Boxer said. She criticized the Republican boycott, saying, "The reason they give to not work on it just doesn't hold up to the light of day in fairness and objectivity." Source: An article by Lesa Jansen, Evan Glass, and Tom Cohen for CNN

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Climactic moment on climate change?

13 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"What then should we do?" was the question on the minds of John the Baptist's listeners we learn in this Sunday's gospel. It is also the question at the forefront of the debate over global warming. Political leaders and scientists gathered in Copenhagen this week for an international climate summit some dub the world's "last chance" to control warming. At the same time the conference was getting underway the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Monday that greenhouse gases are endangering people's health and must be regulated. The move puts pressure on Congress to act on stalled climate legislation. The ruling paves the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories, refineries, and other major sources. Industry groups quickly criticized the decision, saying that the regulation of carbon dioxide would be legally and technically complex and would impose huge costs across the economy. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said that the finding was driven by the weight of scientific evidence that the planet was warming and that human activity was largely responsible. Jackson waded into the current dispute over leaked e-mail messages from a British climate research group that have stirred doubts among some people about the integrity of climate science. "We know that skeptics have and will continue to try to sow doubts about the science," she said. "It's no wonder that many people are confused. But raising doubts--even in the face of overwhelming evidence--is a tactic that has been used by defenders of the status quo for years." Worldwide the vast majority of increased greenhouse-gas emissions is expected to come from developing countries such as China and India. But those countries have made it clear that their willingness to reduce growth in emissions will depend on what wealthier countries do first. That puts a spotlight on the U.S. in Copenhagen, observers said, and the EPA announcement was timed to boost the Obama administration's case that the U.S. is indeed taking action to combat global warming even though Congress has yet to act. In conjunction with the Copenhagen summit churches around the world this Sunday will ring their bells as part of what is being called "Hopenhagen," a call to action and prayer in response to climate change. Source: Articles by John M. Broder for the New York Times, Dina Cappiello and H. Josef Herbert for the Associated Press, Jeffrey Ball and Charles Forelle for the Wall Street Journal, and Ecumenical News International

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We’re all in hot water if climate talks fail

20 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday prays that the Lord "take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted." The goal of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen is to get humanity to take better care of the environment. More than our own survival is at stake, according to a report released Monday at the summit. Climate change threatens the survival of dozens of animal species from the emperor penguin to Australian koalas. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and shrinking polar ice are taking a heavy toll on species already struggling to cope with pollution and shrinking habitats, said a study from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an intergovernmental group. "Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in Copenhagen--some of our favorite species are also taking the fall for our CO2 emissions," said Wendy Foden, an IUCN researcher and co-author of the study. The report detailed how climate change undermines the viability of 10 species, including leatherback turtles, beluga whales, clownfish, emperor penguins, and salmon. Australia's iconic bear-like koala faces malnutrition and potential starvation as the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves declines with the increase in CO2 levels, the report said. Polar species are especially hard hit. The ringed seal is being forced further north as sea ice it relies on for rearing its vulnerable pups retreats every decade. The emperor penguin, remarkably adapted to thrive in harsh Antarctic conditions, faces similar problems. Reduced ice cover makes it harder for these animals to mate and raise chicks and has caused a sharp decline in the availability of krill, a major food source. At midweek prospects for a wide-ranging accord in Copenhagen were dimming. "Countries and blocks of countries have come here with very hard positions," Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said Tuesday. "You need some seismic shifts to really close a deal." A week ago the summit was being lauded as "Hopenhagen." As progress stalls some have starting calling it "Constipagen." Source: Articles by Marlowe Hood for Agence France Presse and Alex Morales and Jeremy van Loon for Bloomberg.com

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Nations agree to policy revisions to slow climate change

25 Jul 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s first reading, Abraham demonstrates his capacity to negotiate with God in an attempt to spare Sodom from threatened destruction. Energy ministers and senior officials from 21 nations came to Washington this week to negotiate their differences amidst an impasse on a new climate change treaty designed to head off ecological destruction. The countries that use most of the world’s energy announced steps Tuesday to get more clean energy into the global market, including promotion of televisions that waste less electricity, cars that don’t need gasoline, and buildings and factories that use power more efficiently. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the agreements at the first gathering of energy officials from countries that use 80 percent of global energy: the U.S., Russia, China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, European countries, South Korea, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. Chu said the plans would eliminate the need to build more than 500 mid-sized power plants worldwide over the next 20 years. They also could smooth the way for international agreements on how to reduce the risk of climate change, he said. lden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that while the meeting was not designed to sort out thorny issues in the talks to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose obligations run out in 2012, it was a step in the right direction. ". . . If this is the low-hanging fruit that can show that countries can cooperate to get something done together, that could improve the mood,” he said. Negotiations failed in Copenhagen in December largely because the United States had no national policy to reduce its share of carbon pollution. The plan is still stalled in the U.S. Senate. The global talks will resume in Cancun, Mexico, in November. Source: Articles by Renee Schoof for McClatchy and Shaun Tandon for Agence France Presse

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Climate change: Are nations warming to the challenge?

19 Dec 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The goal of worldwide climate treaties is to protect, in the poetic language of this Sunday’s psalm, “the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it.” A deal reached last weekend at a U.N. climate change summit commits for the first time all the world’s largest economies to reduce emissions and slow global warming. The agreement, which took four years to negotiate, should help to prevent deforestation, promote the transfer of low-carbon technologies to developing countries, and by 2020 establish a green fund potentially worth $100 billion a year to shield more vulnerable countries from climate change. Governments failed to reach agreement on how far overall global emissions should be cut, and critics say there are many loopholes for countries to avoid making the deep reductions that many scientists say are needed. Reaction to the accord was mixed. Researchers from the Climate Action Tracker said the pledges were not enough to avoid “catastrophic warming.” But, said, British energy secretary Chris Huhne, “This is way better than what we were expecting only a few weeks ago. This is a significant turning point. It clearly says that there should be reductions from developing countries. It takes us forward to a legally binding overall outcome.” "[The] Cancun [summit] may have saved the process [of negotiations] but it did not yet save the climate," said Greenpeace International Climate Policy Director Wendel Trio. Oxfam’s Jeremy Hobbs said: "With lives on the line, we must now build on this progress. Long-term funding must be secured to help vulnerable countries protect themselves." Source: Articles by John Vidal and Suzanne Goldenberg for guardian.co.uk

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Oceans away?

26 Jun 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The divine word and law have been entrusted to Israel as a blessing, the psalmist reminds the people this Sunday. From the moment God first separated land from sea and entrusted the oceans to humanity, they have blessed us with abundance. But a new study warns of the imminent and catastrophic extinctions of sea life--the worst collapse of life in millions of years--because of climate change and overfishing. Time is running short to counter hazards such as the collapse of coral reefs or the spread of low-oxygen "dead zones," according to the study led by the International Program on the State of the Ocean (IPSO). "We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation," said the expert study which will be presented to the United Nations. "The findings are shocking," Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, wrote of the conclusions from a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by IPSO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature at Oxford University. Jelle Bijma, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the seas faced a "deadly trio" of threats: higher temperatures, acidification, and lack of oxygen known as anoxia that also have factored in several past mass extinctions. A buildup of carbon dioxide, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate scientists on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. Absorbed into the oceans, it causes acidification, while runoff of fertilizers and pollution stokes anoxia. Fish are the main source of protein for a fifth of the world's population, and the seas cycle oxygen and help absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities. The study said that overfishing is the easiest contributing factor for governments to reverse, while countering global warming will require a major shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner energies such as wind and solar power. Source: An article by Jan Harvey for Reuters

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