Friday, January 8, 2010

Forum on Religion and Ecology: United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) News Clippings



United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) News Clippings
Dear Forum Colleagues:

Greetings! Below you will find the latest News Clippings from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). For your convenience, we include short introductions to each story and provide URLs for the full story.
Many of these news clippings feature significant developments regarding the growing concern of religious communities around climate change, specifically in light of the effort to frame a post-Kyoto Protocol on climate change at the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen on December 7-18. It has been one of the most important meetings to take place to negotiate both mitigation and adaptation to climate change as a global community.
We have two news items to share with you regarding the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which was held in Melbourne, Australia on December 3–9. These articles discuss some ways in which speakers at the Parliament were addressing current ethical challenges, specifically challenges related to the abolition of nuclear weapons (December 8) and the development of religious responses to climate change (December 7).
An important development in recognizing the fundamental role of the environment in creating conditions for lasting peace is evident in Pope Benedict's World Day of Peace message on January 1st titled "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation" (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace_en.html). Among responses to the message include the positive reaction of Hindu communities (December 16). One article describes how the message calls upon rich nations to assume more responsibility for their contributions to environmental destruction and social inequities (December 15).

We hope you will find these news items informative and useful in your work.

For the archive of past UNEP News Clippings, visit:
http://fore.research.yale.edu/publications/massmedia/index.html

Sincerely,
Sam Mickey & Elizabeth McAnally
California Institute of Integral Studies
Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale
Web Content Managers & Newsletter Editors
December 19, 2009
Nations Seal a Deal on Climate Change at UN Talks

UNEP

Copenhagen - After a marathon all night session, talks aimed at injecting new and more wide-ranging momentum into the international effort to combat climate change ended with a positive outcome.

Countries attending the UN climate convention's summit in the Danish capital agreed to 'take note' of a document entitled the Copenhagen Accord.

For full story, visit:
December 18, 2009
“The Way Humanity Treats the Environment Influences the Way it Treats Itself”
Vatican Radio
On Thursday Archbishop Celestino Migliore Apostolic Nuncio - Head of the Vatican’s Delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - called for clear and firm political will to adopt common binding measures and adequate budgets for an effective mitigation of ongoing climate change.

For full story, visit:
December 16, 2009

Hindus laud Pope for environmental stand

Merinews

Religion was the most powerful and far-reaching force in our society and could prove very influential in handling concerns like ecological responsibility. Faiths coming out together in support of the environment would be a remarkable signal.
Hindus have applauded Pope Benedict for connecting environmental protection with peace promotion in his message for the celebration of World Day of Peace, which falls on January one.
For full story, visit:
December 15, 2009
Ecological protection fits well with core Catholic values

Irish Times

RITE & REASON: The likelihood of a climate change deal at Copenhagen is, unfortunately, receding mainly because neither the US nor China is willing to make the required cuts. While President Barack Obama has agreed to attend, the US offer to reduce carbon emissions by 17 per cent on 2005 figures by 2020 is derisory, writes Fr Sean McDonagh.

For full story, visit:
December 15, 2009

Rich nations must assume environmental duties: pope

By Philip Pullella
Reuters

VATICAN CITY - Industrialized nations must recognize their responsibility for the environmental crisis, shed their consumerism and embrace more sober lifestyles, Pope Benedict said on Tuesday.

The pope's call for more environmental commitments came in his message for the Roman Catholic Church's annual World Day of Peace, to be marked on Jan 1 and whose theme is "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation."

For full story, visit:
December 14, 2009
Faith Groups Build Giant Ark on National Mall

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post

WASHINGTON – A diverse group of religious people unveiled a giant ark on the National Mall Saturday to press world leaders in Copenhagen to create a strong, binding proposal to tackle climate change.

Organizers say the 19-foot-high ark is a warning that if world leaders do not come up with a strong plan to deal with the climate change problem, then the ark might very well be how individuals will have to live in the future.

For full story, visit:

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091214/faith-groups-build-giant-ark-on-national-mall/

December 14, 2009

Copenhagen unites Anglicans hoping to combat climate change

By Matthew Davies
Episcopal News Service
As church bells rang throughout the world Dec. 13 to mark Christianity's commitment to combating climate change, Anglican leaders were making their voices heard about global warming in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference Dec. 7-18 in the Danish capital welcomed world and faith leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

For full story, visit:
December 13, 2009
A religious perspective on climate change

By Stephen Scharper
The Star

Long before Al Gore blazed an inconvenient trail into our collective moral imagination, and two decades before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, United Church of Canada theologian David Hallman was clanging the tocsin of climate change, often to an indifferent public.

For full story, visit:
December 13, 2009
Archbishop of Canterbury says fear hinders climate change battle

By Riazat Butt
The Guardian

People are so paralysed by fear and selfishness they cannot save the planet, the archbishop of Canterbury said on Sunday during a church service in Copenhagen.

Rowan Williams was preaching in the Danish capital as crucial UN climate change talks entered their second and final week.

For full story, visit:
December 10, 2009
Matt Frei's diary: Evangelical and environmental?

By Matt Frei
BBC News
Washington - If the green movement truly wants to convert America it needs to convert more evangelical Christians. Let me explain.
According to a BBC News/Harris Poll, the number of Americans who worry that carbon emissions are slowly heating our planet like a lobster pot has actually declined in the last eight years by 25%.
December 9, 2009
Copenhagen 1943 and Copenhagen UN 2009

By Rabbi Warren Stone
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Sixty-six years ago, on October 2, 1943, when Jews were celebrating the High Holidays, Hitler ordered the arrest and deportation of Denmark's 8,000 Jews. Danish Christian citizens were outraged and courageously rescued almost the entire Jewish population. In an act of collective resistance, the Danes ferried their fellow Jewish citizens on small boats across the sea to safety in Sweden. Over 99% of Danish Jews survived the Holocaust.

For full story, visit:
December 9, 2009
Stormwater solution: Rain gardens green a church parking lot

By Pamela Wood
The Christian Science Monitor

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — When Gerald Winegrad was a kid, he played baseball on grassy fields behind St. Mary's Catholic Church and School in downtown Annapolis. Over the years, as the church congregation and school enrollment grew, those grounds were paved over and turned into parking lots. Those parking lots serve as a highway for rainwater, sending it rushing into nearby Spa Creek, where it deposits chemicals, nutrients, and sediment and fouls the water.

December 8, 2009
Inter-religious Forum Calls for Nuclear Abolition

By Neena Bhandari
Inter Press Service

MELBOURNE - For the global religious community, the use of nuclear arms is an overwhelmingly important ethical issue for the human family. Thus, nothing less than the immediate abolition of such weapons is needed from the highest levels, said speakers at the Parliament of the World’s Religions currently underway in this Australian city.
December 8, 2009
US religious groups urge strong action to reduce greenhouse gases

The National Religious Coalition on Creation Care
Press Release

Copenhagen, Denmark - As the climate summit opens in Copenhagen, a coalition of religious organizations will present a collection of statements to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urging strong action to reduce greenhouse gases. This will emphasize that climate change is a moral and ethical issue because it deals with lifestyle issues and choices that all people must face.

For full story, visit:
December 7, 2009
Hindu Declaration on Climate Change

Hindu Press International

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, December 8, 2009: Melbourne’s Parliament of the World’s Religions is proving to be the most influential of modern times, and the widest ever. Hindus have shown unity and extraordinary leadership releasing today the Hindu Declaration on Climate Change, marking a definitive stance of Hinduism as a religion that is aware of humankind’s role and responsibilities in Earth’s ecosystem.
December 7, 2009
Church bells to ring climate alarm as faith joins science in Denmark

By Peter Kenny
Ecumenical News International
Geneva - When church bells start ringing in Copenhagen, and all around the world, on Dec. 13, they will not be heralding an early arrival of Christmas. Rather they will peal out a call to action and prayer to respond to impending climate change.
December 6, 2009
Religious groups active in climate debate
By Brian Winter
USA Today
COPENHAGEN — Sunday started like any other day for Sister Joan Brown — with a period of prayer and meditation just before dawn at her home in Albuquerque.

Then, instead of going to Mass, the Franciscan sister boarded a plane to Copenhagen. When she arrives Monday, she'll join 20,000 other attendees at a United Nations summit on climate change, where she hopes to persuade leaders including President Obama to reach a worldwide agreement to cut pollution levels.
December 4, 2009
World religious leaders to gather December 7th to mobilize on climate change

Global Peace Initiative of Women
Press Release

New York, NY -A multi-faith delegation of key religious and spiritual leaders from around the world will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark from December 7-13, 2009 during the UN COP-15 Summit. The delegation’s goal is to deepen the conversation on climate change by recognizing that this environmental crisis is rooted in a profound moral and spiritual crisis.

December 4, 2009
Britain's chief rabbi calls for environmental Sabbath ahead of climate talks
By Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain's chief rabbi has called for a Sabbath devoted to the environment ahead of the climate talks due to be held next week in Copenhagen.

For full story, visit:
December 3, 2009
Vatican delegation to join UN climate change conference

By Gustavo Solis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican's delegation to the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, was being headed by an experienced diplomat and included experts on the environment.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, was to lead the five-person Vatican delegation at the Copenhagen conference, Vatican Radio reported. Archbishop Migliore was scheduled to speak to the UN during the Dec. 7-18 conference.

For full story, visit:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0905342.htm
December 2, 2009
Canadian church-based group says Ottawa cut its funding for foreign projects

By John Cotter
The Canadian Press

TORONTO - A Canadian church-based group that does human rights and environmental sustainability work says the federal government has cancelled its funding for overseas projects without warning or reason.

Kairos, an ecumenical social justice group representing 11 different churches and organizations, said the decision by the Canadian International Development Agency will force it to stop operating in troubled areas such as Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, central America and the West Bank.
December 1, 2009

Hindus & Jews advocate inclusion of world religions in ambitious Copenhagen Climate Summit

Sampurn Media

Hindus and Jews have strongly criticized non-inclusion of world religious leaders in much-publicized and prestigious “COP 15—United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen” starting December seven.

Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman; and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, prominent Jewish leader in Nevada and California in USA; in a joint statement in Nevada today, emphasized that for successful implementation at the grassroots level of environmental decisions coming out of this Conference, involvement of world religions and their leaders was extremely important.
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3 comments:

  1. DanaSJanuary 13, 2010 at 11:40 AM

    One of the articles that I found most interesting was the one entitled "Britain's Chief Rabbi Calls for Environmental Sabbath Ahead of Climate Talks". In his January 12, 2010 column entitled "The Tel Aviv Cluster", NY Times Op-Ed Columnist, David Brooks wrote, "The Jewish faith encourages a belief in progress and personal accountability. It is learning-based, not rite-based." This to me was emphasized in the Rabbi calling for Jews to dedicate their Shabbat to environmental issues and sustainable habits of consumption and energy use. Each of us is responsible for ourselves and accountable to ourselves. Shabbat in itself is a relinquishing of technology and a return to the spiritual and simple nature of prayer and family. Orthodox Jews do not drive on Shabbat. They do not use electricity. This is a dedication to sustainable habits of consumption and energy use. The rabbi said that he acknowledges disagreements over climate change but he clarified with, "there are some risks you just don't take and one is the risk of endangering the very viability of life on earth." I thought this was an interesting excerpt of religion and environmental cohesiveness. This was backed up with the blog post about Hindus & Jews advocating inclusion of world religions in the Copenhagen Climate Summit. Religious leaders can have a grassroots type of successful implementation of sustainable ideas.

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  2. MaryBethJanuary 17, 2010 at 7:06 PM

    In one way it is very surprising to hear that no religious leaders are incorporated Copenhagen Climate summit and on the other it’s not. I’m initially surprised because you would think that on such a large occasion that it trying to bring the whole world together to assist in this global crisis that you would also want to make use to the representative religions. However, it is also a largely political summit which may not want to include religion in its processes. A class that I had last spring, which was titled Religion, Ethics, and Nature, discussed the possible influence of religions on the perception of the man/nature dichotomy and its impact on the environment. We came to the conclusion that, of course, with the high variability in religious practice throughout the world all religions can have a positive or negative view of nature and impact on the environment. It seems to be popular belief that eastern religions are good for the environment and western religions are not. The first statement was generally upheld in class but the latter was not so much, especially in the case of Judaism. Essentially, Judaism valued all life, including plants and animals and did not set a huge gap between humans and the environment. Additionally, the Jewish religious texts, imply that humans are stewards of God’s earth as opposed to owners themselves. So, I guess I feel that this is a bad decision because religion does have a lot to offer and it is definitely one of the best ways to get to people, especially if they are not particularly environmentally inclined.

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  3. TexIoekednJuly 19, 2019 at 12:37 AM

    defensive of the other to a point where protection moves toward becoming prohibition. Add religion to the two and we have a venomous plait that is close difficult to fix. On the whole we have to venture back and take hindu

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