Land Rights & Water Rights & Profit Driven Corporations

“The earth is God’s and all that is in it” reads a Biblical verse in Psalm 24. While on a visit to Peru I heard some Peruvians express that verse in a variety of ways as they critiqued mining operations in the northern Peruvian Andes Mountains. The sacredness of the land is a seed planted in the hearts of the Peruvian people and in the country’s soil since the Inca Kingdom dominated vast areas of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Peruvians today continue to acknowledge the sacredness of the land offering prayer and gifts to mamapacha and mamacocha, the goddesses of earth and water. However, they are also finding their voice to speak out and to protest environmental damage caused in the extraction of their natural resources. In 2012, concerned Peruvians protested with a “Great National Water March” to call attention to the contamination of lakes and rivers surrounding mining projects. 

In 2013, protests were repeated when “four highland lakes are slated for conversion into toxic waste dumps. In return for this woeful act of vandalism, the company claims it will build a network of artificial reservoirs for the local population”. The people opposed this plan and established a group of citizens “The Guardians” who voluntarily keep vigil at the lakes to prevent toxic waste from entering them.  

Since Canada owns a large percentage of the world’s mining and mineral exploration companies, Canada is uniquely positioned to promote responsible development when extracting resources whether in Canada or abroad. Our Canadian government is supportive of the expansion of the Canadian mining industry through various programs and policies. Can we also be supportive of encouraging environmental justice and protection of land and water rights? 

Mabel St. Louis, CSJ

The Great March for Climate Action

Have you even heard about it? I haven’t from the mainstream media, at least not from CBC. Well, ‘The March’ began on March 1, 2014 in Santa Monica California. Some 200 activists have committed to walking through the desert southwest, then up the Colorado Rockies and across the Great Plains, moving along the south side of the Lake Erie and then, aiming to arrive in Washington D.C. just before the U.S. mid-term elections in November. View the first day of the march.

The hope is to encourage others to join in, even if only for short distances along the route. One former Green Party candidate, Anita Payne, who currently lives in Perth, Ontario is planning to do just that. http://www.southwesternontario.ca/community/former-green-party-candidate-joining-us-march-on-climate/

Another goal is to re-awaken awareness about our global climate crisis in the towns and communities along the route. To this end, the Rev. Michael Dowd, environmentalist and ‘Evolutionary Evangelist’ and his wife, science writer Connie Barlow, will be assisting. Michael writes that “Connie and I will rarely be walking with the marchers. Rather, we will be speaking in churches, colleges, and other venues along their route. Our role is to rally citizen support to press for changes that will reorient the incentives of American industries and consumers toward a sustainable, green-energy future.”

According to Gallop, Americans have waxed and waned in terms of concern about climate change. Most notably Gallop states that “Politics remain a powerful predictor of Americans' worries about global warming, with more than half of Democrats saying they worry about it a great deal, compared with 29% of independents and 16% of Republicans.” The chart below is interesting. Note that despite the more recent scientific findings concerning global warming, the American public’s concern has just risen to that expressed before 1990!

For more details can be found HERE  

Have we Canadians faired any better than our American neighbours? No. In fact the Huffington Post of December 5, 2012 stated that “Canada has the worst climate change policy of all wealthy nations, and the fourth-worst among all nations, says a survey from environmental umbrella group Climate Action Network.”

Just this past Monday, April 5^th, following the release of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change Report, http://www.ipcc.ch/ (video) http://www.ipcc.ch/ , Liberal MP Joyce Murray was heckled during Question Period by Conservative MPs when she raised the issue in the House of Commons. I heard about this while watching Peter Mansbridge interview federal Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May. (You can view the interview at http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/mansbridge/ )May’s comment was confirmed by the following Twitter post from Murray, “@joycemurray Apr 5. My #QP question Monday on the #IPCC #climate report – human security! #CPC mocks concerns.”

May also shared with Mansbridge that there is an All Party Climate Change Caucus on Parliament Hill. She believes that the views, of some MPs who come and listen to the information presented, have been changed. They meet in a safe place and behind closed doors. Please see  http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/27/federal-politicians-use-non-partisan-climate-group-to-meet-in-safe-space-behind-closed-doors/ Why on earth do our politicians need to meet in a ‘safe place’ to discuss something that has been fundamentally determined by so many scientific studies?  

Elizabeth May contends that one product of the fossil fuel lobby has been the “invention of doubt”. Mansbridge also asked her if she, at times, despairs about making change. May, very telling replied that “we don’t have any time to despair”.  Although I do not always agree with Elizabeth May, on this one I do.

The main website for the Great March for Climate Action is  http://www.ipcc.ch/

Ann Steadman, Associate

Connecting the Dots: More Oil Out-Faster Climate Change

From time beyond memory, rivers and streams have created networks across this land. In recent centuries roads and rails have woven new networks crossing over, and sometimes under, these rivers and streams. Today, a whole new network is being created. It is a network of pipelines that will criss-cross nearly every province and territory. Perhaps you have heard of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline in British Columbia, the Keystone XL line through Alberta and Saskatchewan extending into to the United States, the risky reversal of Line 9 from Sarnia eastward, or the proposed Energy East Pipeline project. The later will convert Trans -Canada’s 40 year old gas pipeline to an oil pipeline to carry diluted oil to ports in eastern Canada and beyond that to other countries. New pipelines are being considered to travel through parts of the three Prairie Provinces, southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. This proposed and already- partially- existing network will create a greater threat to our streams, rivers, lakes, underground aquifers, and oceans than anything previously developed.   We need only to connect the dots to see this network. All of the earth community, including humans, are increasingly at risk.

• We, Sisters of St. Joseph, value the sacredness of creation in all its life-forms.
• We acknowledge our call to tend to creation with respect, love and honour.
• We recognize that every form of life offers its own unique gifts and vulnerability.
• We recognize our responsibility to protect water, land, plant, animal, and human life.

Despite promises of effective new technology for prevention and clean-up of spills or leaks, we believe that increased oil production and transportation threaten to pollute and destroy life.  We call ourselves and others to connect the dots. Doing so will reveal the relationships between this network of pipelines, the consequent increased tar sands/oil sands development, increased global carbon emissions and more rapid and potentially destructive climate change.

We live in a society that values personal material profit and benefits over the common good and over the principles of equality and the sacredness of life. As a society we do not know or acknowledge when enough is enough. Neither do we recognize the reality of limitations to the earth’s physical resources. We accept behaviour that ignores the needs of future generations and dismiss the incredible, irreversible extinction of life currently occurring.

When will we have the wisdom and courage to really connect the dots, to limit our use of oil and oil-based products, to recognize ‘enough’?

Priscilla Solomon CSJ
Federation Ecology Committee

Wing Beats of Hope

Monarchs ~ our Fragile Prophets

At Villa St. Joseph Retreat & Ecology Centre in Cobourg we would always look forward to the arrival of the Monarchs in late summer and early fall. Their orange and black wings, exquisitely patterned, would be everywhere. If you walked near the Mountain Ash tree by the verandah the branches would suddenly flutter alive in a breathtaking dance of winged beauty and dazzling life.  Each year their numbers have been dwindling and we have had the sense something was deeply out of balance

The recent Mexican postings reveal that the forest hibernation colonies have once again sharply decreased. There remain only nine hibernating colonies. Last year there was a total area of 7.4 acres and this year it dropped to 2.94 acres. This is a 59% decrease in population in one year. In 1997 there was 44 acres of colonies.

Why does it matter?

Monarchs lead the most spectacular and incredible migration journey of any species, traversing thousands of kilometres navigating territory they have never seen. These iconic butterflies are key pollinators for many species besides milkweeds. And as the same habitats for monarchs, are essential for other pollinators, they are fragile prophets we need to heed. Without pollinators our own food sources will come under risk. What can we do?

What Can We Do?

There is a day of Action and Contemplation for the Monarchs and Other Imperilled Pollinators from dusk on Sunday, April 13^th (Palm Sunday) to dusk on Monday April 14^th (Rachel Carson’s death anniversary). See: http://www.makewayformonarchs.org

Monarch Waystations:   At Villa St. Joseph Ecology Centre we have left significant parts of our fields uncut to preserve the milkweeds for the nurture of monarchs .We are now a designated Monarch Waystation with signage, bearing witness. But anyone can create a designated Waystation, in a backyard, a congregational home, a church. There are lots of other plants that provide sustenance for monarchs. Check out: http://monarchwatch.org

Let us make wing beats of hope this Easter and heed our fragile prophets. Rachel Carson will surely bless us and the monarchs!

Linda Gregg, CSJ

Photo: Margaret Magee

Turn-it-off for Earth

It’s beautiful to recognize that Earth Hour has reached its eighth year. This coming Saturday, March 29^th, it is scheduled as usual for 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. In the neighbourhood of 153 countries are committed to this act of consciousness raising. The Philippines has been a remarkable supporter topping its own records every year. Millions of people around the world will be honouring the earth in this hour. Even though we haven’t solved our carbon problems, it is heartwarming to know that this many countries are participating with hope, at the same moment, on the same night. In our fractured and individualistic world this is indeed cause for celebration.  

The date chosen, the second-to-last and last weekend of March is quite close to the time of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes in the northern and southern hemispheres – and allows for near coincidental sunset times in both hemispheres. In so doing our efforts are psychically connected one with the other.

In the United Kingdom, Wembley Stadium, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye will dim outside lights. Over 400 monuments in France, including the Eiffel Tower, will also take part in the turning the switch off. Here’s to some other good earth news:

• In Uganda, half a million trees will be planted in the world's first Earth Hour Forest in a fight against the 6000 hectares of deforestation.
• by 2020, Vancouver aims for all new buildings to be carbon neutral in their operations; citizens to make over 50% of trips by foot, bicycle or public transport; and the number of green jobs to have doubled.
• 3.4 Million hectares of sea are being protected, raising the level of protection of Argentina’s seas from 1% to more than 4%.

Even to shut off the lights for one hour tells me there is a deeper truth resonating in our collective hearts. In our very plugged-in world, for one hour we actually disconnect. And then we connect to the wonder of our humanity, to candlelight and to starlight. We are one in caring for our earth, our children and our future. In the dark we have found our true selves and our earth soul.

http://www.earthhour.org/

Linda Gregg, CSJ