The BP oil spill and religious environmental ethics

On Faith Panelists Blog: The BP oil spill and religious environmental ethics - Valerie Elverton Dixon:

Washington Post

BY VALERIE ELVERTON DIXON | JUNE 2, 2010; 6:07 PM ET

"...the tragedy of the BP oil spill is a moral crisis that is the result of human estrangement from the Divine, from each other and from nature. A holistic spiritual morality, an environmental ethics rooted in religion can help us find our way back to wholeness and to holiness."

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World still heading for 3 degree Celsius warming

AFP: World still heading for 3 degree Celsius warming: study:

"BONN — The world is careering towards three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by 2100 despite headline-making promises to curb carbon emissions, a study released at UN talks here said on Thursday.

'The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 C (2.7 F), with global warming very likely exceeding 2 C (3.6 F) and a more than 50-percent chance of exceeding 3 C (5.4 F) by 2100,' said Bill Hare of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Around 120 countries have signed up to voluntary action on greenhouse gases under last December's Copenhagen Accord, which aims to limit warming since pre-industrial times to 2.0 C.

Scientists caution there is no consensus on what is a safe level for warming, and some say a rise of even 2.0 C could still have far-reaching risks for ice and snow cover and rainfall patterns"

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Melting permafrost threatens Arctic housing projects

Melting permafrost threatens Arctic housing projects - CTV News:

"MONTREAL — An Arctic community that has seen its fire hall sink and roads buckle in the melting permafrost is now shifting future building projects away from town.

The effect of vanishing permafrost -- soil normally frozen year round -- is now being felt across Canada's North, and the Quebec village of Salluit is just one of many Arctic towns trying to adapt to an increasingly warmer climate.

Rising temperatures are being blamed for natural disturbances in the North, such as the rapidly eroding coastline of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., and unprecedented floods that knocked out two bridges in Pangnirtung, Nunavut.

Salluit even considered relocating the whole town. One of Quebec's northernmost communities, Salluit saw its local fire station sink into the softening ground a year after it opened.

Across town, paved roads have crumpled, foundations of buildings have cracked and now even summertime grave-digging isn't what it used to be."

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Voters to decide on California global warming law

This is so wrong.

The Associated Press: Voters to decide on California global warming law

(AP) – 6-23-10

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An initiative that seeks to suspend California's landmark global warming law until unemployment drops will appear on the November election ballot.

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified the initiative on Tuesday. It's the sixth proposition to qualify for the ballot.

The California Jobs Initiative seeks to delay the state's global warming law until the unemployment rate falls from its current rate of 12.4 percent to 5.5 percent or lower and stays there for a year.

The 2006 law seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California and impose new requirements on utilities, manufacturers and other businesses.

Oil companies funded the drive to put the initiative on the ballot. It is backed by business groups who say the law could cost jobs and lead to higher energy prices.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved."

Best Confession of the Month (so far)

Living Well, Living Green: Leilani Munter, Race Car Eco-ista:

cross-posted from Savings.com blog

"..Leilani Munter encapsulates the ecoista’s dilemma: It’s all well and good to want to live sustainably, until you work in an industry that doesn’t share your views.

What are you supposed to do, quit your job?

Leilani takes this concept to an extreme most of us can’t even imagine. That’s because she is--if you haven’t already guessed from the photos--a race car driver. Not just any race car driver, mind you, Leilani has serious on-track cred. She’s the fourth woman in history to race in the Indy Pro Series. She set the record for the highest finish for a female driver in the history of the Texas Motor Speedway when she finished fourth in 2006. Sports Illustrated named her one of the top 10 female racecar drivers in the world.

The girl really can’t drive 55. More like 200. But all that speed takes a serious environmental toll--and Leilani knows it. When I asked her what her eco-sin was she answered, “That’s easy: My race car.”

But Leilani also sees her profession as an opportunity to inspire positive change in the 100 million fans that make racing the number-one spectator sport in America. “If I was just another vegetarian, tree hugging, biology graduate asking people to give up meat and stop using plastic bags, I don’t know how many people would be listening to me,” Leilani told us. “But because I drive a race car, I have an ability to reach a new audience of people that most environmentalists are probably not talking to.”

In addition to talking the talk with 100 million people, Leilani walks it: The longtime vegetarian and self-proclaimed “Carbon-Free Girl” adopts an acre of rainforest for every race she runs. She regularly races in alternative fuel vehicles, like the Ford hydrogen fuel cell car she drove in last year’s VS Viking Rally in Norway. And she’s the first Ambassador of the National Wildlife Federation."

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