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Carbon Rangers/Ecozoic Times
Vol. 12  No. 4
May 2019
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Good News We Need Now


Dear Reader,

The month of May has always provided Carbon Rangers/Ecozoic Times with Good News in the form of the Goldman Prizes.  I have placed the brief bios of this year's winners at the top of the news here because we all need to be encouraged.  These extraordinary human beings did not step up to the local challenges we see here because they wanted to win a Goldman Prize.  They looked, they saw injustice, they took action.  Each of us has the same opportunity wherever we find ourselves.  For now please read on and learn how these "ordinary" humans responded to local reality.

I have added some Good News items from various other sources to round out this issue.  There is always a glimpse into the thinking of Thomas Berry.  We recall Thomas especially at this time as we come to the 10th anniversary of his passing from us, June 1, 2009.  A new biography has just been published: Thomas Berry, A Biography  by Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and Andrew Angyal from Columbia University Press. A book we have all been waiting for.  

Young people continue to take forward positions in the campaign to end the proliferation of greenhouse gases and the subsequent degradation of the planet.  School strikes continue , most recently in 110 cities across the globe on May 24, the 4th anniversary of the publication of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.  A followup global strike is being organized for September 20.  Watch for details.  Catholic youth meeting in Panama in January have released a stirring Manifesto calling on the world to take action to protect the Earth and especially its most vulnerable inhabitants. 

The Children's Trust Lawsuit in the USA faces an important court date on June 4 in Oregon.  A key argument in the case is based on the public trust doctrine, which provides that public lands, waters and other resources are held in trust by the government for the benefit of its citizens. Since the US government has promoted fossil fuels and isn’t adequately dealing with climate change effects, the benefit for citizens is being compromised.

A letter has been released by Cardinal Turkson in Rome on the 4th Anniversary of  the encyclical of Pope Francis: Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home.  Some portions are shared at the end of this newsletter. Cardinal Turkson is head of the office responsible for the dissemination of the encyclical and he has some urgent words for all of us:  "All hands on deck!"

Good forces are coming together.  We have no time to waste.

Cordially,
Br. Kevin

Further Resources at these sites:

Edmund Rice International  
http://edmundriceinternational.org/jpic/

Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona
http://www.iona.edu/About/Iona-in-Community/The-Thomas-Berry-Forum-for-Ecological-Dialogue.aspx

About the Goldman Prize
The Goldman Environmental Prize honors grassroots environmental heroes from the world's six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations, North America, and South & Central America. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. The Goldman Prize views grassroots leaders as those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.

The Prize Recipients
Goldman Prize recipients focus on protecting endangered ecosystems and species, combating destructive development projects, promoting sustainability, influencing environmental policies, and striving for environmental justice. Prize recipients are often women and men from isolated villages or inner cities who choose to take great personal risks to safeguard the environment.

What the Goldman Prize Provides
The Goldman Prize amplifies the voices of these grassroots leaders and provides them with:
  • International recognition that enhances their credibility
  • Worldwide visibility for the issues they champion
  • Financial support to pursue their vision of a renewed and protected environment

Alfred Brownell 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient Africa

Under threat of violence, environmental lawyer Alfred Brownell stopped the clear-cutting of Liberia's tropical forests by palm oil plantation developers. His campaign protected 513,500 acres of primary forest that constitute one of the worlds most important biodiversity hotspots.

For his safety, he is living in temporary exile in the United States. Read More.


Alberto Curamil 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient South and Central America

Alberto Curamil, an indigenous Mapuche, organized the people of Araucanía to stop the construction of two hydroelectric projects on the sacred Cautín River in central Chile. The destructive projects, canceled in late 2016, would have diverted hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the river each day, harming a critical ecosystem and exacerbating drought conditions in the region.

In August 2018, Curamil was arrested and remains in jail today. Colleagues believe that he was arrested because of his environmental activism. Read More.

Linda Garcia 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient North America

Linda Garcia organized Fruit Valley residents to stop the construction of the Tesoro Savage oil export terminal in Vancouver, Washington, in February 2018. Her activism safeguarded residents from harmful air pollution and protected the environment of the Columbia River Gorge. By preventing North America’s largest oil terminal from being built, Garcia halted the flow of 11 million gallons of crude oil per day from North Dakota to Washington.  Read More.  
Jacqueline Evans 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient Islands and Island Nations
Conservationist Jacqueline Evans led a five-year grassroots campaign to protect the Cook Islands’ stunning marine biodiversity. Because of her tireless and persistent organizing, in July 2017, the Cook Islands enacted new legislation—Marae Moana—to sustainably manage and conserve all 763,000 square miles of the country’s ocean territory, including the designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) 50 nautical miles around the islands, protecting 125,000 square miles of ocean from large-scale commercial fishing and seabed mining. This is the first Prize for the Cook Islands. Read More.

Ana Colovic Lesoska 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient Europe 

Ana Colovic Lesoska led a seven-year campaign to cut off international funding for two large hydropower plants planned for inside Mavrovo National Park—North Macedonia’s oldest and largest national park—thereby protecting the habitat of the nearly-extinct Balkan lynx. In 2015, the World Bank withdrew its financing for one hydropower project, and, in 2017, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development canceled its loan to the North Macedonian government for the other. This is the first Prize for North Macedonia.  Read More.


Bayarjargal Agvaantseren 2019 Goldman Prize Recipient Asia.  

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren helped create the 1.8 million-acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve in the South Gobi Desert—a critical habitat for the vulnerable snow leopard—in April 2016, then succeeded in persuading the Mongolian government to cancel all 37 mining licenses within the reserve. An unprecedented victory for the snow leopard, as of June 2018 there are no active mines within the reserve—and all mining operations are illegal.  Read More.

Youth Manifesto from Young Catholics

International Congress of the Care of Creation

At the recent World Youth Day gathering in Panama City,  (January 22-27, 2019) young Catholic people and others  opened a new chapter in the history of action on climate change. Youth participants and senior Church leaders came together across several days to craft a Manifesto calling for everyone, ourselves first, to urgently act to protect our planet and the poorest and most vulnerable people. 

The Manifesto was presented to Cardinal Tagle, who is the archbishop of Manila and the president of Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican's social service agency. Cardinal Tagle accepted the manifesto on the behalf of the Church.   A brief excerpt from the Manifesto is here:

The Role of young Catholics
As the Synodal Fathers recognized, among young people “there is strong and widespread sensitivity to ecological themes and sustainability, that the encyclical Laudato Si’ has galvanized.” Most importantly, this sensitivity translates into an appeal to the ruling classes to act because “Young people demand change” (LS 13). Indeed, there is a vibrant youth movement that is rising up across the globe, challenging the generation in power to take climate change and the ecological crisis more seriously. Young activists are taking unprecedented action, ranging from “climate strikes” of high school students to lawsuits against governments for not doing enough to tackle climate change.
In this context, we young Catholics are also stepping up as never before. We take seriously the Laudato Si’ call for “radical decisions to reverse the trend of global warming” (LS 175) and we are inspired by the prophetic voice of fellow young activists for the environment.

Read More.


 

Recent Correspondence from Children's Trust Lawsuit in U.S.A.
Good morning!

I’m Kelsey Juliana, and I’m getting excited.

One week from today, the constitutional climate lawsuit that I and 20 other young Americans filed against the federal government, called Juliana v. United States, will be heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Portland, Oregon. We want everyone to tune in to the livestream of this hearing. The government is doing everything in its power to try to deny our rights in court, and we want it to know that the American people are watching.

We filed this lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of young people and on June 4, we need #AllEyesOnJuliana. Read More.


Good news you probably didn't hear about  - Future Crunch


Last year, more global coal capacity was closed than approved for the first time since the 19th century, and the UK just had its first coal-free week since 1882. BBC

Chile has reached its 2025 clean energy targets six years ahead of schedule, and says it's now on track for 70% electricity from renewables by 2030. BN Americas

The world's largest car supplier, Bosch, says it will be fully carbon neutral by 2020, making it the first major industrial company to take that step. Reuters

Big new dataset here, we've been waiting for this for a while. The proportion of people in extreme poverty has fallen from 36% in 1990 to 8.6% in 2018. Absolute numbers are down from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 610 million in 2018. ODI

New Global Burden of Disease Report says that between 1990 and 2017, deaths of kids and teenagers decreased by 51.7%, from 13.77 million to 6.64 million. CNN

The United Nations says that 187 countries have agreed to control the movement of plastic waste between national borders, in an effort to curb waste. CNN

Tanzania has become the latest country to implement a plastic ban. From the 1st June, no one will be allowed to produce, import, sell or use plastic bags. WWF

Costa Rica has doubled its forest cover in the last 30 years; half its land surface is now covered with trees, a huge carbon sink and a big draw for tourists. NYT


Related News on Environment Around the Globe

JUSTICE FOR ISLANDS: Australian islanders to lodge landmark U.N. complaint on climate change (ReutersThe GuardianAl Jazeera), their islands are being eroded. So are their human rights, they say. (New York Times ), on Puerto Rico’s ‘forgotten island,’ Tesla’s busted solar panels tell a cautionary tale (HuffPost)

KIDS: A new 'climate strike': middle schoolers may be the secret weapon in fight against climate change (CNN)

SOLUTIONS: Florida cities launch contest to find urgent climate change solutions (Forbes)

FOSSIL FUELS: Third-biggest US coal company files for bankruptcy (APCasper Star-Tribune), Oil' and 'gas' are out: how energy firms are rebranding for the climate change era (Fortune), Coal ash comments due Monday (Daily Herald), Consol developing new coal mine in southern West Virginia (AP via US News & World Report)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: community solar is an excellent way to create energy equity–if it’s done right (Fast Company), Las Vegas state senator spreads the gospel of renewable energy among colleagues (Las Vegas Sun).

International: China, Japan and South Korea, while vowing to go green at home, promote coal abroad (LA Times ), Labour weighs up delisting UK firms if they fail to fight climate change (The Guardian), when talking about weather, some Vancouverites want more focus on climate change (CBC), Brazil's Bolsonaro fires 'militant' head of climate change action group (Reuters)

LATE NIGHT: “This is an actual crisis.” John Oliver and Bill Nye talk climate change on Last Week Tonight (Time)

DIVESTMENT: The world’s richest institutions invest in fossil fuels. Activists are changing that. (Vox)

COSTS: Making America carbon neutral could cost $1 trillion a year (Bloomberg), Stalling on climate change action may cost investors over $1 trillion (Bloomberg), billions for NYC Sandy recovery has gone unspent, says comptroller report (CurbedCrains New York)

Message of the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, His Eminence Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson 
Cardinal Turkson is second from left in this photo of Iona College visitors to the Vatican last summer: Sr. Kathleen Deignan, Ceire Kealty and Jamal Jackson formed the Iona Group

Cardinal Turkson Letter excerpts: "The IPCC Special Report for 2018 on the logic and feasibility of the 1.5C limit [2] warns us that we have only around a decade to limit this global warming. The 1.5C threshold is a critical physical threshold, inasmuch as it would still enable the avoidance of many destructive impacts of climate changes caused by man, such as the regression of the main glaciers and the destruction of the majority of tropical coral reefs.    The 1.5C threshold is also a moral threshold: it is the last chance to save all those countries and many millions of vulnerable people who live in coastal regions. It is the poor who pay the highest price of climate changes.   It is useful to assume that 1.5 C is also a religious threshold. The world we are destroying is the gift of God to humanity, precisely that house sanctified by the divine Spirit (Ruah) at the beginning of creation, the place where he pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1: 14).   [8] World leaders attending the United Nations Summit on Climate next September 2019 must produce solid national plans for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, especially those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most (LS 169)."  Read More.

"The Great Work, now as we move into a new millennium, is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner.

The deepest cause of the present devastation is found in a mode of consciousness that has established a radical discontinuity between the human and other modes of being and the bestowal of all rights on the humans.

All human activities, professions, programs, and institutions must henceforth be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually enhancing human/Earth relationship."

-Thomas Berry  (1914-2009)


Copyright © 2019 Edmund Rice International, All rights reserved.


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