Mark Davis, a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, is a self-described Marxist environmentalist. His work has stirred both controversy and acclaim. 
His 2006 book, Planet of Slums, examines the current state of global cities, using a recent U.N. habitat report, The Challenge of Slums, as its starting point. 
“By the report’s conservative accounting,” Davis explains, “a billion people currently live in slums and more than a billion people are informal workers, struggling for survival…the entire future growth of humanity will occur in cities, overwhelmingly poor cities, and the majority of it in slums.”
According to Davis, progressive urban planners advocate “hazard zoning” to exclude development and population from dangerous floodplains, swamps, unstable hillsides, fire-prone brush lands, and liquefaction zones.
“Capitalist urbanization in the Third World works exactly by the opposite principle: concentrating huge densities of poor, vulnerable people in the most unstable and hazardous sites.”
Nevertheless, he sees cities as the solution to the global environmental crisis: “Urban density can translate into great efficiencies in land, energy and resource use, whlie democratic public spaces and cultural institutions likewise provide qualitatively higher standards of enjoyment than individualized consumption and commodified leisure.”
David has often criticized well-to-do environmentalists for ignoring the problems of working people. To that end, he argues that activists should link every environmental demand to a specific proposal that improves quality of life in working class areas, whether this be higher employment or more park space.
Last weekend, a top female rep for Nestle pitched a fit at the Nantucket Film Festival, which Nestle co-sponsored, during a screening of Flow - a documentary clobbering Nestle Waters as harming the environment.
The film, distributed by Brooklyn-born Adam Yauch (best known as Beastie Boys rapper MCA) and his Oscilloscope Pictures, probes the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh-water supply. It blames the crisis on Nestle along with Pepsi and Coca-Cola. “It takes a good look at Nestle pumping communities around the United States and how they pull water out in order to bottle it and sell it. It depletes the water for farms and irrigation,” said one insider.
Yauch said the problem is that Nestle is “promoting bottled water in general. It’s the bottles themselves, the amount of pollution they create and then disposing them are problems.” 
“They put pretty pictures of springs and forests on bottles, but in this movie they’re getting called out. I think it’s great. They lock down water as a commodity they can buy and sell. It’s terrifying.”
The movie, directed by Irena Salina, will be shown in New York this September.
The Dominican Sisters established An Tairseach, the Dominican Farm and Ecology Centre, in 1998 on their 70-acres of land in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is an organic/biodynamic farm and Centre for Ecology and Spirituality. 
In addition to running the farm and shop, the sisters encourage field studies on the property, and also sponsor courses and retreats. Many of these events are inspired by Celtic Christianity.
A ten-week sabbatical programme is being offered September 7-November 14, 2008 and March 22-May 29, 2009. “Exploring Spirituality in the Context of - An Expanding Universe - An Endangered Earth - The Christian Tradition.” Contact Sr. Marian O’Sullivan for more information.
An Tairseach is the Irish word for threshold. It suggests a new beginning, an alternative and more sustainable way of working with the land as well as a renewed relationship with the whole community of life, human and non-human.
(Sigh…I’m so sorry I didn’t know about An Tairsearch when I was in Ireland in April. Next trip.)
Oil prices have gone up dramatically, impacting the cost of everything: filling up the gas tank, the cost of food, heating your home, airline travel.
It has impacted food in another way–farmers, especially agribusiness, are opting to plant crops for fuel rather than food production. Those choices are felt hard now in countries like Haiti. Some protests ended in food riots.
Why have oil prices gone up so much in the last year? Part of it is speculation. Oil and energy traders have driven up the price, betting that oil prices will continue to rise. Because regulatory measures are ineffective, government can’t intervene to stop the cycle. 
There is also supply and demand. China, India and other developing countries have developed a thirst for oil to rival that of the U.S. Demand for cheap Asian goods has fueled explosive growth in factories and a new consumer class. Now that transportation costs have risen, that growth may slow down a hair.
More oil and refined products are needed, but the supply isn’t easily or cheaply available. Iraq produces one million barrels a day less in 2008 than it did in 1990. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Range and off the coasts of California and Florida will supply millions of barrels, but it will be costly given legal challenges by homeowners, municipalities, environmental groups and others. Anyway, coastal and wilderness drilling is not a long-term solution as much as a short-term political fix.
Food, energy, land use, allocation and consumption of resources–are global as well as U.S. social justice issues. The oil price conundrum is far more complex than a simple statement on the evils of abortion.
What about the evils of no food, no heat and not enough money to pay for them; oil slick birds, dirty shoreline, filthy water–weighed against Exxon Mobil setting an annual profit record by earning $40.61 billion last year. Is it time for the bishops to speak up?
Catholicism in the U.S. especially the hierarchy, seems stuck on abortion and same-sex marriage. Should abortion continue to be the #1 issue on the bishops’ political agenda, or should it be natural resources management? Which impacts the “dignity of the human person” more? Which kills more innocent children–abortion; or starvation, malnutrition, and lack of clean water?
As a start, I suggest we support our bishops if they call on all Catholics to do the following:
- Conserve energy by driving less, and walking or taking public transportation more. This includes bishops, their staff, and diocesan managers.
- Pressure legislators to reduce unnecessary tax advantages and credits for oil companies; and initiate oversight into unregulated energy markets. Publicize these efforts in Diocesan papers and parish bulletins.
-Study and develop teaching on the interconnecting issues of food and fuel and how they impact the most vulnerable–children, poor people, the elderly, people on public assistance or disability payments, immigrants–through price increases and increased pollution.
Expand this working group beyond bishops to include laity, including energy traders, oil company executives, small scale farmers, social workers, and environmentalists. Many perspectives “from the ground” are needed to develop a realistic and positive solution.
The Celtic Wheel of the Year is a book of new and original prayers by Tess Ward and published by O Books. It intertwines the two strands of Celtic Christian and Celtic pre-Christian traditions in a single pattern of prayer. 
Tess Ward was a psychiatric nurse and is now an Anglican priest and spiritual director and counselor. She has been a chaplain at an arts center, alternative worship leader, leads retreats and spirituality groups, and has been “road testing” her prayers for eight years. She lives in Oxford, England, where she is now a hospital chaplain.
Celtic Christians valued the natural environment for its own sake. They valued times of quiet in solitary and often wild places, where they could read Scripture, meditate and pray.
Because they lived close to the natural environment, it is not surprising that Celtic Christians discovered the immanence of God. Their poetry often echoes those Psalms which speak of God in nature (Ps. 19, 89, 98) suggesting a similar spiritual process at work.
The following extract of a poem in the Celtic psaltery is attributed to St. Columba in Iona:
“Delightful it is to stand on the peak of a rock, in the bosom of the isle, gazing on the face of the sea.
I hear the heaving waves chanting a tune to God in heaven; I see their glittering surf.
I see the golden beaches, their sands sparkling; I hear the joyous shrieks of the swooping gulls.
I hear the waves breaking, crashing on the rocks, like thunder in heaven. I see the mighty whales…
Contrition fills my heart as I hear the sea; it chants my sins, sins too numerous to confess.
Let me bless almighty God, whose power extends over the sea and land, whose angels watch over all.
Let me study sacred books to calm my soul; I pray for peace, kneeling at heaven’s gates.
Let me do my daily work, gathering seaweed, catching fish, giving food to the poor.”
There is a lot of talk, now, about a food crisis in the world. Croplands are being used to grow fuel for cars vs. food for people. That’s wrong. But if you also don’t want to support building new refineries, or drilling in wildnerness, the ocean or high risk areas, what do you do? With the price of gas going up, people are going to push for alternatives.
I don’t know what we can do about that, except to stop driving as much, and walk, bike or take mass transit. That works if people are willing to do without, are in good enough physical condition to do so, or don’t mind experiencing a lot of inconvenience. Given that, what kind of success rate can we expect? How many people will turn off their air conditioner in July?
I priced out Lori and I taking the train or bus to our weekend house vs. driving. It costs us $40 a weekend for gas for our Toyota Coralla. It would cost us $80 to take the bus or a train.
Going from a starch and meat diet to a vegetables and a little chicken or fish diet has also seen our food bills go up. A lot. Organic is great, but it is also priced a lot higher than vegetables in the bin. Now, we are paying to put into practice environmental ethics, and we feel the pinch, even in our household.
People that are poor, unemployed, struggling or on a fixed income, can hardly afford to pay for the basics and necessities, much less enviromentally ethical products and services.
What is a Catholic environmentalist to do? There are so many conflicting issues I don’t know what to think much less what to prioritize for action.
Bill Griffin, CSX, has researched the global food crisis for the Center of Concern. His paper is designed to provide a clear overview of the current food crisis and the conflicting economic forces at work behind the scenes. I hope it will help me clarify what steps I can take to help on both the food and fuel fronts.
From the various annals of Ireland, including the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of the Four Masters, come reports of the capture of mermaids in the years 558, 571, 887 and 1118. Of these, the most famous tale is that of Liban, daughter of Eochaidh, who was spared when the flooding of Lough Neagh drowned her family around 90 A.D.
The mermaid, Liban, who was caught in 558 A.D. claimed this unusual past. She lived for a year beneath the waves with her little dog. She grew lonely, and prayed to God that she might be turned into a salmon and swim around with the shoals of fish. 
God granted her prayer to give her the tail of a salmon, but from the navel upwards she retained the shape of a woman. Her dog was turned into an otter, and the two swam around together for over 300 years. Over that time, Ireland had become Christian.
One day, St. Comgall, Bishop of Bangor, dispatched one of his clergy, Beoc, to Rome to consult Pope Gregory about some matters of order and rule. As they sailed they were accompanied by a very sweet voice singing from under the water. It was so sweet that Beoc thought it must be an angel’s voice.
At that Liban spoke from under the water and said, “It is I who am singing. I am no angel, but Liban, daughter of Eochaid, and for 300 years I have been swimming the seas, and I implore you to meet me, with the holy men of Bangor, at Iver Ollarba. I pray you tell St. Comgall what I have said, and let them all come with nets and boats to draw me out of the sea.” In another version of the encounter, Beoc is so charmed by her singing that he asked her to be buried in the same coffin with him upon her demise.
So men came with boats and nets and captured her. Three men laid claim to her: Beoc, St. Comgall, and the man who lifted her out of the sea. Following custom, the villagers let God decide where she was to be. Liban was put in a water-filled currach drawn by oxen. The oxen stopped at the church of Beoc.
Liban was given the choice to die immediately and go to heaven, or live as long as she had lived in the sea and then go to heaven. She preferred to die immediately, so Comgall baptised her “Muirgen” (or Murgen) meaning “born of the sea” or “daughter of the sea.”
As a result of several miracles associated with her, she became known as St. Murgen.
Saint Erasmus has long been associated with the natural phenomenon known as “St. Elmo’s Fire,” a bluish glow of light generated by the electrical field of thunderstorms, and frequently observed on the masts and riggings of ships (and in modern times - aircraft.)
The mariners of Naples were the first to see this light as the outward sign of the intercessory protection of Saint Erasmus, and hence the name, “Saint Elmo’s Fire,” Elmo being a shortened, derivative version of the name Erasmus.
Saint Erasmus was a bishop of Formiae, Italy, who met a particularly grusome end during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. He was martryred by being disembowelled about 303.
The manner of his death led to him being named the patron saint of sailors. According to The Golden Legend, his stomach was slit open and his intestines wound around a windlass. This legend may have developed from an icon that showed him with a windlass, signifying his patronage of sailors.
It’s ironic how death and its artistic rendering combined to make a saint.
“Therefore, neither he that planteth is any thing, nor he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
The writer had evangelizing on his mind with this line, but I thought about my garden. I lovingly covered up the roots with soil; I water the plants thoroughly, even refreshing the leaves; I admire them from close and afar, I glory in their color and wildness.
But it is God who infuses them with life. 
