Catholics in Waterloo, Iowa have Cool Congregations.
Cool Congregations is an education and stewardship program designed to help faith communities and people of faith recognize and respond to their responsibility for the care of God’s creation.
In Iowa, Cool Congregations is sponsored by Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, an affiliate of the Interfaith Power and Light network created by The Regeneration Project. Iowa Interfaith Power and Light is a joint initiative of Christian, Jewish and other faith communities in Iowa, including the Catholic diocese of Des Moines and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.
The Iowa project is one of 25 state projects organized by The Regeneration Project to educate faith communities about global warming, promote renewal energy, energy efficiency and conservation.
Cool Congregations helps individuals, families and congregations become better steward’s of God’s creation. Cool Congregations participants learn how to reduce their contribution to global warming by implementing a wide range of practical (and in many cases inexpensive) action which reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduce consumption of fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency, and reduce overall energy use.
The net result is that we reduce our contribution to global warming, and the devastating social, economic and environmental impact which it has, especially on the poor and marginalized who can least afford it.
Kudos to the folks in Waterloo.
Michael Heller, 72, a Polish cosmologist and Catholic priest, has won the 2008 Templeton Prize. Reverend Professor Heller serves on the Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow. 
In his acceptance statement he said, “Things thought through by God should be identified with mathematical structures interpreted as structures of the world.” In a word, Professor Heller sees mathematics as the language of God.
Much of Professor Heller’s career has been dedicated to reconciling the known scientific world with the unknowable dimensions of God.
In doing so, he has argued against a “God of the gaps” strategy for relating science and religion, a view that uses God to explain what science cannot.
Heller said he believed, for example, that the religious objection to teaching evolution “is one of the greatest misunderstandings” because it “introduces a contradiction of opposition between God and chance.”
In a telephone interview, Professor Heller explained his affinity for the two fields: “I always wanted to do the most important things, and what can be more important than science and religion? Science gives us knowledge, and religion gives us meaning. Both are prerequisites of the decent existence.”
Heller’s current work focuses on noncommutative geometry and groupoid theory in mathematics which attempts to remove the problem of an initial cosmological singularity at the origin of the universe. “If on the fundamental level of physics there is no space and no time, as many physicists think,” says Heller, “noncommutative geometry could be a suitable tool to deal with such a situation.”
His philosophical hero is 17th century German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. In the margin of his work Dialogus there is a short handwritten remarks in Latin that says, “When God calculates and thinks things through, the world is made.” “My philosophy is encapsulated in that,” said Heller.
Carbon taxes in the world’s richest countries should be used to offset the effects of global warming in the world’s poorest countries, said an Irish bishop.
“Climate change is undermining the fight against poverty,” said Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert, chairman of the Irish bishops’ overseas aid agency, Trocaire. “Developing countries haven’t caused global warming, but the world’s poorest people are left to cope with the consequences for three reasons: They live in areas that are seeing the biggest impact of global warming, the depend heavily on the weather for their livelihoods, and they are already living in poverty, therefore they are less able to cope with the impacts of climate changes.
Kirby said he wants a significant share of carbon-tax revenues to go to the newly developed U.N. Adaptation Fund, created to help poorer countries adapt to climate-change threats.
Africa, by far the lowest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, is projected to be among the regions hardest hit by climate change.
As a global problem, all countries have a common and shared responsibility to tackle climate change. Rich industrialized countries, however, bear particular responsibility for action,” he said. “Any action we take must take the rights of developing countries into consideration. Poorer countries with low carbon emissions must be allowed to continue their economic development and mustn’t be punished for the sins of the developed world.”
The British group Catholic Concern for Animals has enlisted British TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and another celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, to persuade the bishops of England and Wales to promote their dioceses as “free-range” users.
The animals rights group – whose members include Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham – wants all parish, rectory, school, convent and retreat centre dining halls to use only free-range poultry and eggs.
A talented writer, broadcaster and campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is widely known for his commitment to seasonal, ethically produced food. His books, journalism and television series have earned him a huge popular following. He is also a strong supporter of the rights of local farmers and principals of fair trade.
Determined to start growing and rearing some of his own food, in 1998 Hugh started living in the original River Cottage farm in rural Dorset. His steep learning curve was documented in the Escape to River Cottage series (1999) which won him a big audience.
Originally a collection of mucky cow sheds, the property was transformed into a rustic, welcoming venue with a professional kitchen, thriving vegetable garden and small collection of livestock. It became the location for a range of River Cottage events and courses designed to promote the “grown your own” philosophy and provide an environment where people could dicuss, eat and learn about really good, well-produced food.
