Christianity and environmental justice (1).

Christianity and environmental justice (1). Background Each person's personal experience brings us here togethertoday. Let me say a little bit about mine. I grew up in Colorado, myfather a uranium geologist. During the uranium boom, it is fair to saythat people did not understand the effects of radiation; we played inmine tailings Tailings (also known as tailings pile, tails, leach residue, or slickens[1]) are the materials left over[2] after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the worthless fraction of an ore. brought from the mine to our sandbox. During my teenyears, I worked with migrant workers, made trips to the Navajoreservation in Arizona and felt deeply the beauty of the land in theWest. In my experience, God was in those mountains! At the same time, adifferent kind of love of urban areas brought me to Barnard in 1968;meeting Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary may refer to: Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, an ecumenical seminary affiliated with Columbia University in Manhattan Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education, in Richmond, Virginia (UTS (Universal Timesharing System) Amdahl's version of Unix System V. Release 4.0 is POSIX compliant. ) chaplains at Columbia--bright,concerned with social justice, ultimately brought me to UTS. Followingordination, I developed an ecumenical ministry to the elderly in NewYork City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , focused on work in welfare hotels on the upper Westside. Butmy anguish about environmental crises compelled me to pursue an M.A. inEnvironmental studies at New York University New York University,mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the . The great experience ofworking at CODEL CODEL Congressional DelegationCODEL Coalition for Democracy in LiberiaCODEL Combustion Developments Ltd (Coordination in Development), a Christian ecumenicalagency supporting small-scale environmentally sustainable development Sustainable development is a socio-ecological process characterized by the fulfilment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment indefinitely. The linkage between environment and development was globally recognized in 1980, when the International Union projects around the world, brings me to a quote from Dr. Cornel West "Cornell West" redirects here. For the area of the Ithaca campus, see Cornell West Campus.Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American scholar and public intellectual. inthe wonderful public course held at Union this spring,"Christianity and the U.S. Crisis": "Issues must be felt!Think critically; certain conflicts need to be felt to discern causesbut also felt to think that it is worthwhile to struggle to changethem." I began to feel the issues at CODEL, which over forty yearssupported one thousand small-scale projects--organic farming,women's literacy, micro-enterprise, and organic forestry throughfunds from Lutheran World Relief Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is an international nonprofit organization and a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. It is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. (LWR LWR LowerLWR Lutheran World ReliefLWR Light Water ReactorLWR Locally Weighted RegressionLWR Laser Warning ReceiverLWR Launch When ReadyLWR Long-Wave RadiationLWR Lakeland & Waterways RailwayLWR Long Wavelength Redundant CameraLWR Local Wage Rate ), United Church Board for WorldMinistries, Maryknoll Sisters, and Heifer Project Intl. among otherChristian groups. At one village in India, we saw groups of men standingaround an excellent check dam, in which water collected so that threecrops instead of one could be grown in a year. This looked like anenvironmental success, but apparently it was not a social justice onefor the women, who were still unfortunately standing off in a circle,not directly involved at least at that public moment. I saw a farm inUganda, in an area devastated by AIDS, with orphaned children sittingalong the dusty street corners; yet this family farm, given one cow fromLWR and Heifer Project, was flourishing; there was a biogas bi��o��gas?n.A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by bacterial degradation of organic matter and used as a fuel.biogasNoungaseous fuel produced by the fermentation of organic waste unit run bythe farms' waste; a huge kitchen garden with melons the size ofpumpkins; and the female head of the family farm even sold melon wine. Aperfect image of the peaceable kingdom The Peaceable Kingdom may refer toTheology: The Peacebale Kingdom is an eschatological state inferred from the texts of Isaiah, Micah, and the Sermon on the Mount. , a family living well on theland, a model farm. The secrets of these successes were not hard to see and partlydescribe: they were small-scale, grassroots enterprises, with the healthof the communities and of the soil being paramount. Whatever profitswere made were returned to the community, to communities intact enoughto write proposals for and receive community development funds. Out of this experience I coauthored with Don Kill, a Columbianpriest from the Philippines, a book, Ecological Healing: A ChristianVision, which incorporates a description of what can be right or wrongfrom the standpoint of justice, community life, and the environment. Aspart of our work toward rightness, we imagined two prayers for thegraduation of Inday (an imagined student in the Philippines) fromagricultural school, one a Prayer of the Earth Community and the seconda Prayer of the Modern World. Prayer of the earth community We thank you God, our nurturing Mother on Earth, for the many opportunities we have to enhance the Earth community today. We are grateful for Inday's ability to listen to and to learn from all things that interact to nurture the fertility of the soil and community. We pray that she may continue to live in harmony with the natural world. Bless her family, whose concern for the soil has taught her the wisdom of living lightly on the Earth. Guide her to use that wisdom to promote the health, fertility, and diversity of all beings here and throughout the Philippine archipelago. Lastly, we thank you for the food and the solidarity we share with all creatures. We pray for all who are denied a nurturing habitat. Guide us to appreciate in a mutually supportive way the life-enhancing role of every being so that all things can join the liturgy of all creation in praising You. Amen. Prayer of the modern world We thank you God, our almighty Father in heaven, for the many things that satisfy our needs in the modern world today. We are grateful for the culmination of Inday's professional course of studies enabling her to make the soil more productive and profitable. We pray that she may find gainful employment. Bless her family who, through hard work and self-denial, saved the money for her professional training. Guide her to use her technical expertise to help industry and commerce flourish and to increase salaried employment for the human beings of our place and of our nation. Lastly, we thank you for this food and the solidarity we share with the people around us. We pray for people who do not have enough to eat. Guide us to steward carefully and to distribute fairly all things among human beings so that all people can enjoy the riches of the Earth and give You praise. Amen. (2) As we can see in contrasting these two prayers, to considerenvironmental justice brings up basic questions that we must lay on thetable: What is poverty? What is development? Progress? The Good life?How does the profit motive affect how people treat each other and theEarth? What is Justice/community? A beneficial human relation to nature?How does an understanding of justice and ethics criticize the power ofcorporations and the global market? What is abundant life? Some of thesequestions I will begin to consider in the next few moments. Overview of concept Many people know that the root of the word economics is the sameroot for ecumenical (oikos, meaning house) and for ecology, too. Wemight say that environmental justice brings us to the largest questionimaginable: How is all 6.6 billion of the world's human populationto live together in one house, the earth? How are they to arrange theiraffairs (economics) and their life attitude (spirituality, religion,ecumenism ecumenismMovement toward unity or cooperation among the Christian churches. The first major step in the direction of ecumenism was the International Missionary Conference of 1910, a gathering of Protestants. ) wisely and well and care for their homeland (their house, theEarth)? What does this mean for their political arrangements, governinghow they live together in community, whether in the city or in ruralareas, in their homeland? Environmental justice promotes a special and crucial site fromwhich to explore these questions, ones often overlooked by those whomeasure economic "progress" according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. a single "bottomline." While injustice does not always have an environmentaldimension, often it does. And environmental abuse, more often than not,directly and negatively affects human communities, and disproportionablyaffects people of color Noun 1. people of color - a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks)people of colour, colour, colorrace - people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock; "some biologists doubt that there are important or lower class in all countries, especiallypoorer countries, populated by people of color. Environmental injusticelodges the toxic effluent of industry in communities of peoplemarginalized by race, class, or gender and offers the benefits toothers. To create and use natural resources and luxury commodities(cotton, sugar, gold, coffee, ivory, diamonds, and oil)--resourceextractors have inflicted untold suffering and exploitation of humans,animals, and the larger natural world. It is not difficult to understandthat violence against the creaturely world and against ecosystems thatare the global commons Global commons is that which no one person or state may own or control and which is central to life. A Global Common contains an infinite potential with regard to the understanding and advancement of the biology and society of all life. e.g. , yet that are owned by a nation-state orcorporation for the single purpose of power or profit, results from thegoal of maximizing immediate returns, often beneficial for groups whohave already benefited and thus producing goods for an elite.Conversely, healthy ecosystems over the long term foster human healthand strengthen community. We will consider environmental justice in North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , first,then in India, Africa, and Latin America Latin America,the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. . We will find that perspectivesthat are widely shared teach foundational principles, while uniquevoices give culturally and ecologically nuanced insights. Voices from North America The environmental justice movement in the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. spansthirty years or more. Its foundation is the age-old fight forempowerment against human rights abuses, which, it is worth mentioning,for the Native Americans in the Americas is perhaps five hundred yearsold. Rachel Carson Noun 1. Rachel Carson - United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964)Carson, Rachel Louise Carson , author of Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us, and TheEdge of the Sea, can in some ways be considered an early harbinger ofthe environmental justice movement. Carson protested the profligate prof��li��gate?adj.1. Given over to dissipation; dissolute.2. Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant.n.A profligate person; a wastrel. useof synthetic pesticides after World War II, chronicling theirdevastation of the natural world, as well as their threat to humans. Inresponse, she was attacked by the threatened chemical industry and somein government, sometimes dismissed as a "hysterical woman."Carson's scientific knowledge, however, included awareness of thevulnerability of humans to toxics, a key for consciousness raising Consciousness raising (often abbreviated c.r.) is a form of political activism, pioneered by United States radical feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group of people on some cause or andempowerment of the environmental justice grassroots movement in theUnited States. In many localized situations, grassroots struggles lead tosuccesses in stopping or remediating socially and environmentallyharmful projects. In addition, such struggles "restructure socialrelations through systems of localized environmental decisionmaking." (3) As marginal communities have been transformed from"passive victims to significant actors" (as Luke Cole andSheila Foster put it), they have potential to change and restructurewider political and cultural discourses and arrangements. (4) The NativeAmerican struggle for a voice ("We speak for ourselves")becomes the courageous impetus that insists on wider change. The strands of the tapestry of the U.S. environmental justicemovement include the grape boycott and unionizing successes of theUnited Farmworkers' Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, aswell as Lois Gibbs's successful battle against toxic terror in LoveCanal Love Canal,section of Niagara Falls, N.Y., that formerly contained a canal that was used as chemical disposal site. In the 1940s and 50s the empty canal was used by a chemical and plastics company to dump nearly 20,000 tons (c. . When, in 1978, Gibbs discovered that her son's school andher whole neighborhood was built on a toxic waste toxic wasteis waste material, often in chemical form, that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It usually is the product of industry or commerce, but comes also from residential use, agriculture, the military, medical facilities, radioactive sources, and site, she formed theLove Canal Homeowners' Association, leading to the resettlement Re`set´tle`mentn. 1. Act of settling again, or state of being settled again; as, the resettlementof lees s>.The resettlementof my discomposed soul.- Norris. of833 families and the eventual cleanup of the site. Her subsequentorganization, the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, hashelped 10,000 groups to mobilize to protect themselves against chemicalrisks. In the 1980s, the ecojustice movement accelerated. In 1982,protests erupted in Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. They are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: Warren County, Georgia Warren County, Illinois Warren County, Indiana , N.C., against a PCB (PolychlorinatedBiphenyl polychlorinated biphenylor PCB,any of a group of organic compounds originally widely used in industrial processes but later found to be dangerous environmental pollutants. ) dump, led by local church officials and by the Rev. Dr.Benjamin Chavis, a longtime civil rights activist and, at that time, thehead of the United Church of Christ's Commission for RacialJustice. Dr. Chavis is now considered by many to be the father of theenvironmental justice movement. The resulting Commission's landmark1987 study, conducted by Charles Lee Charles Lee may refer to: Charles Lee (general) (1732–1782), American Revolutionary War Charles Lee (basketball) Charles Lee (Attorney General) (1758–1815) Charles Lee (solicitor) Charles Lee (author) (1870-1956) was born in London. and Vernice Miller and published asToxic Wastes and Race in the United States Racial demographicsMain article: Racial demographics of the United StatesThe United States is a diverse country racially. It has a majority of persons of White/European ancestry spread throughout the country. , galvanized the movement. It"found that three out of five African Americans and Latinosnationwide live in communities that have illegal or abandoned toxicdumps" (5) and that race "is the most potent variable inpredicting where commercial hazardous waste Hazardous wasteAny solid, liquid, or gaseous waste materials that, if improperly managed or disposed of, may pose substantial hazards to human health and the environment. Every industrial country in the world has had problems with managing hazardous wastes. facilities were located inthe U.S., more powerful than household income, the value of homes andthe estimated amount of hazardous waste generated by industry." (6)(The follow-up report twenty years TWENTY YEARS. The lapse of twenty years raises a presumption of certain facts, and after such a time, the party against whom the presumption has been raised, will be required to prove a negative to establish his rights. 2. later corroborated those findings:host neighborhoods of toxic waste sites are 56 percent people of color,whereas non-host sites are areas of 30 percent people of color.) Thus,despite hypotheses to the contrary, race was consistently more thepredictor for toxic waste sites than class. Ecojustice struggles successfully moved McDonald's away fromStyrofoam in 1986 and Microsoft away from PVC PVC:see polyvinyl chloride. PVCin full polyvinyl chlorideSynthetic resin, an organic polymer made by treating vinyl chloride monomers with a peroxide. plastic in 2006. Somestruggles focused on freeways, routed through African American African AmericanMulticulture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.See Race. or Latinoneighborhoods, such as the Cross Bronx expressway. Along the wayenvironmental justice movements criticized mainstream environmentalorganizations, which they perceived as caring only for wilderness (wherepeople were not), as having in their power positions few people ofcolor, and in disagreeing with them on the very definition ofenvironment. Ecojustice groups define environment as "the place youwork, the place you live, the place you play." But, putting humansat the center of environmental discourse is a grave error, mainstreamenvironmentalists have argued, ". . . because humans are theperpetrators of environmental problems in the first place. [But]environmental justice activists maintain that some humans, especiallythe poor, are also the victims of environmental destruction andpollution and that, furthermore, some human cultures live in ways thatare relatively sound ecologically. They therefore contend that themainstream environmentalists' invention of a universal divisionbetween humans and nature is deceptive, theoretically incoherent, andstrategically ineffective in its political aim to promote widespreadenvironmental awareness." (7) In 1991, the National People of Color Environmental LeadershipSummit, held in Washington, D.C., attracted over three hundred delegatesfrom fifty states. To me, their statement of 17 principles took steps toheal these rifts and importantly advanced the movement. (It was followedby the Second National Summit in 2002, attracting 14,000 individuals, ofwhom 75 percent came from community-based organizations.) (8) Preamble WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth"; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice: 1. Environmental Justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction. 2. Environmental Justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples," free from any form of discrimination or bias. 3. Environmental Justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things. 4. Environmental Justice calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction, production and disposal of toxic/ hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food. 5. Environmental Justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural, and environmental self- determination of all people. 6. Environmental Justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production. 7. Environmental Justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation. 8. Environmental Justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work environment without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards. 9. Environmental Justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care. 10. Environmental Justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide. 11. Environmental Justice must recognize a special legal and natural relationship of Native Peoples to the U.S. government through treaties, agreements, compacts, and covenants affirming sovereignty and self-determination. 12. Environmental Justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of all our communities, and providing fair access for all to the full range of resources. 13. Environmental Justice calls for the strict enforcement of principles of informed consent, and a halt to the testing of experimental reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations on people of color. 14. Environmental Justice opposes the destructive operations of multinational corporations. 15. Environmental Justice opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of lands, peoples and cultures, and other life forms. 16. Environmental Justice calls for the education of present and future generations which emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives. 17. Environmental Justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles to ensure the health of the natural world for present and future generations. These principles, for me, summarize poetically, yet concretely,good practices toward environmental, social, emotional, and spiritualhealing spiritual healing,n healing systems based on the principle of spirituality and its effect on well-being and recovery. . They reflect for me a vision of the Kingdom of God, thePeaceable Kingdom of Isaiah 11:9: "They will not hurt or destroy onall my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of theLord as the waters cover the sea." For Vernice Miller, who followed her work with Charles Lee ontoxics and race, to provide impetus to the struggle in West Harlem tomitigate the odor from a new sewage treatment plant located on theHudson River, the goal, too, is social transformation. She writes ofcoalitions at the local, community, and national levels, which "... at their best, challenge economic practices that threaten vulnerablegroups and ecosystems, while they support policies that serve the commongood. This, of course," she continues, "is quite consistentwith the expectation of social transformation expressed in the biblicalvision of the Kingdom of God coming on earth." (9) Similarly, the Native American critique of Western culture'svalue of individualism to the expense of community undergirds aspiritual dimension to ecojustice in the United States and throughoutthe world. Heartbreakingly tragic is the story of indigenous people whohave experienced themselves "part of the created whole" yetwhose lands have been used for all U.S. nuclear testing (10) as well asoil and gas exploration and extraction around the world. Native Americanself-determination (which means "self-sufficient, cultural,spiritual, political and economic sustainability" (11)), whenachieved, will strengthen our U.S. culture toward democracy andenvironmental care. Voices from India We move outside the United States in our consideration ofenvironmental justice to hear other voices of great passion andeloquence and to witness powerful grassroots movements. The Chipko movement in India began in the 1970s with a spontaneousaction of non-violent resistance of hugging trees to stop them fromcontractors' axes. The village activists, including thousands ofwomen, successfully pressured the Indian government for an ecologicallysensitive natural resource policy, with the protests encapsulated in theslogan: "What do the forests bear? Soil, water, and pure air."(12) A powerful voice from India is that of Vandana Shiva. Shiva, herfather a forester and her mother a lover of nature, received a Ph.D. inPhilosophy from University of Western Ontario Western is one of Canada's leading universities, ranked #1 in the Globe and Mail University Report Card 2005 for overall quality of education.[2] It ranked #3 among medical-doctoral level universities according to Maclean's Magazine 2005 University Rankings. with a thesis:"Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory."Renowned for organizing movements for sustainability, women'srights The effort to secure equal rights for women and to remove gender discrimination from laws, institutions, and behavioral patterns.The women's rights movement began in the nineteenth century with the demand by some women reformers for the right to vote, known as suffrage, and , biodiversity, property rights, and agriculture, she has wonmajor awards for her activism, (including in 1993 the Right LivelihoodAward The Right Livelihood Award, established in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, is presented annually in the Swedish Parliament building in Stockholm, usually on December 9, to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". , also known as the alternative Nobel Prize Nobel Prize,award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. ). Her emphases andpassion are captured in one of her books, Soil Not Oil; in it sheasserts: "the shopping mall and the supermarket are temples ofconsumerism through which global corporations seduce us intoparticipating in the destruction of our productive capacities, ourecological rights, and our responsibilities as earth citizens. Soilteaches us how to be earth citizens. ... As globalization globalizationProcess by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation violentlypushes peasants off the land, the soil symbolizes another culture, aculture of non-violence, ... permanence, ... dignity in work, a livingculture for the protection and renewal of life. ... Earth Democracygrows in the fertile soil shaped by the earth, the human imagination,and human action." (13) For Shiva, development is notindustrialization industrializationProcess of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and or profit-driven but "refers to self-directed,self-regulated, and self-organized evolution from within?" (14) Thesolution "to climate change ... and poverty are the same," shewrites, "protecting, enhancing, and rewarding livelihoods, work,production, and consumption patterns centered on people, not on fossilfuels. Food, economic justice, and energy equity demand more smallfarms, not fewer ... more localization Customizing software and documentation for a particular country. It includes the translation of menus and messages into the native spoken language as well as changes in the user interface to accommodate different alphabets and culture. See internationalization and l10n. and less globalization. ... Andsmall ecological farms and local food markets are solutions for theNorth and South." (15) For Shiva and many ecojustice leaders, globalization is oftennothing less than eco-imperialism, which is profit- and fossil-fueldriven, energy intensive, polluting, unjust, and wasteful, destroyingthe freedom and sovereignty of the other--whether other communities,countries, or species, especially the most vulnerable. They demand thatwe rethink poverty and wealth, because trading the non-tradable--wateror biodiversity--for profit creates poverty, not wealth, and spurs onlimitless consumerism and rapacious environmental abuse. She and othersargue that we need a paradigm shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See paradigm. toward a holistic worldview world��view?n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung.1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. , movingfrom a mechanistic, industrial paradigm to an ecological one, and adifferent definition of being human: from consumer to conserver. And,women are key; they have participated asymmetrically in much economicand social "development." (16) The recent article "WhyWomen's Rights Are the Cause of Our Time" in The New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Magazine, by Nicholas D. Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27 1959 in Yamhill, Oregon) is an American political scientist, author, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist specializing in East Asia. and Sheryl WuDunn, reports that afocus on women's health Women's HealthDefinitionWomen's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. , education and micro-enterprises haveproven records for success and are keys to solving poverty andterrorism. (17) But many experts point to the successes of the Green Revolution,which maximized food production in India, China, Mexico, and the MiddleEast, averting massive famine. It intensively used irrigation irrigation,in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. ,fertilizers, and selective high yield seeds on a large scale. But suchlarge-scale efforts cannot be repeated, because water is scarce, soildepleted, because small villages lack access to irrigation, and becausesuch large-scale agriculture does not protect local seed diversity orenhance local communities or ecosystems. We need alternate ways! Voices from Africa To turn to Africa, Wangari Mathai continues these arguments as arenowned leader in environmental justice in Africa and internationally.Native of Kenya, the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn adoctoral degree, she served as Chair of the Department of VeterinaryAnatomy veterinary anatomyn.The study of the structures of domestic animals. at University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi also known as UON is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an institution goes back to 1956, it did not become an independent university until 1970 when the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: and then Chair of the National Councilof Women of Kenya. At the National Council, she introduced tree plantingby women's groups to improve the health of the environment andwomen's lives. Her leadership blossomed into the Green BeltMovement The Green Belt Movement is a grassroots non-governmental organization based in Kenya that takes an holistic approach to development by focusing on environmental conservation, community development and capacity building. ; women planted 20 million trees on farms, schools, and churchcompounds. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish and Norwegian: Nobels fredspris) is the name of one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. in 2004. The successes of the Green Belt movement and the life-giving imageof millions of green trees planted and protected by women provide acontrast to environmental injustices associated with extractive extractive/ex��trac��tive/ (-tiv) any substance present in an organized tissue, or in a mixture in a small quantity, and requiring extraction by a special method. ex��trac��tiveadj.1. economies, especially a volatile commodity such as oil, sometimes calledblack gold. Conflict and injustice permeate the Niger Delta as anexample. Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the UnitedStates. "Nigeria has about 36 billion barrels of crude oil reserve and19.2 billion cubic metres of natural gas. It is estimated that thecountry has realized about $600 billion since 1956 from oil and gas. ...Sadly, despite the huge revenue from oil, Nigeria is ranked as one ofthe poorest countries in the World. The 2005 UNDP UNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUNDP Uni��n Nacional para la Democracia y el Progreso (National Union for Democracy and Progress)Human DevelopmentReport ranked Nigeria 158 out of 177 poorest countries of the world. ...[and] 70 per cent of Nigerians are classified as living in absolutepoverty of less than $1 per day." (18) Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian author, and winner of the GoldmanEnvironmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize given annually to grassroots environmental activists from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. , was a member of the Ogoni people, whose homeland inthe Niger Delta has been targeted for oil extraction since the 1950s.Saro-Wiwa organized the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni people The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) is a campaigning organization representing the Ogoni people in their struggle for ethnic and environmental rights. .This movement developed a non-violent campaign there againstenvironmental and social exploitation by the multinational oilcompanies, especially Shell, and sought to obtain a share of the wealthfor the people of the Delta. Saro-Wiwa also openly criticized theNigerian government. In 1995, the military government arrested, hastilytried and hanged him. This execution provoked international outrage andresulted in Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations. Happily, some headway is being made in these David and Goliath David and Goliath are figures of a well-known tale in the Bible (1 Samuel 17, in most English language versions), wherein David, an Israelite shepherd-boy and future King of Israel. struggles; we can take heart that the lawsuit brought against Texaco inEcuador in 1993 is continuing against Chevron (Texaco's owner),which could face the largest damage award ever handed down in anenvironmental case. Voices from Central and South America Everywhere, poverty of the environment exacerbates true poverty ofthe poor. Unjust land distribution, stemming from land appropriations bycolonial powers and land owned by foreign-owned and foreign-operatedcorporations, as well as lack of enforcement of environmental laws whenthey exist, creates profound human suffering. This is especially true inLatin America. From Latin America come stories of tragedy and hope. Latin Americaand the Caribbean region " ... have the world's largestreserves of arable land and sixteen percent of the world's degradedlands (1900 million hectares), ranking it third behind Asia and thePacific and Africa." (19) The pace of human-induced forms ofenvironmental degradation and resource depletion has increasedthroughout Latin America owing to a combination of increasing demand foragricultural products, improving means of exploitation (logging, mining,and industry), and the lagging pace of conservation and control.Erosion, a main cause of land degradation, now affects 14.3 percent ofthe territory in Latin America and 26 percent in Central America. Alan B. Durning in a Worldwatch Institute Paper (92): Poverty andthe Environment, Reversing the Downward Spiral (1989) writes of hisexperiences: In the Guatemalan village where I lived in the late 1970s, I used to marvel at the elegance with which poor farmers could optimize every available scrap of resources--every ridge of land, every surplus hour of time, every channel of water, every angle of sunlight. Though the Indians where I lived are surely poor, they do own their own plots of land. They depend upon and care for what is theirs. When I go back to the village, I always find that my friends' fields look just as I remembered them. Ten years ago, I also worked in Guatemala's northern Quiche province, which, for many reasons, is much poorer than the town where I lived. There, I recall watching in horrified fascination as an Indian farmer and his son planted their plot of corn on a forested slope. The land was so steep that the son had to be held in place with a rope looped around his waist. As he hopped from furrow to furrow, his father let out the slack from around a tree stump. When I returned to that spot recently, I was not surprised to find that the farmer and his son were no longer there. And neither was the hillside. What remained was a reddish, eroded nub-which looked just like the next and the next and the next former hillside.20 However, one of many success stories Alan Durning tells is thisone: In the rugged Yungas region north of La Paz, Bolivia, hundreds of impoverished peasants take high school-level courses in market towns when they come to sell their produce. The curriculum, designed by a dedicated independent group call CETHA to be relevant to local conditions, also offers intensive week-long vocational courses during the agricultural slack season. Most important, the effort has managed to enroll nearly as many women as men. Studies on every continent show that as female literacy rates rise so do income levels, nutrition levels, and child survival rates; at the same time, population growth slows, as women gain the self-confidence to assert control over their bodies. (21) Latin American liberation theology, itself a great sign of hope,contributed greatly to these issues in a Christian context. In ATheology of Liberation, published in 1973, Gustavo Gutierrez set thestage: "Salvation--the communion of human beings with God and amongthemselves ... embraces all human reality, transforms it, and leads itto fullness in Christ," the Liberator. "To reflect upon thepresence and action of the Christian in the world means, ... to gobeyond the visible boundaries of the Church. This is of primeimportance. It implies openness to the world, gathering the questions itposes, being attentive to its historical transformations." (22) According to Gutierrez, Latin America was born in the context of"the dynamics of the capitalist economy [which] led to theestablishment of a center and a periphery, simultaneously generatingprogress and growing wealth for the few and social imbalances, politicaltensions, and poverty for the many". ... creating ". ... theuntenable circumstances of poverty, alienation, and exploitation inwhich the greater part of the people of Latin America live ... "(23) Gutierrez argues, however, that there is a universality ofsalvation, because "persons are saved if they open themselves toGod and to others, even if they are not clearly aware that they aredoing so. ... We can no longer speak properly of a profane world. ...Salvation. . . is something which embraces all human reality, transformsit, and leads it to its fullness in Christ. ... The absolute value ofsalvation--far from devaluing this world--gives it its authentic meaningand its own autonomy, because salvation is already latently there. Toexpress the idea in terms of Biblical theology: the propheticperspective (in which the Kingdom takes on the present life,transforming it) is vindicated before the sapiential Sa`pi`en´tiala. 1. Having or affording wisdom.The sapientialbooks of the Old [Testament].- Jer. Taylor.Adj. 1. outlook (whichstresses the life beyond)." (24) Gutierrez's theology is particularly effective, I believe, forenvironmental justice issues because he views salvation as the Kingdomof God, which embraces all life, the fullness of oikos (house, home,economics, ecology, and ecumenism). His is a grounded and embodiedvision, heartbreaking, passionate, and hope filled all at once. Hispoetic writing and appeal is as beautiful as a love letter, grounded, ashe movingly reminds us, in John XXIII's reflection that the churchis called to be the church of the poor. This brief overview of environmental justice struggles around theworld reveals many glimmers of light. But let us step back for a moment:how will all 6.6 billion people live on this planet, sustainably,protecting it for the next generation? One billion people at the bottomlack basic life necessities. The First World (6 percent of theworld' population) consumes 25 percent of its resources and islargely responsible for climate change. It would take four Earths tolive as the First World lives, yet our biggest export product isadvertising. Jared Diamond in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive,and E. O. Wilson in The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earthcatalog environmental and social pressures. At an accelerating rate,humans are destroying natural habitats (forests, for example, whichprovide timber and raw materials and ecosystems services, are half whatthey were originally, and another quarter will be converted in anotherhalf century). Diamond tells us that the rate of permanent loss of wildspecies, populations, and genetic diversity is at a rate 100 timesfaster than before humans appeared on Earth and may become 1,000 timesfaster soon. Human population grows exponentially, but the consumptionand waste footprint of a person in the United States, Western Europe,and Japan is 32 times that of a person in the Third World. Soils offarmlands are being carried away by water and wind erosion at ratesbetween 10 and 40 times the rates of soil formation. Climate change hasalready begun and will continue to affect the most vulnerablepopulations along sea coasts and in sub-Saharan Africa, causing violenceand thousands of ecorefugees. Around the world, humans absorb thousandsof toxic chemicals through food and water, and breathing, and we endurebirth defects, mental retardation mental retardation,below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living. or permanently damaged immune andreproductive systems, as a result. (25) Economics To turn from Diamond and Wilson to an underlying issue to which wehave briefly alluded, economics must be addressed. The present globaleconomic system, founded on the profit motive, in which the UnitedStates is the largest player, may be criticized for its lack ofhumanistic democratic values, founded on Judaism and Christianity (humandignity, equality, and justice), and for its scandalous inattention in��at��ten��tion?n.Lack of attention, notice, or regard.Noun 1. inattention - lack of attentionbasic cognitive process - cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge tothe erosion of nature's capital. The rise of Protestantism, theEnlightenment, and the forces pinpointed by Max Weber in The ProtestantEthic and the Spirit of Capitalism all require theological critique andre-envisioning. Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda (who received her Ph.D. at Unionunder Larry Rasmussen) in Healing a Broken World: Globalization and God(26) outlines four powerful and inextricably in��ex��tri��ca��ble?adj.1. a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit.b. linked global market myths:growth benefits all; freedom is market freedom; " ... human beingsare essentially autonomous rational subjects rather thanbeings-in-community, competitive rather than cooperative, andconsumerist rather than spiritual" (27); and that corporate-andfinance-driven globalization is inevitable. Moe-Lobeda goes on to lift up Martin Luther's theology, withhis belief that "earth's creatures are filled to the utmostwith God," as grounds for creation of an impulse of"subversive moral agency" desperately needed today. Hertheology has deep meaning for me, as I often think of Luther'sargument that God is incarnated everywhere, even in a leaf (28) asfoundational to ecojustice; her embodied justice, based on Luther, isvery much needed today (and parenthetically par��en��thet��i��cal?adj. also par��en��thet��ic1. Set off within or as if within parentheses; qualifying or explanatory: a parenthetical remark.2. Using or containing parentheses. Luther's largelyunder-recognized potential for environmental theology lies behind muchof the Lutheran early entrance into environmental justice theology,beginning with Joseph Skier, at the University of Chicago, and continuesthrough Larry Rasmussen). In the UTS course "Christianity and the U.S. Crisis,"Professors Gary Dorrien, Serene Jones, and Gomel West exposed theeconomic roots of the problems the world faces, as they summarized in aninterview with Bill Moyers: CORNEL WEST: I think it has to do a lot with the profound spiritual crisis, a kind of spiritual malnutrition, an emptiness of soul, a whole culture of indifference that says, in fact, that you can possess your soul, by means of possessing commodities. . . (29) GARY DORRIEN: That's why I'm for economic democracy, because I think that economic democracy is essentially an attempt to sort of hold down, serve as a kind of a break on human greed and will to power. (30) SERENE JONES: But that's also why we need to re-craft the story of want. And this comes back to the whole question of love. What does it mean to begin to nurture communities? And this is why I think it's crucial for democracy to thrive. (31) David Korten (who worked for the World Bank and CODEL, where Iworked) learned from Vandana Shiva and most recently authored Agenda fora New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to New Wealth: Why Wall StreetCan't Be Fixed and How to Replace It. He describes the capitalistsystem as fostering greed and corporate power (parenthetically, the sizeof corporations is larger than some governments; in the early twentiethcentury, we remember it was ruled that corporations have legalpersonalities akin to individuals). The capitalist system has thecorrosive power to universally disenfranchise dis��en��fran��chise?tr.v. dis��en��fran��chised, dis��en��fran��chis��ing, dis��en��fran��chis��esTo disfranchise.dis persons. (32) As Kortenargued in January of this year at Trinity Church: The wanton humandestruction of the earth that sustains us is unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it.When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. : the unjustdistribution of the earth's resources, maintained by violence,constitutes crimes against God and ourselves by our own collective hand.As Korten sees it, as individual humans we appear intelligent;collectively, we appear to be pathologically suicidal. We either healcollectively or die together. Korten echoes Moe-Lobeda: the problem is a pervasive collectivestory, which leads us to believe that the economy is functioning wellwhen it is killing us. The pervasive story is that economic growth, andrise in Gross Domestic Product, increases human happiness; that thefaster we consume the wealthier we become; that greed is good; and thatfinancial advantage is the highest value. In fact, the richer we are, the more we pathologically convert realresources to toxic waste. Korten asks what purpose we expect the economyto serve and reminds us that "No one can serve two masters."We need to create a new economy devoted to the service of life("Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" [Matt.22.211), a choice we must make as a society. The best course I took, as I worked on my M.A., was environmentaleconomics. As some have always perceived, and yet many do not know, weare not even truly guided by our economic measurements: Gross NationalProduct and corporate budgets do not measure negative"externalities," such as pollution and injustice. The ExxonValdez oil spill The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is considered one of the most devastating man-made environmental disasters ever to occur at sea. Prince William Sound's remote location (accessible only by helicopter and boat) made government and industry response efforts difficult and severely taxed made us look richer than before the tragedy occurred.John Cobb and Herman Daly wrote For the Common Good, in which theyanalyzed the American economy and annual budget in light of negativeexternalities and determined that we are half as wealthy as we think weare. We need proper measurements, even to economically value what naturegives us for free! To return to Korten, real wealth is nature, labor,land, knowledge, and human resources, anything that has intrinsic value Intrinsic Value1. The value of a company or an asset based on an underlying perception of the value.2. For call options, this is the difference between the underlying stock's price and the strike price. ,such as love, healthy children, a job that provides a sense of meaning,a healthy environment, and peace. Alternative measurements, such as thetrue wealth assessments of groups such as Redefining Progress (andcorporate shareholder resolutions presented by groups such as theInterfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility) are needed. I oftenwonder, what if hourly on the radio we heard indicators about the healthof our children or pollution in streams and rivers, rather than the riseand fall of the DOW Industrial Average? Korten argues that 93 percent ofpeople in the United States agree with the statement that we are toofocused on money and not on community, yet we seem paralyzed, unable toact according to our shared values. It is my view that such paralysis isa sin, which may remain our personal truth but is not often heard inpublic discussion and too infrequently in our churches. As we know, many battles are pitted as "jobs versusnature," and the repetitive argument becomes fatiguing andcircular. Resource wars that become newsworthy reveal a tragic trend:increased injustice over time and loss of sense of place and degradationof creation. In the United States, we have seen this repeated countlesstimes, in conflicts over ancient redwoods in the Pacific Northwest, richdeposits of low-sulfur coal underneath the Black Mesa homelands of theHope and Navajo, oil and gas reserves under the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) covers 19,049,236 acres (79,318 km2) in northeastern Alaska, in the North Slope region. It was originally protected in 1960 by order of Fred A. Seaton, the Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. , and mountain top removal in Appalachia. This utilitarian destruction repeats itself worldwide, as we haveseen. Lawrence Summers is infamous for writing a December 12, 1991,memo, as he was then chief economist at the World Bank, in which hestated that "the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxicwaste in the lowest wage country is impeccable," and that the Bankshould be "encouraging more migration of the dirty industries tothe Least Developed Countries." (33) Far from creating a reasonable world, the shadow side of unbridledcapitalism embraces suffering, struggle to right the situations, andeven consequent martyrdom. Whether focused on gem stones, especiallydiamonds, oil, bananas, roses exported for Valentine's Day, rubberfrom Brazil, coffee (the second largest export crop), palms for PalmSunday, or dams for hydropower hy��dro��pow��er?n.Hydroelectric power. , we can trace these themes. Environmentaljustice martyrs include rubber tapper Chico Mendez in Brazil, KenSaro-Wiwa in Nigeria, and U.S.-born human rights activist Sr. DorothyStang in the Amazon in 2005. Solutions from the Christian perspective The churches have become ecojustice advocates, based on theconviction of the integrity of creation, responsibility to stewardGod's creation, and conviction that justice, peace, andenvironmental protection are linked. The National Council of Churches ofChrist's ecojustice working group, the Justice/Peace/Integrity ofCreation program emphasis of the World Council of Churches of Christ(WCCC WCCC Westmoreland County Community CollegeWCCC Working Connections Child CareWCCC World Computer Chess ChampionshipWCCC Wayne County Community College (Michigan)WCCC Warren County Community College ), as well as the major denominations individually have producedconferences, study trips, statements and impetus for change. Severalmonths ago, a panel of economists and theologians told a WCCC hearing inGeneva Geneva, canton and city, SwitzerlandGeneva(jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. that ecological debt keeps growing and that when ecological debtsof industrialized nations are factored into the world's financialaccounting, the poorer nations of the global South are creditors, notdebtors. Coffee's popularity in its many forms in Starbucks has nottranslated to higher incomes for coffee growers. Further, canopy treesare often cut to grow coffee, destroying bird habitat in some of themost important migratory regions. LWR, Audubon Society, Equal Exchange,and other organizations provide information on fair trade, shade-growncoffee (grown by coffee cooperatives that ensure a fair wage to coffeegrowers), which is being sold and served more and more by knowledgeablefaith groups! I buy Tres Mariposas Organic Coffee, fair trade, shade grown, fromDominican Republic Blend, whose package reads: Your purchase of our coffee supports The Dream Project, a nonprofit organization working to improve educational opportunities for children in rural areas of the Dominican Republic. .. . We dream that from this place named Alta Gracia, high grace will spread to our neighbors beyond our small farm and beyond our small country. In ecojustice feminist analysis, theology, democracy, andnature's well-being go hand in hand. As leading Latin Americantheologian Ivone Gebara states in her article "The Trinity andHuman Experience," "To leave behind ... [a] crude and highlypatriarchal, hierarchical, materialistic, individualist, dependent, andclass-biased understanding of God and of the Trinity seems ... anessential step for the present and the future ... We are constantlybeing invited to return to our roots: to communion with the earth, withall people and with all living things; to realize that transcendence isnot a reality 'out there,' isolated, 'in itself,'superior to all that exists, but a transcendence within us, among us, inthe earth, in the cosmos, everywhere." (34) Gebara offers images and concepts that I feel are essential for usto embrace in this time, in particular, an embodied theology in whichthe divine permeates the web of life, which challenges the understandingof God as separate from the created world, taken to an extreme in thefundamentalist notion of the Rapture. It is vital to the situation weare facing to value bodies, as Sallie McFague has argued so beautifullyin her books beginning with the Models of God: Theology for anEcological and Nuclear Age. Some do feel they need to move beyond Christianity: Chung HyunKyung Chung Hyun Kyung is a Korean Christian theologian. She is a lay theologian of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, and is also an Associate Professor of Ecumenical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the U.S.She graduated from Ewha Women's University in Seoul with the B. writes, "Many eco-feminists reject the spirituality oftraditional Western Christianity, which is based on Greek andHellenistic dualism, hierarchy of beings and an androcentric an��dro��cen��tric?adj.Centered or focused on men, often to the neglect or exclusion of women: an androcentric view of history; an androcentric health-care system. bias. ...Therefore, when we incorporate African or Asian indigenous spiritualityto eco-feminist spirituality, ... The earth becomes sacred. ...Reaffirming our commitment to the struggle of liberation of our peopleand nature, we would share the symbol of a tree as the most inspiringsymbol for the spirituality of eco-feminism." (35) While I am sympathetic to Kyung's position, I disagree that wehave to move beyond Christianity. Christianity is large enough toencompass and undergird a response to environmental injustice. Theincarnation; the suffering of Christ on the cross, as representing thesuffering of vulnerable and disenfranchised people and God'ssuffering with them; an understanding of the goodness of the cosmos("for God so loved the world," or cosmos; John 3:16); themotif of the Good, Promised Land; and Jesus' teachings all provideinspiration to become true to the values needed to carry us and succeedin the future. Dr. James Cone articulated the Black Theology ofLiberation as early as 1970, followed by Gutierrez (with an emphasis onSouth and Latin America) in 1973. In the forty years since, highlyesteemed theologians have articulated the cry of the Earth and thedisenfranchised: Jurgen Moltmann, Rosemary Radford Ruether Rosemary Radford Ruether (b. 1936) is a renowned feminist scholar and theologian, who is married to the political scientist Herman Ruether. They have three children and reside in California. , LarryRasmussen, Leonardo Boff. As Boff boff?1?n. Slang1. A line in a play or film, for example, that elicits a big laugh: "He doesn't go for the big boffs, artificially inflated, but lets his comedy build through a leisurely writes. The protest of Liberation theology against suffering is not limited to a single region. Every kind of repression, every cry of the poor, of the oppressed, of the marginalized anywhere in the world is an appeal to theology. ... is it possible to live in peace and happily when you know that two-thirds of human beings are suffering, hungry and poor? It's not only the cry of the poor we must listen to but also the cry of the earth. We must do something to change the situation--there won't be a Noah's Ark to save only some of us. (36) Bill Moyers's interview of Union Theological Seminaryprofessors about ecojustice continued: SERENE JONES: Justice is nothing but love with legs. Justice is what love looks like when it takes social form. CORNEL WEST: Part of it has to do with trying to get beyond the labels. What we're really talking about, I think, is a certain kind of moral clarity and a certain kind of moral courage, and a certain kind of genuine moral compassion. And it comes from a variety of different traditions, ... so that we don't want to get too obscure in our discourse, and not really just put on the table something that's very simple. How deep is your love? What is the quality of your service to others? Are you concerned about those on the margins, or do we define a catastrophe only when it relates to investment bankers and Wall Street elites, as opposed to the precious children in chocolate cities? ... What costs are we willing to actually undergo? You can't be a Christian, if you're not willing to pick up your cross. And, in the end, be crucified on it. That's the bottom line. The rest of it is just sounding brass and tinkling symbols. How deep is your love? (37) The changes needed illumine il��lu��mine?tr.v. il��lu��mined, il��lu��min��ing, il��lu��minesTo give light to; illuminate.[Middle English illuminen, from Old French illuminer, from Latin the roots of Christianity, and we needthe roots to flourish as Christian environmental justice advocates. AsLuther wrote, we need to distinguish the theology of the cross The Theology of the Cross (Theologia Crucis) is a term coined by the theologian Martin Luther to refer to theology which points to the cross as the only source of knowledge who God is and how God saves. from thetheology of glory: "That person does not deserve to be called atheologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though theywere clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened[Rom. 1:20]. ... He deserves to be called a theologian, however, whocomprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen throughsuffering and the cross. ... A theology of glory calls evil good andgood evil. A theology of the cross calls the thing what it actually is...." (38) In my thinking, it seems that always oppression of the powerless isan ironclad law of sin (catastrophic for the invisible); yet don'twe in the churches need to reaffirm how sin is met by the theology ofthe cross? Theologian David Tracy has written of the unknowability anddarkness of God, which he finds in Martin Luther and the mystic MeisterEckhart, the hiddenness of God in the suffering and abandonment of thecross, which gives Christians eyes to see the underside, the shadow, thevulnerable. For Prof Cone, the Cross is the Lynching tree, where despiteall, God hears all, even when there is no one human listening (SereneJones). In the Hebrew scriptures, lack of care for justice is seen ascausing pollution of the land. We find our roots, too, where Jesus'marginality and death and openness to all human experience andrevolutionary Kingdom of God point to a preferential option for thepoor. When Christians discover that we actually need clean water for therite of baptism, perhaps we will wake up even more. May we see thebiblical cosmic Christ and the Spirit of Christ in all things, throughtaking to heart the description of Logos/Christ in the Prologue to theGospel of John For other uses, see Gospel of John (disambiguation).The Gospel of John (literally, According to John; Greek, Κατά Ιωαννην, Kata Iōannēn and Colossians 1:15-20, through whom and for whom allthings have been created. Don't we have an obligation to rememberthat Jesus pointed to the lilies of the field lilies of the fieldmore splendidly attired than Solomon. [N.T.: Matthew 6:28–29; Luke 12:27–31]See : Beauty as an icon for God'scare and radical faith claim that we need not think for the morrow oramass riches? Doesn't that criticize a profit economy and the greedthat drives it? And the mutuality embraced by ecofeminism (as RosemaryRadford Reuther defines it: "Ecofeminism claims an alternativeprinciple of relationship between men and women, humans and the land--amutuality in which there is no hierarchy but rather an interconnectedweb of life" (39)), reminds us that Jesus is a nature mystic andecofeminist, because those were his concerns, too. In the United States, the call for a renewed vision to reorient Re`o´ri`enta. 1. Rising again.The life reorientout of dust.- Tennyson.Verb 1. ourselves sounds deeply outside religious bodies, as well. In myreading, I have found this call articulated variously as deepspirituality, deep ecology, the new consciousness, or deep democracy.From my vantage point, the values expressed there are akin to those wefind in Judaism and Christianity: values such as justice, love,compassion for all beings, valuing the physical, material world, whileshunning materialism. Movements that are challenging capitalism and"nature as resource" are more alike than different fromChristian environmental justice movements and provide forms of hope andinsight that both contribute to and complement theological views. GusSpeth, dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at YaleUniversity, writes in The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism,the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability (40) of theneed for a rapid evolution to a new consciousness. He appreciativelyquotes a range of thinkers and writers: Vaclav Havel, Aldo Leopold, andPaul Raskin (whose Global Scenario Group The external links in this article or section may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies. favors a New Sustainabilityworldview where society turns "to non-material dimensions offulfillment ... the quality of life, the quality of human solidarity andthe quality of the earth" (41)). In addition, Speth calls onauthorities on religion and ecology Religion and ecology is an emerging subfield in the academic discipline of Religious Studies. It is founded on the understanding that, in the words of Iranian-American philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "the environmental crisis is fundamentally a crisis of values," and that Profs. Mary Evelyn Tucker and JohnGrim, who underline the need for a new consciousness. As Speth insists:"Today's dominant worldview is simply too biased towardanthropocentrism an��thro��po��cen��tric?adj.1. Regarding humans as the central element of the universe.2. Interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience. , materialism, egocentrism, contempocentrism,reductionism reductionism(rē·dukˑ·sh·niˑ·z , rationalism, and nationalism to sustain the changesneeded." (42) To create a world of peace and justice, we Christians must joinpassionately with those who are part of salvation (Gutierrez) even ifthey do not know it, because they are finding life-giving counterarguments to the present system. The Earth Charter, a document created by many groups around theworld, provides a radical blueprint for a sustainable world, and itneeds more energy behind it to move from blueprints to plans andimplementation. The development researcher Paul Collier in his book TheBottom Billion (43) offers measures toward a sustainable world (many inbeginning stages), which include internationally agreed-upon chartersfor extractive industries and post-conflict governments, appropriateaid, and trade by international actors who have solely the well-being ofthe bottom billion as the problem of focus. Jeffrey D. Sachs, of the Columbia Earth Institute, outlines in hisbook The End of Poverty nine steps: commit to ending poverty, adopt aplan of action (including the Millennium Development goals “MDG” redirects here. For other uses, see MDG (disambiguation).The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that 192 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. , supported bymany major church denominations), raise the voice of the poor, redeemthe role of the United States in the world, rescue the IMF IMFSee: International Monetary FundIMFSee International Monetary Fund (IMF). and the WorldBank, strengthen the United Nations, harness global science, promotesustainable development, and make a personal commitment. (44) Achievingthese would be excellent first steps, but we need to commit theresources to putting them into practice soon. Charles Lee writes of a collaborative model to achieveenvironmental justice. (45) Prof. Gary Dorrien is quoted in Newsweek:"If we democratize de��moc��ra��tize?tr.v. de��moc��ra��tized, de��moc��ra��tiz��ing, de��moc��ra��tiz��esTo make democratic.de��moc economic power and the process ofinvestment--expanding the cooperative sector, investing in fullemployment and green technology, strengthening social market sectorsthat serve the needs of communities, and creating public banks--we getbetter choices. ... Economic development that does not harm theearth's environment requires dramatically expanded cooperative andpublic-bank sectors." (46) Solutions to these problems, basic to ecojustice, may be summarizedin what is a working phrase: "sustainable development." In theso-called developing countries, as we have seen, they includeempowerment of women, restoration of the environment, sustainableagriculture (rotational cropping, seed diversity, rotational grazing,organic farming, garden/farm agroecosystems, gravity flow and dripirrigation, and diversified kitchen gardens), land reform, conditions ofpeace, and community initiative. In many areas, ecojustice includes asubstitution of Last Values (rural, low cost, labor-intensive, organic,small, untidy, and unpredictable) for First Values (urban, high cost,capital-intensive, large, modern, exotic). How we would do that in theFirst World is being explored and thought about and experimented with! In this David and Goliath struggle, there are many points of light,if we look. Paul Hawken in Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement inthe World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming (47) says thatthere are one to two million organizations globally working towardsocial justice and environmental sustainability. We can be inspired andparticipate in ecojustice organizations close by. Many people aremodeling their lives after ecojustice principles: justice,sustainability, participation, solidarity, and sufficiency. (48) If we keep minds, eyes, and hearts open, we will be pulled intopain, compassion, and joy and understanding. For seminaries andchurches, the struggle for "justice [to] roll down likewaters" brings, as it always has, renewal and abundant life. Works cited U.S. based Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth andHumans Harvard, ed. by Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether(Harvard, 2000); esp. "Social Transformation through EnvironmentalJustice," by Vernice Miller-Travis. Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices from the Grassroots, byRobert Bullard (South End Press, 1993); esp. "Beyond Toxic Wastesand Race," by Charles Lee. Defending Mother Earth: Native American Perspectives onEnvironmental Justice, ed. by Jace Weaver (Orbis, 1997); esp. "AnAmerican Indian Theological Response to Ecojustice," by George E.Tinker. Environmental Injustices: Political Struggles: Race, Class, and theEnvironment, ed. by David E. Camacho (Duke University Press, 1998); esp.Stephen Sandweiss, "The Social Construction of EnvironmentalJustice." For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, theEnvironment, and a Sustainable Future, by Daly, Herman E., and John B.Cobb For other people named John Cobb, see John Cobb (disambiguation). John B. Cobb, Jr. (born February 9, 1925) is an American United Methodist theologian who played a crucial role in the development of process theology. , Jr. (Beacon, 1989). From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of theEnvironmental Justice Movement, by Luke Cole and Sheila Foster (New YorkUniversity Press New York University Press (or NYU Press), founded in 1916, is a university press that is part of New York University. External linkNew York University Press , 2001); esp. Ch. 1, "A History of theEnvironmental Justice Movement." The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Rootsof American Environmentalism environmentalism,movement to protect the quality and continuity of life through conservation of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and control of land use. , by Aaron Sachs (Viking, 2006). The Struggle for Ecological Democracy: Environmental JusticeMovements in the United States, ed. by Daniel Faber (The Guilford Press,1998); esp. Rodger C. Field, "Risk and Justice: CapitalistProduction and the Environment." Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide, ed. by Dieter T.Hessel (Orbis, 1996); esp. "Environmental Justice: The Power ofMaking Connections," by Manning Marable; "EnvironmentalJustice and Black Theology of Liberating Community," by Thomas L.Hoyt, Jr.; and "EcoJustice and Justice: An American IndianPerspective," by George E. Tinker. Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. byWilliam Cronon (W. W. Norton, 1996); esp. Giovanna Di Chiro,"Nature as Community: The Convergence of Environment and SocialJustice." International The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and WhatCan Be Done About It, by Paul Collier (Oxford University Press, 2007). The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment,and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, by James Gustave Speth (YaleUniversity Press, 2008). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, by Jared Diamond(Penguin, 2006). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, by JeffreyD. Sachs (Penguin, 2005). The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politicsof Pollution, ed. by Robert D. Bullard (Sierra, 2005); esp."Environmental Justice in the Twenty-first Century," by RobertD. Bullard; "Tierra y Vida: Chicano Environmental Justice Strugglesin the Southwest," by Devon G. Pena; "Alienation and Militancyin the Niger Delta: Petroleum, Politics, and Democracy in Nigeria,"by Oronto Douglas et. al.; "Addressing Global Poverty, Pollution,and Human Rights," by Robert D. Bullard, et. al. Power, Justice, and the Environment: A Critical Appraisal of theEnvironmental Justice Movement, ed. by David Naguib Pellow and Robert J.Brulle (MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2005). Asia Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, byVandana Shiva (South End Press, 2008). Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, andReligion, by Rosemary Radford Ruether (Orbis, 1996); esp. "Let UsSurvive: Women, Ecology and Development," by Vandana Shiva; andother articles in Part 3: Asia. Latin America EcoTheology: Voices from South and North, ed. by David G. Hallman(Orbis 1994); esp. "Social Ecology: Poverty and Misery," byLeonardo Bolt The Mystical and Prophetic Thought of Simone Weil and GustavoGutierrez: Reflections on the Mystery and Hiddenness of God, byAlexander Nava (State University of New York (body) State University of New York - (SUNY) The public university system of New York State, USA, with campuses throughout the state. , 2001). A Theology ofLiberation: History, Politics and Salvation by Gustavo Gutierrez (Orbis,1988); esp. chs. 9 and 13. Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, andReligion, by Rosemary Radford Ruether, (Orbis, 1996), see esp.Introduction and Part 1, Latin America, including "The Trinity andHuman Experience: An Ecofeminist Approach," by Ivone Gebara; and"Latin America's Poor Women: Inherent Guardians of Life,"by Gladys Parentelli. Africa The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politicsof Pollution, ed. by Robert Bullard (Sierra Club Sierra Club,national organization in the United States dedicated to the preservation and expansion of the world's parks, wildlife, and wilderness areas. Founded (1892) in California by a group led by the Scottish-American conservationist John Muir, the Sierra Club , 2005), see esp."Alienation and Militancy in the Niger Delta: Petroleum, Politics,and Democracy in Nigeria," by Oronto Douglas, et. al. Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights, and Oil, by Ike Okontaand Oronto Douglas (Verso ver��so?n. pl. ver��sos1. A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto.2. The back of a coin or medal. , 2003). Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, andReligion, by Rosemary Radford Ruether (Orbis, 1996), see esp. Part 3,Africa. Women Women and Environment in the Third World, by Irene Dankelman andJoan Davidson (Earthscan, 1988); see esp. Ch. 12, "Working Togetherfor the Future." Women Healing Earth: Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, andReligion, ed. by Rosemary Radford Ruether (Orbis, 1996). A Christian response to environmental injustice Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth andHumans, ed. by Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether (Harvard,2005), see esp. Part V, Christian Praxis for Ecology and Justice,including "Global Eco-Justice: The Church's Mission in UrbanSociety," by Larry Rasmussen. Christian Environmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach, by James B.Martin-Schramm & Robert L. Stivers (Orbis, 2003). Earth Community, Earth Ethics, by Larry Rasmussen (Orbis, 1996). Earth Habitat: Eco-Injustice and the Church's Response, ed. byDieter Hessel and Larry Rasmussen (Fortress, 2001). Ecological Healing: A Christian Vision, by Nancy G. Wright andDonald Kill (Orbis, 1993). Healing a Broken World: Globalization and God, by Cynthia D.Moe-Lobeda (Fortress, 2002), see esp. "Subversive Moral AgencyToday: God 'Flowing and Pouring into All Things."' A Moral Climate: The Ethics of Global Warming, by Michael S.Northcott (Orbis, 2007). Theology for Earth Community: A Field Guide, ed. by Dieter T.Hessel (Orbis, 1996). Notes (1.) This paper was originally given as a lecture at UnionTheological Seminary at the invitation of The Rev. Dr. Sam Cruz. (2.) Nancy G. Wright and Donald Kill, Ecological Healing: AChristian Vision (Orbis, 1993, p. 47). (3.) Luke Cole and Sheila Foster, From the Ground Up: EnvironmentalRacism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement (New YorkUniversity Press, 2001), p. 13. (4.) Ibid., 14. (5.) Daniel Faber, ed., The Struggle for Ecological Democracy:Environmental Justice Movements in the United States (Guilford, 1998,"Introduction," p. 6. (6.) "Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty," athttp://www.ucc.org. (7.) Giovanna Di Chiro, "Nature as Community: The Convergenceof Environment and Social Justice," in William Cronon, ed.,Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (Norton, 1996), p.301; see also Cronon's famous essay "The Trouble withWilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature," in the samevolume. (8.) Robert D. Bullard, "Environmental Justice in theTwenty-first Century," in Robert D. Bullard, ed. The Quest forEnvironmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution(Sierra Club, 2005), p. 22. The Preamble is available athttp://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html, accessed April 19, 2010. (9.) See Vernice Miller-Travis, "Social Transformation ThroughEnvironmental Justice," in Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary RadfordRuether, Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth andHumans (Harvard, 2000), p. 571. (10.) George E. Tinker, "EcoJustice and Justice: An AmericanIndian Perspective," in Dieter T. Hesse], ed. Theology for EarthCommunity: A Field Guide (Orbis, 1996), pp. 184, 169. (11.) Ibid., p. 184. (12.) Quoted in http://www.rightlivelihood.ord/chipko_speech.html. (13.) Vandana Shiva, Soil Not Oil (South End Press, 2008), p. 7. (14.) Ibid., p. 13. (15.) Ibid., p. 41. (16.) See Vandana Shiva, "Let Us Survive: Women, Ecology andDevelopment," in Rosemary Radford Ruether Women Healing Earth:Third World Women on Ecology, Feminism, and Religion (Orbis, 1996), p.65. (17.) Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, "Why Women'sRights Are the Cause of Our Time," The New York Times Magazine(August 23, 2009). (18.) Leo Leo, in astronomyLeo[Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Atakpu, "Resource Based Conflicts: Challenges of OilExtraction in Nigeria" (Berlin, 2007). (19.) See "Latin America and the Debate Over EnvironmentalProtection and National Security," by Robert M. Mcab and KathleenS. Bailey, in DISAM DISAM Defense Institute of Security Assistance ManagementDISAM Direct Indexed Sequential Access Method Journal, December 2007, p. 6. (20.) Wright and Kill, p. 7. (21.) Alan Durning, quoted in Wright and Kill, p. 120. (22.) Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation (Orbis, 1998,revised version of the original 1973 original English version, with newintroduction by the author), pp. 9, 85. (23.) Ibid., pp. 51, 55. (24.) Ibid., pp. 84, 85. (25.) Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail orSurvive (Penguin, 2005), p. 487-96. (26.) Cynthia D. Moe-Lobeda, Healing a Broken World: Globalizationand God (Augsburg Fortress, 2002), chapter 3. (27.) Ibid, p. 59. (28.) Luther: "The power of God ... must be essentiallypresent in all places even in the tiniest leaf." In Luther,"That These Words of Christ, 'This Is My Body,' etc.Still Stand Firm against the Fanatics," Luther's Works 37:57,quoted by Moe-Lobeda, Healing in a Broken World, p. 112. (29.) Bill Moyers Journal Bill Moyers Journal is the name of an American television news program that provided stories outside the New York City public area on a schedule of news topics and events, such as religion, history, sexuality, geography and more. , PBS PBSin full Public Broadcasting ServicePrivate, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, , July 3, 2009. (30.) Ibid. (31.) Ibid. (32.) David Korten, "Navigating the Great Turning: From Empireto Sustainability" (Trinity Institute Lecture, January 2009). (33.) Daniel Faber, "The Political Ecology of AmericanCapitalism: New Challenges for the Environmental Justice Movement,"in Faber, pp. 47. (34.) Ivone Gebara, "The Trinity and Human Experience,"in Rosemary Radford Ruether, Women Healing Earth: Third World Women onEcology, Feminism, and Religion (Orbis, 1996), p. 20. (35.) Chung Hyun Kyung, "Ecology, Feminism and African andAsian Spirituality: Towards a Spirituality of Eco-Feminism," inEcotheology: Voices from South and North, ed. by David G. Hallman(Orbis, 1994), pp. 176-78, passim PASSIM - A simulation language based on Pascal.["PASSIM: A Discrete-Event Simulation Package for Pascal", D.H Uyeno et al, Simulation 35(6):183-190 (Dec 1980)]. . (36.) "Spiritual Rebellion: Interview with LeonardoBoff," at the World Forum for Theology and Liberation, Brazil,January 21-25, 2009; found on World Council of Churches, resources forAdvent 2009; http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/news. (37.) Moyers interview. (38.) Quoted in Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther's Theology: ItsHistorical and Systematic Development (Augsburg, 1991), p. 38. (39.) Reuther, p. 11. (40.) James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World:Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability(Caravan, 2008). (41.) Ibid., p. 201. (42.) Ibid., p. 205. (43.) Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest CountriesAre Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford, 2007). (44.) Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilitiesfor Our Time (Penguin, 2005), pp. 365-67. (45.) Charles Lee, "Collaborative Models to AchieveEnvironmental Justice and Healthy Communities, in David Naguib Pellowand Robert J. Brulle, eds., Power, Justice, and the Environment: ACritical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement (MIT Press,2005), p. 221. (46.) Gary Dorrien, Newsweek web article; July 10, 2009. (47.) Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in theWorld Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming (Viking, 2007). (48.) James B. Martin-Schramm & Robert L. Stivers, ChristianEnvironmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach (Orbis, 2003).