Holy Global Warming! Pope Goes Green in Vatican

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 21, 2008 (Zenit.org).-

The Vatican will be taking a step toward promoting a greener culture next week as it inaugurates new solar panels on the roof of Paul VI Hall.

The inauguration will take place Wednesday at the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a Vatican communiqué reported today.

The 2,400 solar panels replace the deteriorating concrete roof panels, and the photovoltaic cells will convert sunlight into electricity, and generate enough power to light, heat or cool the 6,000-seat hall. The Vatican says the solar panel project is one of the "concrete and tangible initiatives" of the Vatican to promote the protection of the environment.

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United Nations Warns of New Food Crisis

Conservative Leader says that Food Security should rank alongside Energy Policy and National Security.

THE UN World Food Programme (WFP) is to hold an emergency meeting in Rome today, as rising food prices across the world threaten to create a new constituency of millions of city-dwellers who are unable to afford basic foodstuffs.

The Organization for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD) has warned that food prices could rise by between one fifth and one half over the next ten years.

The sudden leap in the worldwide price of grain and other basic foodstuffs could mean that millions of hitherto relatively affluent people in cities would not be able to afford food, Greg Barrow, a London-based spokesman for the WFP, said on Tuesday.

He said the key factors behind the price-shift were:

• demand for meat from India and China, as their economies grow. Feeding livestock diverts grain stocks from markets;
• high oil prices, which have pushed up the costs of oil-based fertilizers and the cost of transport;
• arable land that has been switched to bio-fuel production, and so is lost for food supplies;
• weather extremes caused by global warming, which have damaged farming in the developed countries that supplied the global market.

Read the rest of Bill Bowder’s article here…

Giving Up Carbon Emissions for Lent

Two senior bishops are urging people to cut back on carbon for Lent instead of the conventional chocolate or alcohol.

The Bishops of London and Liverpool, Dr Richard Chartres and James Jones, are launching the Carbon Fast at Trafalgar Square with aid agency Tearfund.

They hope to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint for 40 days.
The scheme aims to raise awareness of global warming to help protect poor communities around the world who are already affected by climate change.

Stark reality
The "fast" involves a simple energy saving action each day, including avoiding plastic bags, insulating the hot water tank and checking the house for draughts.

Bishop Jones, who is vice president of Tearfund, said: "It is the poor who are already suffering the effects of climate change.

"To carry on regardless of their plight is to fly in the face of Christian teaching."

One Tearfund employee will camp outside the charity's offices in Teddington for a week in an attempt to reduce his emissions to that of an average Malawian farmer.

Dr Chartres called for "individual and collective action".

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Erin Church Devotional: peace prize - for a planet in peril

Isaiah 57:18, 19 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the LORD. "And I will heal them." (NIV)

The world is abuzz today with news of Al Gore winning the International Peace Prize. Whilst I don’t agree with his conclusions about global warming, I’m glad to see him being recognized for his work. For too long, Al Gore remained in the shadows of Bill Clinton and, unfortunately, had his hopes dashed in 2000 because of that connection. He has now emerged as a global warrior on behalf of the planet and it is fitting that he should receive this award because of the awareness that he has brought to this highly controversial subject.

Making peace with the environment is not something that most of us think about, and yet it is a significant part of the stewardship that God has placed upon us. For most of the 20th century, we blighted and blasted the land, sea, and sky with bad industrial processes and weapons of destruction. Instead of living in a clean, peaceable kingdom, we’ve created a polluted monster of a planet that is beginning to grow weary of the demands that we make upon its raw materials and irreplaceable resources.

I am not a geological scientist or educated environmentalist by any means, but I do know that garbage, waste disposal, and pollutants would be a problem in my own home if I didn’t do something about it each week. If Al Gore’s peace prize award gets more people to think about how we can restore the planet, then he deserves all the kudos for this accomplishment. I may not entirely agree with his proposals or politics, but anything that makes this world a cleaner place is better for us all.

Peace, restoration, and healing are important to God – may they also be equally important to us.

Prayer: Father God, forgive us for our foolish ways of taking this planet for granted and ruining some of its irreplaceable beauty. Help us to be better stewards of Your creation. Give us open hearts, educated minds, and willing hands to do all that we can to restore the world and make peace with the environment. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

Caught in the Hot

Global warming with Dr. Seuss or How the world came to an end when we ran out of green eggs and ham.