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Arizona seeks to bypass Bush on CO2 emissions
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Arizona’s governor signed an executive order late last week to cut emissions of gases linked to global warming, becoming the second state leader in the U.S. West to try to bypass President George W. Bush’s refusal to regulate output of the gases.
Janet Napolitano’s executive order, signed on Friday, calls on the state to seek ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions to the 2000 level by the year 2020 and to 50 percent below the 2000 level by 2040.
(11 Sept 2006)
Climate change heads for the US Supreme Court
Lucy Sherriff, The Register (UK)
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the arguments in the case of Massachusetts vs the Environmental Protection Agency. The suit, brought by Massachusetts and eleven other states, along with a few cities and environmental lobby groups, accuses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of failing to regulate CO2 emissions from motor vehicles. ..
This isn’t the first case of its kind. Almost a year ago a New York judge ruled the question of pollution regulation too political to be decided by the judiciary. This case, known as New York vs the EPA, was asking the court to force the EPA to regulate emissions from power plants in five states. ..
Nature.com has posted a Q&A style discussion of the case that makes for interesting reading. You can find it here.
(12 Sept 2006)
Fear of global warming unites evangelicals, environmentalists
Jeff Barnard, Associated Press via Eugene Register Guard
Tending to your soul at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Boise, Idaho, involves recycling old cell phones and printer cartridges in the church lobby, pulling noxious weeds in the backcountry and fixing worn-out hiking trails in the mountains.
This is part of the ministry of Tri Robinson, a former biology teacher whose rereading of the Bible led him to the belief that Christians focused on Scripture need to combat global warming and save the Earth.
“All of a sudden Boise Vineyard is one of the most important driving forces in our community for the environment,” Robinson said. “People say, ‘Why are you doing that?’ Because God wants it.”
Many evangelicals have dismissed environmentalists as liberals unconcerned about the economic impact of their policies to fight global warming. Long-standing distrust between the two camps over issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage has discouraged evangelicals from joining liberals on the environment.
But shared concerns over global warming and protecting the Earth are bringing together the two groups in ways that could make the Republican Party more eco-friendly and lead some evangelicals to vote Democratic.
In signs of change, Robinson had a Sierra Club representative at his environmental conference recently, and the Sierra Club invited Calvin DeWitt, a University of Wisconsin biology professor and a founder of the Evangelical Environmental Network, to its summit last year where it declared global warming the top issue for the coming decade.
“More and more evangelicals are coming to believe creation care is an integral part of their calling as Christians. It is becoming part of their faith,” said Melanie Griffin, director of partnerships for the Sierra Club and an evangelical.
(8 Sept 2006)
Christians consider flying in the face of climate change
Staff, Ekklesia (UK)
Christians are to debate whether they should continue to fly given the reality of climate change.
The Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility (ECCR) has announced it is to bring together speakers from the aviation, corporate and non-profit sectors and an audience of ethical investors, corporate responsibility practitioners, faith groups, NGOs, and other members of civil society to examine the issue.
In a statement the ECCR said; “The reality of climate change is no longer disputed in serious circles. Instead the debate now is how to reduce it. Initiatives abound – energy saving and efficiency, recycling, carbon trading, environmental design. Can we really make the changes needed?” ..
“In the face of climate change, can we – should we – keep flying?”
(11 Sept 2006)
About Ekklesia: “Ekklesia is a not-for-profit thinktank which promotes radical [Anglican Christian] theological ideas in public life through a radical approach.”
