c. 2015 Religion News Service
(RNS) Catholic environmental groups from around the world on Wednesday (January 14) announced a new global network to battle climate change just as many Catholic conservatives are sharply criticizing Pope Francis’ campaign to put environmental protection high on the church’s agenda.
The season of the prince of peace is upon us once again, yet the world seems aswirl with violence and despair. The Ebola virus has the nation on edge while it reaps a terrible harvest in West Africa. Another virus, this one of violence, is sweeping across the nations of the Middle East and throughout the Arab world. What has become of the Arab Spring? Only tiny Tunisia appears to have survived the tempest thrown up by efforts to tear down Arab tyrants and jump-start democracy in the region.
Sounding Board is one person’s take on a many-sided subject and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.
According to Catholic Rural Life, what we eat is a moral issue. How do we use an informed conscience to make moral eating decisions?
1. By placing an emphasis on eating and purchasing foods that are good for the planet.
2. By eating and purchasing foods that are good to grow and that benefit soil and water resources.
3. By focusing our purchasing decisions on the common good—what is good and just for farms, farmers, and their workers in terms of health and well being.
4. By asking questions about how food is grown, harvested, and kept safe for us to eat.
The year 2009 was a particularly challenging one for independent farmers like Teri Rosendahl. With the global financial crisis in full swing, small family farms were hit hard, and Rosendahl and her husband, Peter, were forced to mortgage a lot of the equipment they used at Udder Valley Dairy in rural Spring Grove, Minnesota just to get by. But from small daily struggles to major financial obstacles, challenges had simply become a way of life on the small, family-owned dairy farm.
In the last half century, food eaters and food providers in the United States have prioritized food quantity, the “all-you-can-eat” model, over food quality, the freshness and nutritional value it has. But in the last decade, things have changed. More attention has been placed on the quality of food—specifically where it comes from and what is in it.
I grew up in the arid West: the land of prairie, tumbleweed, and newly-constructed subdivisions. I remember, as a kid, noticing the paradox between public concern about drought—and the fact that seemingly every house had a green, water-guzzling lawn. Later, I studied the intersections of human culture and ecology, especially with regard to fresh water. And now, in the 21st century, global fresh water scarcity is one of the major challenges facing humanity. What can we do about this serious situation?
It’s 9 a.m. in the high desert of rural New Mexico, and the heat is already oppressive. People begin their day as you might expect: grabbing backpacks and heading to school, feeding goats and watering horses, patching holes in fences or crawling under cars to make small repairs. There is plenty to do.
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