News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

News

On World Water Day, African church leaders highlight shortages

March 22, 2017
By Fredrick Nzwili
Religion News Service

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) As she drives her family’s donkeys to a new borehole at the base of the Uuni Hills in eastern Kenya, Eunice Wambua says the water it provides is much cleaner than what she used to get from a dam several miles away.

“It was dirty water and we believed it colored our...

India court gives sacred Ganges and Yamuna rivers human status

March 21, 2017
BBC News

A court in northern Indian has given the Ganges and Yamuna rivers the status of “living human entities”.

The high court in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand said this would help in the “preservation and conservation” of the highly polluted rivers.

It added that the “legal status” ensures that polluting the rivers would now amount to harming a...

Ganges and Yamuna rivers granted same legal rights as human beings

March 21, 2017
By Michael Safi
The Guardian

The Ganges river, considered sacred by more than 1 billion Indians, has become the first non-human entity in India to be granted the same legal rights as people.

A court in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand ordered on Monday that the Ganges and its main tributary,...

Tribes March in DC for Water and for Mother Earth

March 16, 2017
By Ethan Goffman
E – The Environmental Magazine

On February 22, police removed Native American protestors outside the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The protestors were trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, which crosses sacred tribal ground and threatens to pollute their drinking water. With final approval at the onset of the Donald Trump presidency, the...

New Zealand river granted same legal rights as human being

March 16, 2017
By Eleanor Ainge Roy
The Guardian

In a world-first a New Zealand river has been granted the same legal rights as a human being.

The local Māori tribe of Whanganui in the North Island has fought for the recognition of their river – the third-largest in New Zealand – as an ancestor for 140...

World Student Christian Federation News

World Student Christian Federation

Federation News No. 1, 2017

http://www.wscfglobal.org/

Have faith in religion's ability to bridge the political divide

March 15, 2017
By Robyn Purchia
SF Examiner

Since the George H.W. Bush administration, Mustafa Ali has worked to reduce the violence that pollution and climate change wreak on marginalized, struggling communities. But last week, after 24 years at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office on Environmental Justice, he resigned. Ali said proposed deep budget cuts to EPA...

Vatican investment conference explores clean energy 'for our common home'

March 14, 2017
By Marie Venner  
National Catholic Reporter

Vatican City - In late January, I had the opportunity to attend a small conference at the Pontifical Lateran University on Catholic actions, financial and otherwise, to resolve the climate crisis. 

Strengthened by Standing Rock, Native Americans march on D.C. What's next for the movement?

March 10, 2017
By Elizabeth Flock and Iman Smith
PBS

Despite bitter cold, wind, rain and hail, hundreds of members of Native American tribes and supporters from around the country turned out Friday to march on the White House, in an effort to turn the momentum of the ...

Native Americans march to the White House in spiritual battle against pipeline

March 10, 2017
By Lilly Fowler
Religion News Service   

Washington - On a cold rainy morning, members of the American Indian tribes shouted “Water is sacred” and “Keep it in the soil; can’t drink oil” as they marched toward the White House.

The March 10 protest against the Dakota Access pipeline included hundreds of Native Americans, some dressed in traditional...

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