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

Generation Anthropocene: How humans have altered the planet for ever

We are living in the Anthropocene age, in which human influence on the planet is so profound – and terrifying – it will leave its legacy for millennia. Politicians and scientists have had their say, but how are writers and artists responding to this crisis?

By Robert Macfarlane
The Guardian
April 1, 2016

Calls for Billions of People to Plant Billions of Trees

March 30, 2016
By John J. Berger, Energy and environmental policy expert
Huffington Post

“At first, I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was
fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.”
— Chico Mendes, Martyred Brazilian environmentalist

The Environmentalist Monk Who Inspired Pope Francis

March 30, 2016
By Nick Fouriezos
OZY

Browsing through a New York City bookstore in early 1941, influential editor Robert Giroux bumped into Thomas Merton, an old college pal from his days on The Columbia Review. Merton told Giroux that The New Yorker wanted him to write a piece about Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky where he had “made a retreat...

Walking the length of the river: Spiritual journey calls attention to contamination of Minn. River

Full Title: Walking the length of the river: Spiritual journey calls attention to contamination of the Minnesota River

By Tom Cherveny
West Central Tribune
March 27, 2016

MONTEVIDEO — Ask Sharon Day why she and others are walking the length of the Minnesota River carrying a copper vessel holding water from its source, and her answer begins like this:

...

Sri Lankan Way of the Cross carries environmental message

Through devotion Catholics protest against controversial port project    

UCA News
ucanews.com reporter
Negombo, Sri Lanka
March 24, 2016

Catholics in Sri Lanka conducted a Way of the Cross devotional event as part of a protest against a controversial port project in Colombo.

About four hundred Catholics, including priests and nuns, attended the Way of the...

My Lent with Pulse Pledge

March 24, 2016
By Julie Hall, Youth Speak News
The Catholic Register

I took the Pulse Pledge during Lent and found myself reflecting on how something so small could actually make a difference. 

Getting the Next Generation to Fall in Love with the Planet: An Interview with Dan Siegel

March 24, 2016
By Andrew Revkin
Garrison Institute

The first 25 years of my career as a journalist focused on ways to foster sustainable human progress centered on science illuminating the biological and geophysical interplay of people and the planet. But over and over, I came to realize that decisions about addressing, or ignoring, environmental risks were shaped more by...

Global Warming's Terrifying New Chemistry

Our leaders thought fracking would save our climate. They were wrong. Very wrong.

By Bill McKibben
The Nation
March 23, 2016

How religious cooperation is leading to more toilets in India

March 22, 2016
By Allison Pond
Deseret News

For decades, one of India’s largest religious festivals left a stinking mess at the mouth of the Ganges River.

Millions of pilgrims gather each January for a dip in the sacred waters of the Ganges Delta where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. The river has been a symbol of purification since ancient times, yet the festival,...

C'mon, get happy: Denmark leads in latest global happiness index

March 21, 2016
By Brian Roewe
National Catholic Reporter

The United Nations on Sunday marked its annual International Day of Happiness, and according to at least one report, the epicenter of the celebration was situated squarely in the state of Denmark.

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