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

The Morality of Market Mechanisms

By Lucia Ann Silecchia, Leslie Carothers, Bob Perciasepe, and Caroline Farrell

Environmental Law Reporter, Vol. 46, Pp. 10006 (I-2016); CUA Columbus School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-2.

Flint water crisis draws Southern Baptist response

January 28, 2016
By Tobin Perry, Baptist Press
Christian Telegraph

Charnisha Brown could describe in one word her feeling when she first realized that the water coming out of her pipes was contaminated – devastated.

“It was devastating to me because of the kids – especially my kids,” said Brown, a Flint, Mich., resident. “We don’t want the kids going through that. We...

EPA recruits faith groups to help end food waste

January 26, 2016
By Brian Roewe
National Catholic Reporter

The Gospel story of the feast of the multiplication of loaves and fish ends with Jesus instructing his disciples to gather the leftovers, “so that nothing will be wasted.” That’s a message the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hopes to tap into with Christian and other faith communities through a new initiative.

Religious Groups Lend Helping Hand in Flint Water Crisis

January 23, 2016
By Derek Welch
World Religion News

Interfaith effort responds to Michigan’s Contaminated water supply. The Flint water crisis has pushed state and federal officials to respond with urgent help. Residents of Flint, Michigan have been exposed to dangerous lead levels due to the faulty water system. In response, musicians, religious groups and even ex-prisoners...

In North Dakota's Booming Oil Patch, One Tribe Beat Back Fracking

The Turtle Mountain Band was among the first tribes to ban the drilling process. Here’s the difference it made.

By Sarah van Gelder
Yes! Magazine
January 21, 2016

Drive the long, straight roads of north-central North Dakota, and you pass lake after lake amid hayfields and forests. Migratory birds, attracted by the abundance of water and grain, pause here. Farmers,...

On Moral Grounds

January 22, 2016
By Maya Chandra
Yale Daily News

2015’s best advocate for the rights of the environment may very well be the Pope. And if other religious leaders follow his example, the U.S. just might be on its way to successfully combating climate change.

Climate change has been acknowledged as an environmental and politically divisive issue for years, but a new...

Church groups respond to water emergency in Flint, Michigan

January 20, 2016
By Barb Powell and Lauren Markoe
Christian Century

The Michigan bodies of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) launched The Gospel in Action––Flint in January as President Obama declared a state of emergency in the city over its poisoned water.

Two congregations in Flint are central in that effort: Vermont...

Thou Shalt Not Toss Food: Enlisting Religious Groups To Fight Waste

January 18, 2016
By Maria Godoy
NPR

Separation of church and state? When it comes to fighting food waste, the U.S. government is looking to partner up with the faithful.

The moral dimension of climate change—and of courage to address it

January 15, 2016
World Council of Churches

Implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change sharpened discussion of the 2015 papal encyclical Laudato Si’ at a UN conference initiated by the Holy See and several permanent missions to the UN on 15 January in Geneva.

Cardinal Turkson: Laudato si' continues to be relevant

January 15, 2016
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Turkson, on Friday spoke during a special event in Geneva discussing Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato si’.

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