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

For Faithful, Social Justice Goals Demand Action on Environment

June 20, 2015
By Justin Gillis
New York Times

For an earnest young Christian named Ben Lowe, revelation came on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in Africa. A relentless warming of the lake was reducing the catch of fish, the people were going hungry — and he had learned of scientific evidence that...

"Ridiculous" to tell pope to butt out of climate change debate

June 19, 2015
By Douglas Todd
The Vancouver Sun

Those who claim Pope Francis should keep quiet about the disastrous consequences of climate change are, in effect, trying to silence almost half the Canadian population, says a Jesuit scientist.

Falling in Love With the Earth: Francis' Faithful Ecology

June 19, 2015
By Jacob J. Erickson
Religion Dispatches

In a brief article in an unassuming 1967 edition of Science, a medieval historian from the University of...

How to Read Pope Francis on the Environment (Interview with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim)

Interviewee: Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, co-directors, The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University

Interviewer: Robert McMahon, Editor

Council on Foreign Relations
June 18, 2015

Pope Francis and Integral Ecology

June 18, 2015
By Sam Mickey
Becoming Integral

The new encyclical by Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On the Care of our Common Home, contains many references to “integral ecology,” including an entire chapter by that title.

Wisconsin Islamic Group Ties Green Initiatives to Spirituality

June 18, 2015
By Susan Bence
Milwaukee Public Radio

Among faith groups, a ground swell of environmental concern has been building. This includes within the Muslim community, which begins Ramadan – their sacred month of fasting – today.

In Milwaukee, a group called the Islamic Environmental Group of...

Francis' Momentous Encyclical: On Care for Our Common Home

June 19, 2015
By Dave Pruett
Huffington Post

“We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story. We are between stories.” – Father Thomas Berry

Pope Francis' Encyclical: Hearing the Cry of the Earth

June 19, 2015
By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Huffington Post

The Earth “now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her.” So begins Pope Francis in his powerful and long-awaited encyclical on ecology. “The earth herself, burdened and laid waste...

Laudato Si' and Water: The Vatican's Encyclical Letter and Global Water Challenges

June 18, 2015
By Peter H. Gleick, President, Pacific Institute
Huffington Post

Pope Calls for Moral Campaign on Climate Crisis

June 17, 2015
By Kieran Cooke
Climate News Network

Hard-hitting message from the Vatican warns of the threat global warming poses to the world’s ecosystems − and to everyone on the planet.

LONDON, 17 June, 2015 – Pope Francis has challenged climate change deniers by declaring that the destruction of the ecosystem is a moral issue that has to be...

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