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

June 12, 2011
By Duane Elgin
Huffington Post

What does a thriving way of life look like in a post consumerist society? Many aspects of a thriving future can be found by stepping into a contemporary co-housing community or eco-village.

June 10, 2011
By Thomas E. Lovejoy 
New York Times

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are pushing 400 parts per million (p.p.m.) — up from the natural pre-industrial level of 280 p.p.m. Emissions for last year were the highest ever. Rather than drift along until a calamity galvanizes the world, and especially the United States, into precipitous action, the time to act is...

June 9, 2011
United Nations Environment Programme

Nairobi - More than 130 faith leaders, including traditional leaders, mainly from Africa but also from Northern Europe and Asia gathered in Nairobi this week to reflect on the position of faith groups towards the environment and humanity, with a particular emphasis on climate change and its effects on Africa.

New conservation project launched to help save rare giant soft-shell turtle from extinction.

June 8, 2011
AFP

KRATIE, Cambodia - Cambodian monks and environmentalists launched a new conservation project on Wednesday to help save one of the world’s rarest and largest freshwater turtles from extinction.

A centre for the endangered Cantor’s giant soft-...

June 9, 2011
By Rich Heffern
National Catholic Reporter

Holy Cross Br. David Andrews is a senior representative at Food and Water Watch, a consumer group based in Washington. He is former director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.

Human illness, environmental contamination, serious animal illnesses, a danger to our food system: these are some of...

June 7, 2011
By Duane Elgin
Huffington Post

There is a common misconception that living more simply requires a life of sacrifice. In fact, it is just the opposite: When we live more lightly on the material side of life, we create the conditions for greater satisfaction and meaning on the non-material side of life. Lifestyles emphasizing consumerism are the ones that require...

Investing Just 0.034 Percent More of Global GDP Could Halve Deforestation, Generate Millions of Jobs and Combat Climate Change

United Nations Environment Programme
June 5, 2011

Delhi/Nairobi/World - Investing an additional US$40 billion a year in the forestry sector could halve deforestation rates by 2030, increase rates of tree planting by around 140 per...

June 5, 2011
By Duane Elgin
Huffington Post

The phrase “axial age” has been used to describe the relatively brief period of time – roughly 700 years – when the great religions of the world arose: Hinduism and Buddhism in India; Confucianism and Taoism in China; and monotheism in the Middle East. The period from roughly 900 BC to 200 BC is referred to as an “axial age” because...

June 6, 2011
By Babu Thomas
Christian Today India

The Catholic Church in Goa expressed concern over excessive mining in the state which it said posed a grave threat to ecologically sensitive areas.

Marking World Environment Day on Sunday, the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), the social wing of the archdiocese, lamented that mining, deforestation and...

May 31, 2011
United Nations Environment Programme

Nairobi - Whether through a litter clean-up around Mount Everest, a training programme in forest management Costa Rica or a music festival in Belgium, millions of people across the world will join forces to mark World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June 2011.

This year’s WED theme is ‘Forests: Nature at Your...