Winter 2013 Vol. 21, No. 1

Loretto Earth Network News

Step Into Action

By Maureen Fiedler SL

On Sunday November 18, I went to hear Bill McKibben, the president and co-founder

of 350.org. That organization is active in 191 countries around the world, making McKibben a global leader of the movement to deal with climate change. He spoke to a packed house at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, as part of his nationwide “Do the Math” tour.

McKibben laid out the stark and rapidly changing climate reality in numbers that should scare any thinking person. His bottom line is this: An increase of 2º Celsius in the earth’s atmosphere is a crisis point beyond which we cannot go if we have any hope of saving Planet Earth as we know it. That is the consensus of scientists worldwide.

We are nearing that edge even now. The earth’s temperature has already gone up 1º Celsius. These effects are evident in a melting polar ice cap, in more acidic oceans, in drought in the Midwest, and in erratic storms like Hurricane Sandy that hit New York and New Jersey recently.

Therefore to stay below McKibben’s 2 °, we can burn NO MORE than 565 gigatons of carbon-based fuel throughout the world. If we continue to burn fossil fuels at the rate we are using them today, we will blow through that 2º mark in 14-15 years!

Worse yet, there are five times that many gigatons (2,795 to be exact) in reserve, waiting to be burned.

A Civil Rights Movement for Mother Earth

And the fossil fuel industry (oil, coal, natural gas) is looking for more (under the sea, in shale formations in the earth … anywhere), and they intend to burn it all. McKibben says simply: We have to stop them.

As he put it, they are now a rogue industry. “So we want to put them in the public mind in the same place where big tobacco is right now.” In other words ... make them a pariah industry.

Many people have told McKibben that this is a “David vs. Goliath” kind of struggle. “But,” says McKibben, “I am a Methodist Sunday school teacher, and I know how that story ends!” David, against all odds, beats Goliath with a slingshot.

But how? What is McKibben’s slingshot?

One answer: A divestment campaign. Using the successful divestment campaign against apartheid in South Africa as a model, 350.org plans a major push to get as many institutions as possible

(colleges, universities, pension funds, religious orders, etc.) to withdraw their investments from fossil fuel industries.

But McKibben also offered a sign of hope. In Germany and the Scandinavian countries, there have been serious efforts to convert to solar and other forms of renewable energy for decades thanks to government policy. Germany (not exactly a “solar” tropical paradise) is reporting now that it has exceeded its goals for renewable energy conversion. In fact, renewable energy in Germany has increased from 6.3 percent nationally in 2000 to about 25 percent in 2012, and the German government expects to exceed its goals for 2020. Indeed, Germany has been called “the world’s first major renewable energy economy.” McKibben says: If Germany can do it, so can we, and China, and all the other nations gobbling up fossil fuels.

McKibben believes that cutting fossil fuel production has many dimensions, among them, ending oil drilling in the Arctic, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, opposing mountaintop removal and ending the practice of fracking.

In addition to divestment, look for a new campaign of demonstrations and nonviolent civil disobedience this spring and summer. McKibben and others have already demonstrated and spent time in jail for their efforts to stop the Keystone Pipeline. There is more to come – much more. Think of this as the “Civil Rights Movement” for Mother Earth.

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Editor’s Note

Mary Ann Coyle SL

This issue of Loretto Earth Network News is a bit of a study in contrasts. On December 22, 2012, we experienced, as Barbara Marx Hubbard describes it, “humanity’s great shift to the age of conscious evolution.” That very day was preceded by exhibits in at least two major cities, Houston and Philadelphia,

depicting the history of Mayan civilization as understood through the writings of archeologists, anthropologists, and even “doomsday” skeptics. The Houston Museum titled their exhibit “Mayan 2012 Prophecy Becomes History.” To illustrate this contrast, let me quote from astronomer Carolyn Summers of the Houston Museum, who says: “In reality, the Maya did suffer an apocalypse but it happened around 900 A.D. when classic Mayan civilization collapsed. It appears years of drought had stopped the rain. It was such a collapse that they never really recovered from it; they had overbuilt. They could not create a sustainable culture if the rains didn’t come, and that’s what we face today.” However, in spite of every warning, ancient and current, many feel that all is well. We are still here, Earth is still under foot, and we can begin to re-energize and think of transforming minds, society, and even corporations.

Let’s think first about politics. We lived through the 2012 election; hated the mudslinging and use of funds by the infamous Political Action Committees. We wondered about the silence of candidates on issues related to Earth—alternative energies, hydraulic fracturing, water, mining, the Keystone Pipeline, Hurricane Sandy, etc. In this issue, Maureen Fiedler SL took time out to listen to Bill McKibben, the president and co-founder of 350.org. If you will excuse the pun, she used her energy, wisely encouraging us to get in there wherever we can and however we are able! India’s national poet, Tagore, saw unity with nature as the highest stage of evolution. Can our political leaders be leading evolutionaries, letting wisdom, not corporate interests, be their legislative working guide? Maybe more time in the forest than in their windowless, book-lined offices would work. I think Maureen would agree. (I suggest that the entire winter 2013 issue of Yes! Magazine is a must read for all of us).

Next, Delores Kincaide SL has written two articles for this issue: A review of Carter Phipps’ Evolutionaries and a report of the wisdom she gained from attendance at the September 2012 meeting of SEED (Source for Educational Empowerment and Dialogue) Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I found both articles exciting. The former gives a wonderful critique of the process Phipps uses to integrate science, philosophy, spirituality, and theology into holistic, evolutionary thinking; the latter led me to the SEED website to read more about their conferences and speakers.

Two students at St. Mary’s Academy in Englewood, Colorado, Grace Gau and Sophie Roseto, members of the SMA Environmental Club, tell us how they were motivated to encourage composting at St. Mary’s after viewing the movie, Sun Come Up, and beingtraining in how to organize for change through ACE (Alliance for Climate Education). And Jullian Severinske, a Loretto volunteer in the St. Louis area, brings to our attention the cost of mining gold in El Salvador. This country is home to nearly 300 rivers but only 6 carry potable water. Jullian lists several actions we might take to support the banning of metallic mining by foreign interests in El Salvador. Last, Libby Comeaux CoL introduces the first of what we hope may be a series of articles calling for dialogue among our readers on the rights of Earth, with Libby as moderator.

As always, it is a treat to hear from you. We care passionately for this EARTH of magnificent, vibrant diversity. When we are faced with apparently divergent values say, as the protagonists of the movie Promised Land are, let us delight in our bioregion and savor the wisdom Nature brings us.

LENN Winter 2013 Page 3

EVOLUTIONARIES: Unlocking the Spiritual and Cultural Potential of Science’s Greatest Idea

by Carter PhippsREVIEWED BY Delores Kincaide SL

Carter Phipps is a writer, speaker and former executive editor of EnlightenNext magazine.

His book EVOLUTIONARIES cannot be called a tome in terms of size, yet in terms of content he has served his subject well. Sharing his conversations and his readings from the disciples of evolutionary ideas, he offers the reader an encyclopedia of scientific and metaphysical understandings. There is hardly an evolutionary concept that is not considered. These ideas take us far beyond our high school biology lessons. We hear about changing paradigms that are creating a new worldview and we are told that if we “see” it, understand it, we must help make it happen.

Phipps explores the evolution of evolution itself, then the evolution of technology, cooperation, consciousness, worldviews, information, values, spirituality, and religion. As you read his book you find yourself agreeing with his statement that his book is really about ideas around the change of meaning. Evolution, in this respect he says, has a unique capacity to be a source of spiritual fulfillment, authentic meaning, and purpose. It renews our faith in the possibilities of the future and inspires us to reach far beyond our present state.

Your attention will be quickly grabbed by the questions Phipps asks, for he questions everything. One such process is dubbed by Phipps “a sociable cosmos”. (See Chapter 4, p. 49) This, according to Phipps, incorporates the habits and understandings of the individual through a multitude of interactions. These take one beyond self-interest to the good of the whole. This, obviously, is not an easy process yet is one that depends on other

evolutionary factors such as the evolution of the brain, the mind, consciousness, etc. (You’ll get his idea quickly—nothing evolves by itself). Everything is interconnected. This is a common theme.

He tells us that communities are networks of complex interactions. He starts with the biology story of single-celled organisms that begin to work together (cooperate), resulting in entirely new life forms. He goes on to apply this process to ancient tribal dynamics, economic globalization, and cultural advancement. He says evolution begins at the “borders, the edges, the boundaries, the in-betweens” of all our activities. Stress becomes a part of evolutionary process because it elicits the greatest creativity. Then applying these ideas to our present situation in the world, he warns that we are facing a moral, spiritual, and interpersonal challenge that will test everything we have learned up until now. How will we, who live in this extraordinary diversity called the global community, learn to work together while walking the thin line between cooperation and self-interest?

Worldview is a topic that Phipps covers extensively. A development of a worldview changes radically over a 500 year period, or even longer if one looks at the “bigger picture.” Time, place, people, and their experiences and interactions are the important factors that determine the evolution of a particular worldview. The process is a slow one and is constantly shifting in definition even as it is developing. The author tells us that to embrace the power and potential of an evolving worldview and to embrace faith in the future it represents—whether associated with technology or consciousness—is to embrace a future with radically expanded limits. These pages lend themselves to good conversation about changing paradigms and the consideration of a connection between the worldview and the common good.

Another fascinating presentation is about the evolution of consciousness as studied by scientists and pondered by those of a metaphysical bent. Where did consciousness come from? What does it have to do with the brain, sentient existence or all that is unseen? Also, new perspectives are suggested about religion, spirituality, God, and the evolution that happens when interactions and relationships take place among many variables.

These ideas have stimulated my thoughts about whether or not God is evolving within and around us. Our very existence requires that we engage in carrying the process of evolution forward. The age-old questions of where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going are still valid, but new, creative, and different answers are evolving to lead us into the future. Phipps’ indispensable writings have opened so many doors for me and I don’t want to close any of them.

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This past summer as we watched the Olympics, the gold medal award symbolized the best

of human athletic ability. Gold is often depicted as being the best, as something powerful and regal, the epitome of beauty and wealth. Economically gold is the most stable currency standard and is currently worth approximately $1,800 per ounce … but at what cost?

On November 7 the Loretto sisters in St. Louis had the opportunity to speak with Friar Domingo Solis and agronomist Marvin Garcia about the impacts of gold mining in El Salvador. El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America has a high population density (300 per sq. km.), and is struggling against transnational mining corporations to defend the national water supply and the health of its citizens.

Commerce Group, a Milwaukee-based mining corporation, is one of the companies seeking to exploit the natural resources of El Salvador and is attacking the national government. The corporation rented a mine site in the region of San Sebastian in 1968 and took complete ownership in 1973. It began operating in 1985, and through 1999 Commerce Group produced 13,478 ounces of gold at approximately $600-$1000 per ounce. Their operations ended in 2001, and, in 2003, Commerce Group received a new 30-year concession for the mine but was not allowed to apply it.

At this time citizens were protesting the consequences of mining on the environment and the health of the community. Gold mining involves a process of cyanidation in which cyanide is used to separate the gold from the surrounding rock. This process uses a large amount of cyanide, arsenic, heavy metals, and water. In fact, the average

consumption of water by a mine for one day is equivalent to a family of five’s usage of water for 20 years. The use of cyanide and water has led to the contamination of the national water supply, causing environmental and health degradation of surrounding communities.

Although El Salvador is home to nearly 300 rivers, only 2% of the water is potable. As a result, families are now forced to spend 40 to 50% of their weekly income on bottled water. The health of the land and the people of the San Sebastian community have also been affected by the mining project. Marvin Garcia, an agronomist and resident of San Sebastian, stated that there is no plant or animal life within three kilometers of the river and that the river is so polluted that you can see the redness of the cyanide in the dry season. He also reported that there are elevated cases of kidney failure and cancer within his community. In 2006, members from his community along with environmental and faith-based organizations pressured then-President Antonio Saca to revoke Commerce Group’s mining concession. In August 2009 the corporation responded by filing a lawsuit at the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Salvadoran government for $100 million under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement’s (DR-CAFTA) investor-state clause. The case was thrown out in 2011 for having a similar lawsuit filed in El Salvador’s national court, but Commerce Group has since appealed the case. The ICSID ordered the government of El Salvador to pay for Commerce Group’s arbitration costs.

Pacific Rim, a mining corporation based in Toronto, also filed a lawsuit against the government of El Salvador in 2009 under the foreign-investor clause of the DR-CAFTA provisions. This past June the ICSID dismissed the corporation’s claims but the case will proceed to consider violations of El Salvador’s 1999 National Investment Law.

The trend of corporations suing resource-rich developing countries endangers the notion of freedom and sovereignty on individual, community, national, and international level.s Nevertheless thousands of Salvadorans are urging the Salvadoran government to enact a national ban against metallic mining as the only way to protect the rights of citizens. Friar Domingo Solis proclaimed that human health and the preservation of the environment is worth more than the price of gold and corporate greed. Metallic mining is not viable in El Salvador. As American citizens we should support the government of El Salvador’s initiative to stand up against this corporate exploitation.

The Terrible Cost Of Mining GoldBy Jullian Severinske, Loretto Volunteer

Jullian Severinske, Loretto Volunteer

Actions on page 5

A New Wind Is BlowingBy Libbly Comeaux CoL

“The Loretto Community supports adoption of a Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth by the United Nations. The Loretto Community supports enactment of legislation recognizing the rights of nature at every level of law.” Loretto Assembly 2012

With this issue of Loretto Earth Network News we begin to discuss the resolution

above with you, our readers. We are in some ways treading into new areas of thought and realize that questions will arise as we think together about Earth rights. Please keep us alert to your wonderings and we will dialogue together every three months via this column.

We begin our first column with notes on worldview and the fit with Christian theology. Future columns will address how the Rights of Mother Earth (ROME) emerged in international civil society, what traditional cultural and legal resources it draws upon, its text and interpretation, how it works in practice to protect nature where other legal approaches have failed, what actions we can take – and any other topics you request. Libby Comeaux, a member of the Loretto Earth Network Coordinating Committee, will engage you in dialogue on this issue. Contact her at libby.comeaux@gmail.com.

It is an understatement to say that our worldview and cosmology have changed in response to images from the Hubble telescope that record the beginning of time! In our childhood, we may have read Genesis so literally that we thought God hand-fashioned the world in a discrete period of seven

days, making only man in his image, and setting man up as some sort of lord or king over all other creatures. By now, we know only too well how humans can claim a divine entitlement to ravage and despoil the natural world. We even saw – in popular Left Behind novels during the first and second invasions of Iraq – how some can interpret Christianity to authorize active destruction of the natural world!

To redeem these distortions, theologians return to essential Biblical texts. A creature made in the image of God, whose behavior tends to reflect God’s own, is naturally respectful toward God’s other creatures. The gift of naming another being includes the responsibility to recognize its unique way of reflecting God’s creativity. Christian themes of relationship,

sacrament, and incarnation come forward in writings of theologians like Gloria Schaab and our own Elaine Prevallet, to ground us in this time of crisis.

It is Thomas Berry’s primary legacy that “Earth, our home and mother, the community of which we are a part, the primary revelation of the divine, is composed of subjects to be communed with, not objects to be exploited.” And his sense of imago Dei reflects Thomas Aquinas’ words, “Because the divine goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, God produced many and diverse creatures. … Thus the whole Universe together participates in divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better, than any single creature whatsoever.” (Summa Theologica I.47.1). At the beginning of this millennium, Thomas Berry wrote, “Rights originate where existence originates” – “rights” as “giving every being its due.” About subjects, he states, “Each component of the universe is capable of having rights.”

It is this change of worldview, from nature as objects for our exploitation, to nature as the womb from which humanity emerged (and with whom we are subjects to one another in a relationship of reciprocity) – that will ground our discussion about the Rights of Mother Earth.

“Mother Earth is the source of life,nourishment and learning andprovides everything we need

to live well.”

From the preamble to the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.http://www.rightsofmotherearth.com

LENN Winter 2013 Page 5

TAKE ACTION- Support the National Ban Against Metallic Mining in El Salvador!

1) Stay Informed. Join the Midwest Coalition against Lethal Mining list serve by emailing stopESmining@gmail.com2) Add your name to a letter to the Commerce Group today! Go online to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/com-

merce-group/ to sign your name. Then ask your friends, family, and relatives to do the same!3) Tell Commerce Group what you think by calling 414-462-5310 or emailing info@commercgroupcorp.com 4) Get your organization involved! Add your organization’s name to the letter supporting a complete mining ban in

El Salvador. Find the full text of the letter at: http://www.stopesmining.org/j25/index.php/sign-on-to-support-the-mesa.

The SEED Institute was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. It began as an open

university and is currently in the process of becoming a degree-granting graduate institute. Its mission is “to provide quality education by bringing together diverse ways of knowing through dialogue for the purpose of fostering original thinking that is increasingly interconnected, whole, wise and effective.” An early conference gathered together quantum physicists, Native American Elders, and linguists in a talking circle dialogue format. They found out that they were “speaking the same language” that could further the evolutionary process by melding the wisdom of the past and the knowledge of the present. A visit to their website provides an interesting trip.

On September 16, Sandra Hareld CoL and I attended the conference that featured Marianne Williamson and Barbara Marx Hubbard as speakers. It was a good choice.

Surrounded by a circle of participants, Marianne Williamson addressed her audience. Courage, Conscience, and Conviction were her themes. Her call was one of personal challenge to engage ourselves with the inner spiritual work which will enable us to do the political work now needed. She began by recalling her hippy days, usually defined only in terms of sex and drugs. She, however, remembers that movement as one which stopped a war and showed the power of a united people. She reminded us that during that war there existed a draft and, therefore, all were united in the pain of a war we could not escape.

After the killing of youth protestors at Kent State there was a pulling back from open response to unjust power. However, today people are responding to another “possible death,” the very death of our planet. Together we must foster both a political and a spiritual change, she said. Every idea is stronger when shared. We are now being asked to

come together in zealous love just as others are together in zealous hate. Any spirituality that does not challenge us to face the pain of others is not true enlightenment.

In our nation’s past a ruling elite marginalized the indigenous people and now the middle-class (and others) are being marginalized by our present elite. We are facing disaster and must be the midwives of a new civilization. Marianne ended her session by honoring the request of an American Indian in the group who wanted us to participate in a ceremony in which an apology would be given to the indigenous people present. Those sitting next to an indigenous person were asked to stand facing one another and to hold hands. The rest of us were requested to repeat with them Marianne’s beautiful words of forgiveness which she said was a beginning for us all since

forgiveness opens the heart to deeper relationships. It was a perfect way to begin the spiritual practices she was asking us to consider during her talk. In the afternoon session Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed us on the topic of “birthing” the next great step in the evolutionary process. The past time-table of human history, as given

to us through one of the Mayan Calendars, ends on December 21, 2012. Our new-time of evolutionary development begins on December 22, 2012. In her call to “birthing” a new era of evolution, she caused more than one occasion for laughter as she discussed menopause as the end of pro-creation and the beginning of co-creation; of the end of super-sex that joins genes to the practice of supra-sex which joins

genius—that is, the unique creativity which comes from joining with others. Those of us over 50, she says, are in a developmental stage that enables us to become leaders, mentors, and guides to those ready to hear how they, too, can engage in creating a kinder, more responsible world.

How can we accomplish moving into a new evolutionary state? Barbara’s practical suggestion is to form “hubs” of sacred space held in common where the evolutionary impulse can affect all the earth. Call them places of global communion of pioneering souls. Her suggestion resonated with me because I see Loretto as the “hub” she is talking about and the pioneering souls she mentions. It is our call, and has been our call, to build the New Kingdom on earth. It begins within us individually and grows outwardly without any pre-conceived limitations.

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WISDOM FROM THE ORIGINS CONFERENCETHE MAYAN CALENDAR AND OTHER PROPHECIES ON THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY

Presented by the SEED Institute In Albuquerque, New Mexico – September 13-17, 2012By Delores Kincaide SL

LENN Winter 2013 Page 7

By Maureen Fiedler SL

Elections have consequences. So what are the consequences of the re-election of President

Obama for the environment? What can he do with a House of Representatives still in Republican control and resistant to any environmental legislation?

First of all, let’s be clear: the re-election of Obama saved us from a much worse situation. Candidate Mitt Romney was suddenly no longer sure (as he was when he was Governor of Massachusetts) about climate change and its causes. He was beholden to the fossil fuel industries, which would certainly have had free rein to develop oil and coal resources. He favored ending subsidies for renewable energy and wanted to cut the regulatory power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Indeed, some in his party wanted the EPA eliminated. So, at one level, we can breathe a sigh of relief.

But another factor blew in at the end of the campaign: Hurricane Sandy. That devastating event moved public opinion on climate change. Post-election polling commissioned by Climate Nexus found that 60 of American voters agree that “global warming made Hurricane Sandy worse.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York led the public discussion in the Huffington Post: “Climate change is a reality. Political gridlock has held us back too long. ... Maybe Mother Nature is telling us something ...” Events like Sandy, tragic as they are, can help build political pressure for climate action.

But even after Sandy, is Obama the environmental savior? He certainly understands the issues and knows that we must enact new policies to confront climate change. In his first term, he championed renewables especially wind and solar, in his initial

stimulus package. He increased mileage requirements for cars and light trucks. But even in the first half of his administration, when Democrats controlled both houses, Congress did not pass a carbon tax or even “cap and trade” legislation that would have begun to lower carbon emissions. Other priorities occupied the presidential agenda, principally economic recovery and health care reform.

In 2010, Congress changed markedly. Tea Party Republicans were a significant bloc in the House, and meaningful environmental legislation became impossible.

So, with the House still a problem, the environmental advances most likely in the next two years are those that do not require Congressional approval. According to a panel of journalists and energy analysts speaking at Denver University on Nov. 13, what we can expect are executive actions: stronger EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, new mercury and air toxics standards, and new standards for water quality and methane emissions.1

Uncertainties include: Obama’s decision about completion of the Keystone Pipeline (which would bring oil from the Canadian “tar sands” to the Gulf of Mexico) and decisions about fracking (breaking up underground shale rock to extract natural gas or oil.) The latter practice has contaminated drinking water in

some parts of the country, and some believe it plays a role in causing small earthquakes.

Moreover, the environment is not Obama’s top priority. He has a lot on his plate: budget negotiations, immigration reform and now gun control – not to mention foreign policy crises.

At the same time, the environmental movement elected a number of new, powerful advocates to both the House and Senate in 2012. (See: http://www.lcv.org/elections/environmental-facebook/) And so ... although the House remains problematic, the situation is ripe for public pressure.

That’s why just about all major environmental organizations have joined forces with 350.org to stop any further construction of the Keystone Pipeline. A major demonstration is scheduled for Presidents’ Day weekend, February 17, 2013, in Washington, D.C., urging presidential leadership on climate change.

So yes, environmentalists won this election, but what we won was the right – and the obligation – to pressure the federal government for immediate, concrete action.

1 Thanks to Libby Comeaux for supplying this information on the

Election 2012: What It Means for the Environment

Loretto Earth Network News

A publication of the Loretto Community Editor: Mary Ann Coyle SL 3126 S Osceola Street Denver, CO 80236-2332

Email: macoyle303@comcast.net www.lorettocommunity.org

Layout: Nancy Wittwer SL

What does a small community of young women have in common with a community of displaced islanders halfway across the world? In early October the Environmental Club at St. Mary’s Academy High School

in Englewood, Colorado, hosted a showing of the film entitled Sun Come Up as suggested by Sister Regina Drey. This documentary follows the Carteret Islanders, the world’s first environmental refugees. This group of young families, lead by Ursula Rakova, were forced to search for new homes in a war-torn city in Papua, New Guinea, due to the rising sea level and the depletion of resources on their island. This documentary puts a human perspective on the local and global effects of the changing climate. Watching this heart-wrenching journey forced the SMA students to reflect on the interconnectedness of lives: how their way of life can affect, and will be affected by, global climate change.

A few weeks after viewing this documentary, JD Prater, a representative of The Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), came and spoke to us. ACE encourages high school students to become educated on these issues and inspires them to find simple ways to reduce environmental impact within their homes and in school life. The presentation focused on an overview of the causes and effects of the constantly changing global environment. Following the ACE presentation, the SMA Environmental Club wanted to become more involved with this organization. The executive members of the club, along with representatives from six other Colorado high schools, began this journey with ACE by attending a leadership training in which they learned how to transform a basic idea into a tangible proposal and enact the idea within their own communities. Specifically, the Environmental Club has used this method to begin implementing composting within the school. This school-wide movement is one of many that will help create an increasing awareness and a culture that promotes active involvement in working toward local and global change.

Though science is a large part of the issue and the search for solutions, the main focus of the seminar was the same as in the movie Sun Come Up—harm to the global environment is directly linked to harm inflicted on the humans who inhabit it. Sun Come Up focused on the personal struggles of one group of islanders who were being displaced, and the conference focused on similar issues but on a global scale. By understanding why environmental issues are so important, we have gained perspective into the importance that students make. Though we may not be able to help Ursula Rakova and her people, we must be the root of change because we have inherited a world in need of help, care, and relief. As society learns to be more compassionate to the people with whom we walk on Earth, we also need to learn to be as compassionate to the Earth we walk upon.

Making ConnectionsBy Sophia Roseto and Grace Gau, St. Mary’s Academy High School Students

Sophia and Grace