A statement from a meeting of Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania has expressed concern about “the indisputable fact of rising sea levels.” “In some cases, entire regions and nations are under threat from the indisputable fact of rising sea levels,” the statement says. “Examples from this part of the world include the Carteret Islands, Read more
Despite Pope Francis’s call for urgent action on climate change, many US Catholic dioceses and organisations retain major investments in energy companies. A Reuters’ investigation has shown some of the largest American Catholic organisations have millions of dollars invested in the energy sector. Investments range from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers. Dioceses with Read more
Our government has done the right thing in using its role as chair of the United Nations Security Council this month to give Small Island Developing States, (SIDS) the opportunity to air concerns, says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey. However she believes New Zealand needs to ‘walk the talk’ on the security and wellbeing of Pacific Read more
The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is to visit Samoa, Tonga and Fiji to lead a series of leadership reflections on climate change. He has been invited to come by the Most Revd Dr Winston Halapua, the Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia. He will be in the Pacific from 27 July to 14 August. Read more
Cardinal George Pell has seemingly criticised Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical, arguing that the Church has “no particular expertise in science”. In an interview with the Financial Times, the cardinal appeared to distance himself from the science behind some of the statements in Laudato Si’. In the document, released last month, Francis called for global Read more
The Polynesian Leaders Group, made up of eight countries, have adopted a declaration calling for international recognition of their countries’ vulnerability to climate change. The Polynesia Against Climate Threats declaration calls for a joint effort to protect the ocean and the environment, and will be taken to world leaders at a major climate change conference Read more
Climate change minister Tim Groser last week announced that Zealand’s provisional target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 which is equivalent to 11 per cent below 1990 levels. This target has been condemned as inadequate and some critics are saying New Zealand’s clean green image is Read more
When I was young the intellectual milieu was shaped by the need to come to terms with the unprecedented crimes and the general moral collapse that had taken place on European soil following the outbreak of great power conflict in August 1914 – Hitler and Stalin, the Holocaust and the Gulag, the concentration camps and Read more
The Vatican may consider, but is not committed to, divesting its holdings in fossil fuels, an official has indicated. That is despite Pope Francis’s call in his encyclical Laudato Si’ for bold action to fight climate change and global warming, The Guardian reported. At a press conference on July 1, Flaminia Giovanelli from the Pontifical Read more
Ursula Rakova, who was born in the Carteret Islands, is visiting New Zealand. The Carteret atoll is only 1.2 meters above sea level. Originally there were six islands, but Huene was split in half by the sea and so now there are seven. In 1995 a wave ate away most of the shorelines of Piul and Read more