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Japanese whalers hunted for way to scuttle protesters

09 Jan 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist speaks approvingly of the majestic voice of the Lord which was “over vast waters.” Japanese whaling officials, whose boats scour the vast oceans every winter hunting whales, expressed a decidedly more negative opinion of an anti-whaling organization in confidential discussions with U.S. diplomats over what “actions” could be taken against the organization, according to the documents released by Wikileaks on Monday. The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's tax-exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009. The society's yearly protest campaign, during which its boats chase Japan's whaling fleet, trying to disrupt the hunt, has drawn high-profile donors and volunteers and spawned the popular Animal Planet series "Whale Wars." Action against Sea Shepherd would be a "major element" in achieving success at international negotiations on the number of whales killed each year, the cables cite the director general of Japan's fisheries agency, Katsuhiro Machida, as saying. Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, said Japan has previously pressured foreign governments to take action against the group, such as revoking the registration of its ships. He said the organization had last been audited about two years ago, before the exchanges detailed in the cables. "We have had our tax status since 1981, and we have done nothing different since then to cause the IRS to change that," he said. Japan kills hundreds of whales a year under a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research." Source: Articles by Jay Alabaster for the Associated Press and Agence France Presse

japan whale hunting whaling international whaling commission monica medina sea shepherd conservation society katsuhiro machida fisheries agency paul watson

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Breakfast is abundant but don't overeat

10 Apr 2016 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Easter season is all about abundance, and this Sunday exemplifies that with the story of the risen Christ guiding his fishermen-followers to an ample haul of fish, so ample they have trouble hauling in their nets. “Come, have breakfast,” he then says to them, in a reminder that abundance and nourishment is to be shared. Flash forward 20 centuries. The amount of fish in the oceans has fallen by half since 1970, in a plunge to the "brink of collapse" caused by over-fishing and other threats, says the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Populations of some commercial fish stocks have fallen by almost 75 percent. “There is a massive, massive decrease in species which are critical” both for the ocean ecosystem and food security for billions of people, said Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International. "The ocean is resilient but there is a limit." “Billions of animals have been lost from the world's oceans in my lifetime alone," says Ken Norris, director of science at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). "This is a terrible and dangerous legacy to leave to our grandchildren.” Damage to coral reefs and mangroves, which are nurseries for many fish, add to the problems caused by over-fishing. Other threats include coastal development, pollution, and climate change, which is raising temperatures and making waters more acidic. Closing fishing grounds and cracking down on illegal fishing would give stocks a chance to recover. Some grounds, such as those off Fiji, have been revived by stronger protection. Safeguarding the oceans can help economic growth, curb poverty, and raise food security, conservation groups argue. As well, a team of international ocean scientists is urging policy makers around the world to start tracking every vessel on the planet, in the same way ride-hailing services like Uber tracks cars. A report in the journal Science says the anonymity granted to vessels at sea creates perfect conditions for overfishing and the destruction of entire ocean ecosystems. Lessons drawn from the gospel Abundance is wonderful but not limitless. We humans have to learn to live in a sustainable way. The gospel this Sunday ends with Jesus uttering the same two words with which his public ministry began: “Follow me.” We’re invited to follow him in a lifestyle that emphasizes simple living, sharing, and generosity. Another great fish story, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, teaches us that there is more than enough to go around when we share—and clean up after ourselves and save the leftovers! While we overfish the oceans to the point of exhaustion, we also throw out about 40 percent of all our food--$165 billion worth by one estimate. Final thought in light of the news Conservation International has a great commercial running called "Nature Is Speaking" in which “Mother Nature” says to humanity, in essence: “Take care of me or I can’t take care of you. I don’t need people; people need me.” There is still time for us to follow Jesus into a simpler, more generous way of life that is more in tune with nature. Yes, there are quite a few more of us on the planet now than 20 centuries ago. But it’s not a question of how many we are, but of how wise we are. The good news is, nature is abundant and there is enough for all of us—if we stop wasting and learn to share. It's called good stewardship, and we are called to be the good stewards.

nature stewardship conservation

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The world is running dry of drinking water

04 Sep 2016 - Preaching the News for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

When praying to God this Sunday, the psalmist acknowledges our mortality in stark terms: “You turn man back to dust.” It appears that humanity is doing a pretty good job of its own on the dusting front, with people around the world living in increasingly dry, dusty, water-stressed cities. Water stress—where the human or ecological demand for water is not met—is caused by a variety of factors. There’s the physical scarcity of water due to lack of rainfall, the natural aridity of the area, and, increasingly, changes in climate; but poor management and investment in water infrastructure, and pollution, also play their parts. Experts say the problem affects an estimated 2.7 billion people for at least one month of every year, across every continent—and is particularly pressing in cities as the global urban population grows. At present, almost 4 billion people live in cities, with a further 2.5 billion expected to join them by 2050. As the urban population grows, so too does the number of people living in settlements that are not connected to a formal piped water supply. Currently, some 860 million people live in slums around the world; their lack of access to clean water carries enormous health consequences. As freshwater supplies dry up, many cities are engaged in a race to the bottom as they turn to groundwater—with some underground aquifers now so overexploited that water is extracted much faster than it is recharged. During the height of the recent drought in California, farms and cities were apparently drilling so deeply for groundwater that they tapped into reserves that had fallen to earth as rain 20,000 years ago. In some places, lack of rainfall has led to dusty conditions that on windy days can give rise to intense dust storms. Weather researchers call dust a deadly and underrated weather hazard. Dust storms are the third largest cause of weather fatalities in Arizona over the past 50 years, concluded a report by meteorologists with the National Weather Service and a University of Arizona atmospheric sciences researcher. In terms of injuries, dust leads the list, and the number of deaths attributed to blowing dust might be higher if researchers could quantify the correlation between episodes of blowing dust and deaths from valley fever or respiratory failure. Drought is also an ongoing problem that contributes to water stress and dust. Over the past few years, both Los Angeles and São Paulo have been hit by major droughts affecting their surrounding states. For California, 2014 and 2015 were the two hottest years in its history. In Brazil meanwhile, the main reservoir supplying São Paulo dropped to just 6 percent of its capacity and residents were hit with regular water rationing. Some were forced to move away to more water-reliable areas. While the droughts affecting Los Angeles and Sao Paulo—both of which are now said to be over—had a severe impact on these cities, neither can be placed among the world’s most water-stressed. There are many cities that never receive any significant rainfall. Lima is a particular concern, built on the Peruvian coast, one of the driest desert regions in the world. The city, with a population of around 8.5 million, receives just one centimeter of rainfall on average each year—water supply is irregular, and a fifth of the population is cut off from the drinking-water network. It doesn’t rain much in the Middle East either, and nor are there many freshwater sources. Indeed, the top five countries with the lowest renewable freshwater resources per person are all in that region: Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Qatar. A water crisis has also hit India and southern Africa. After two successive dry years, 330 million people in India, around a quarter of the population, are facing acute water shortages. A scorching summer is at its peak: Destitute farmers are committing suicide and tanks are running dry. Officials in Madhya Pradesh, in central India, have deployed armed guards to protect a fast-depleting reservoir. As for southern Africa, the United States in July announced $127 million in aid for the region, where the worst drought in decades is affecting millions of people, stunting children, and tempting some farmers to eat their grains instead of saving them as seed for the next crop. The region's most severe drought in 35 years is also a growing health crisis. One-third of the world's HIV-infected population lives in southern Africa, and the United Nations says people cannot take their treatment on an empty stomach. The number of people at risk could grow sharply during the traditional lean season that starts in October, the U.N. says. Lessons drawn from the readings The reading from the Book of Wisdom reminds us that the "deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.” Our reserves of fresh water are severely stressed in part because we have failed as communities and nations to pay attention to our most basic needs and to provide for a sustainable future for our descendents. Awareness is the first step, followed by being involved in the effort to find solutions to the growing shortage of clean drinking water. Final thought in light of the news In a recent report, NASA pointed out that our world is running on the brink of a freshwater shortage. Giant lakes are disappearing, and the world is heading toward a future where many countries could be water insecure. But environmental innovators are seeking ways to introduce new technology that help businesses and individuals alike cut down on their water usage without compromising their quality of life. Some of those technologies are: Solar powered water purifiers, water leakage monitors, “lifesaver” bottles that include a filter and pump that can make a bottle of dirty water fit for drinking, new shower technologies that save water, and even a skin cleaning product that proposes a “shower without water.” No one idea will solve the entire problem, but if we work together and each do our part, we will leave a legacy of living water.

clean water water shortage dust pollution water conservation

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