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MAY 2008
When is
becoming less dependent on petroleum a bad thing?
Louise
Cleary, Brigidine Sister, prepared the complete article on this issue which
will be posted on the UNANIMA International web site
www.uananima-international.org What follows is an abbreviated
version.
Food
and Fuel go together
-
Samuel Baraka has had to make do without “luxuries”. Since the beginning of
the year, items like bread have been missing from his shopping list because
he can only afford the very basic commodities. (East African Standard,
Nairobi,17 March 2008)
- Filling up
an SUV's fuel tank with ethanol uses enough maize to feed a person for a
year.(Economist 6Dec2007)
- Grain
prices are soaring. Rice is selling for over $1000/tonne in April whereas it
averaged at $270/tonne last year.
We have all
heard about the growing food crisis and soaring food prices. This has been
exacerbated by the use of food crops for biofuels, particularly in the
global north, and raises a moral dilemma.
Some would
say that what biofuels do is undeniable: they take food out of the mouths of
starving people and divert them to be burned as fuel in the car engines of
the world's rich consumers. ….
Biofuels,
which are made from corn, palm oil, sugar cane and other agricultural
products, have been seen by many as a cleaner and cheaper way to meet the
world's soaring energy needs than with greenhouse-gas emitting fossil fuels.
Canada, the United States, the European Union, Japan and Australia have
targets to increase their energy production from biofuels, either by
domestic agriculture or by importing the raw materials. Kenya, South East
Asia and Brazil are looked to as key market sources; Brazil was expected to
supply 50% of the European Union’s market for biofuels as the EU worked
towards its original goal of having 20% of its energy produced by biofuels
by 2020….
During the
Commission on the Status of Women in March the disproportionate effects of
climate change on women, particularly from developing countries, was
highlighted. At review sessions in Financing for Development the anticipated
immense costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation were addressed and
the worry that this would impact severely on meeting the MDG’s,
particularly, MDG 1 especially eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by
2015, which is already seriously off-track. Speakers at the current
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues are vociferous in expressing their
concerns about the impacts of both biofuel production and deforestation,
accelerated by carbon trading mechanisms, on their livelihood, health and
culture….
It is clear
that the excessive energy consumption of the developed world is key in
accelerating climate change and it is a matter of justice that the consumers
bear their proportion of the responsibility for reducing the impacts. It is
a matter of life and death for many who bear the disproportionate costs of
energy consumption, they will die of starvation.
WHAT’S NEW
A TREMENDOUS
THANK YOU…
In the last several weeks UNANIMA International received word that it has
received grant awards from special funds of our member congregations to
assist in the funding of our STOP THE DEMAND campaign. The Society of the
Holy Child Jesus has granted us $7,000 and the Holy Union Sisters have
granted us $7,000 from the Mother Helena Fund and the Sisters of St. Anne
granted us $10,000 from Esther’s Dream. A huge thank you to each of them
for their support.
A
SECOND TREMENDOUS THANK YOU and congratulations.
UNANIMA
International offers a special congratulations to administrative assistant
(and more) Jennifer Kuhlman. She will be graduating on 16 May with a
Master’s from the
New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Unfortunately this means that she will be leaving us for a full-time job
soon. She has made significant contributions to UNANIMA International this
year especially by putting the STOP THE DEMAND campaign materials on the
website in four languages, and by serving as secretary for the NGO Committee
on Financing for Development. We will miss her creativity and enthusiasm.
Commission
on Sustainable Development,
5-16 May in New York. UNANIMA International will be represented by a
special delegation of four members: Holy Names Sisters, Claudette Bastien,
Denise Girard, and Sue Schaad, and CSA Sister Kathleen Ries. Next month’s
updates will have further information on what happens at this commission
meeting.
Application
Deadline for Intern position
for next year is approaching quickly. If you or anyone you know is
interested in this position, please encourage them to apply soon.
(Application attached here and will also be posted on the UNANIMA
International website.)
Participation
in Protest against the HBO
reality show CATHOUSE which is set in a brothel. As part of their
anti-trafficking activities Louise, Catherine and Kathleen Ries formed a
picket line protesting the sexual exploitation of women in this show.
Sr. Kathleen
hands out flyers explaining the purpose of the 24 April protest in front of
the HBO Offices in New York City.
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