———————– ** Fresh Green Beans ** ———————– Grown in Kansas. Eaten Worldwide.

Note: I realize Lauren Keith wrote about this topic already. However, I have a different take on the topic. Furthermore, I apply it to the practice of journalism, morality and ethics all from a first-hand experience (I’m Catholic).

In today’s society, the Catholic Church is criticized for practically everything. Liberal and conservative Protestant faiths (and many other secular and non-secular entities in the world) have lambasted the Catholic Church for having archaic teachings, being anti-abortion and pro-pedophilia.

While other faiths and governments are arguing over minutia, the most populace Christian entity in the world has spear-headed the war on global warming, the most dangerous affliction facing the world today.

In his first homily in early 2005, Pope Benedict XVI stated, “The Earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction.” That was months before going green became trendy (at least six months before Al Gore brought the issue into the limelight with his film).

Recently, the Pope declared wastefulness and pollution as a deadly sin. For those not familiar with Catholic doctrine, that means polluting the earth is considered just as evil as murder.

(Photo by Jari Kurittu)

But Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t just talk the talk; he walks the walk. Last year, the Pope installed over 1,000 solar panels in Vatican City, attempting to make the shift from wasteful oil-based energy to sustainable solar power. He’s planning on integrating further changes to make the Vatican more green in the coming year. Additionally, the Pope practices green habits, such as heavy reforesting to offset his and the Vatican’s carbon emissions and hand-cranking to recharge his cell phone (Vatican City is the first carbon-neutral state).

According to a recent report for Newsday by Bart Jones, it is believed that Pope Benedict XVI is among one of only a few world leaders to bring the environmental disaster to the forefront of the world’s collective mind and actually promote positive change.

Unfortunately, all of the positive changes the Catholic Church is making are being relegated to page 6A in many national newspapers and appearing halfway through radio and television news broadcasts (or not at all). Instead, news stories focus on charges of molestation from 1972 (see here and here) and the Church’s pro-life protests. Additionally, many non-Catholics see this as a fleeting stunt. Hopefully, the international media are doing a much better job of informing the world about the Pope’s green message than the U.S. media. Therefore, people can actually understand the importance of the largest Christian church taking a stand against global warming.

The Pope has argued that protecting the earth is a moral issue. Hopefully, U.S. journalists will perform their moral duty and put the Pope’s good word where it belongs: On page 1A.

J.J. De Simone

The following video perfectly (and humorously) summarizes how I feel about the topic.

Are you there, God? It’s me, global warming.

When I logged on to Facebook yesterday, I was disturbed to see that my two least favorite things (organized religion and Yahoo! Inc.) have friend requested my best buddy, the Green Movement.

And the Green Movement accepted their friend request.

In a story posted yesterday on Yahoo! Green (which I had no idea existed until 12 hours ago), the Catholics’ second-in-command declared pollution a sin.

According to the article, the Pope has made a decent fuss about environmental problems, enough so to scare some churches to invest in eco-palms for this year’s Palm Sunday.

As much as I disagree with everything else the Pope stands for, I like seeing a major religion acknowledge and combat the climate crisis. In fact, Vatican announced plans last summer to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state. Yahoo’s article said that photovoltaic cells have been installed and that the Church has discussed the consequences of global warming.

Even though pollution is now one of the seven deadly sins, recent studies show that fewer Catholics are attending confession. It’s okay, sinners, the rest of the human race doesn’t want to own up to global warming yet either.

While Catholics only have a few new sins to steer clear of, I’ve compiled the Green Movement’s 10 “Greenmandments” to make sure the rest of us can also avoid eternal damnation.

And Mother Earth did spake:
I: Thou shalt have no other planets before Me.

II: Thou shalt not exploit resources in vain.

III: Thou shalt take a break from electronic devices and unplug them while not in use.

IV: Thou shalt recycle, even if thou must driveth to Wal-Mart in thy carbon dioxide emitting, 10-miles-per-gallon-getting Hummer.

V: Thou shalt not kill animals grown in factory farm conditions.

VI: Thou shalt not sleep with polluters to convert them to thine side.

VII: Thou shalt not steal, because then thou art consuming earthly goods.

VIII: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’s greenhouse gas emissions.

IX: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s solar panels, greywater irrigation system or organic garden because thou shalt soon have one of thine own.

X: Thou shalt not key thy neighbor’s Prius, even if thou would like to own one or thou knoweth the truth about its origins.

Hallelujah! Praise be with the planet.

–Lauren Keith