In the Tradition of Joseph – An Ecological Reflection

As we embrace this time of Advent and Christmas many of the traditional images of our Faith come to the fore, not least the figure of St. Joseph and the story of his role in Christian history.

The narrative is familiar; Joseph the quiet man, the protector of Mary and Jesus. Depictions of the story are ubiquitous in this season. It may seem to be a stretch too far to link the tradition of Joseph with our call to care for the earth today! But this is precisely the link made by Pope Francis in his inaugural homily given on the Feast of St. Joseph, 2013. 

Pope Francis claimed the tradition of St. Joseph as protector. Joseph was a protector “By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans … because he is able to hear God’s voice, is sensitive to those in his care. He can look at things realistically and is in touch with his surroundings.”

Francis, like his two predecessors, is acutely in touch with the realities of our current surroundings in which environmental destruction and human suffering are inseparable. Therefore, he can take a radical leap when he invites us to imitate Joseph the protector. He says, “In him we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!” An inseparable bond!

Francis continues, being a protector like Joseph “means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world …. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people and showing loving concern for each and every person,” especially those who are most vulnerable. Today, some of the most vulnerable are those whose poverty and suffering are a direct result of environmental problems and whose fulfilment of basic needs, in turn, causes further environmental destruction in vicious cycles of depletion.

As we reflect on the gift of our vocation as Sisters of St. Joseph and Associates/Companions, the call to be “protectors” in imitation of St. Joseph, in the environmental and social realities of our time is perhaps especially personal. Our vocation has at its heart the call to protect all of creation.

As we enjoy the images of Joseph in this special liturgical season perhaps we can stretch our limited understandings of tradition, just as Joseph, in his time, was called to engage his deeper questions and listening, to find the courage to risk the next steps in a world of inevitable change and profound need. For as historian of Christianity, Eamon Duffy, has written, tradition is never static. It is “a source of confidence in launching into the uncharted future; a future that in all its complexity and contradictoriness, is abundant evidence that change is a sign of life.” This Christmas may we be filled with the life of Christ and of God’s ever-changing, good creation.

Mining - Resource Extraction - Fracking

An Environmental And Ethical Challenge (Part 2)

In ancient seas, hydrocarbons of coal, crude oil and natural gas were deposited in sedimentary shale rock.  Over the last century the ‘conventional’ shallow reservoirs of these fossil fuels, are being depleted and now hydraulic fracking is used to extract deeper ‘unconventional’ natural gas deposits.  Like the tar sands extraction, fracking is raising new ethical concerns. 

What is Fracking?  A vertical well, reinforced with concrete, is drilled miles beneath the earth’s surface. It is then turned horizontally to run an equal distance into the shale where natural gas is trapped.  Small fissures are made creating perforations in the rock.  Several million gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals to keep the fissures open, are then forced down the well under extremely high pressure, fracturing the rock and creating paths for the gas to flow towards the well. About 70% of the fracking water is brought back to the surface for re-use or as waste water.  Watch YouTube: “Hydraulic Fracturing- Shale Natural Gas Extraction” (3 mins) and “Shale Gas Drilling: Pros and Cons”(7 mins).

Supporters of fracking are motivated by economic growth and the desire for domestic energy security; thus, shifting power from the Middle East to democratic regimes. This is a modern worldview. Scientifically well based, they advocate comparison analysis citing, e.g. using less water than agriculture. However, does this rationale justify the means? To its credit there is research to reduce the volume of water and toxic chemicals. Yet overall, the industry is severely under-regulated and is exempt from federal water management laws and other environmental legal obligations.  Ultimately economic profit from the expansion of fracking remains the goal.

Environmentalists, challenging fracking, are in a post-modern worldview, advocating for ethical sustainable practices and responsible stewardship. Environmental and health issues are primary concerns. For fracking, vast amounts of water are used stressing current reservoirs with competing needs.  The chemicals, many of which are carcinogens, cannot be safely removed from the waste water. A fear is that water not recovered will contaminate aquifers and ground water. The toxic greenhouse gas, methane, often leaks into the atmosphere impacting climate change. Fracking even appears to increase earthquake activity. In an era when the low cost of gas undermines development of renewable resources, new standards of sustainable goals are desperately needed to challenge fracking’s unprecedented pace.

Thomas Berry writes, “We can no longer live spiritually in any adequate manner simply within the limits of our early religious tradition.”1    What is needed is an expanded “spirituality of intimacy with the natural world.”2   As science and technology thrust humans into an increasingly complex world we must develop as “ecological sensitive personalities” with a new understanding of rights that shifts the preferential corporate influence to one that includes both the rights of local communities and of nature. This is the emerging integral worldview.

Beacons of hope are arising, probing the deeper dialogue, to give equal voice to humans, industry and the natural world as Quebec and Nova Scotia declare a moratorium on fracking pending environmental assessment and other countries ban it. As Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada ‘the more’ compels us to be counted among the prophets of an integral worldview with its, sustainable earth community spirituality.  This moves us from polarization to inclusion, recognizing the values and shortcomings of any position.  Inspired by Father Nepper, we are called to live into the “holy disquietude”3 that begs a questioning and discerning heart.

1 Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe; pg. 19

2 Ibid, pg. 138

3 Fr. Nepper, Portrait of a Daughter/Sister of St. Joseph

Mining: A Turning Point Needed (Part 1)

Perhaps you grew up in a mining town, or in a family who has history of links with mining. For many Canadians over the last century the link was with actual mines. We saw directly both the negative impacts on the environment and the benefits to families. For many Canadians today, the link is with investment and the stock market. We do not easily see how mining impacts the people, the environment or the well-being of the planet and its waters unless we seek out those answers. What we hear most is that mining benefits the economy. We live in a society that ranks economic benefit both as its bottom line and as the ideal in which corporations have more rights than individuals or communities of peoples. As long ago as 2007, Mining Watch Canada stated the following: 

Across Canada, communities and Aboriginal governments are saying they have had enough when it comes to the privileged access mining has to land under the existing system, which grants “free entry” to prospectors and mining companies under the assumption the mining is the “highest and best” use of land. Globally, communities are demanding a say in their own futures, and Indigenous peoples in particular are increasingly demanding free, prior, informed consent for development projects that will affect them. (www.miningwatch.ca)

Canada has the highest number of mining companies in the world listed on our stock market. Canadian mining companies are increasingly accused of violations of human rights and violations of ecological integrity around the world. Development and Peace (www.devp.org) as well as Kairos (kairoscanada.org) and now, the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (http://cnca-rcrce.ca), continue to call for an ombudsman for the extractive industry sector who could insist on responsible mining at home and abroad. They also seek legislation making Canadian companies liable in Canadian courts for injustices in other countries.

Some of the ecological devastation that has resulted from mining is documented in videos, photos and personal stories on the above websites. You can also type “impacts of mining” into your browser and find hundreds of pictures, some very disturbing.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Currently there is much exploration in Northern Ontario, in what is called The Ring of Fire. I recently heard Bob Rae, the negotiator for the Matawa Tribal Council which represents the nine First Nations in whose territory the mineral deposits lie. He has heard a wide range of concerns. It has moved him to say there is a triple bottom line to which we must attend, if we want the kind of new relationship with the Indigenous people and the land that is needed.  The triple bottom line is: environmental, social and economic. Such a triple bottom line, so essential, can restore our relationship to the environment as well as the relationship with Indigenous Peoples and create a right relationship with the economy as well. New legislation, an ombudsman and the above tri-fold criterion for mining would indeed be a turning point.

(This is Part l of the Green Window on Mining, in the next issue Part ll of Mining will follow on Fracking)