October 2021 Newsletter
Issue #56
Climate Change --
Approaching A Turning Point?
According to a recent report from the World Meteorological Organization (WHO):
  • It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.

  • Human-induced climate change is already increasing the frequency and intensity of many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe.

  • 5 years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the emissions gap is as large as ever.

  • Concentrations of the major greenhouse gases continued to increase in 2020 and the first half of 2021.

  • In September 2020, the Arctic sea-ice reached its 2nd lowest level on record.

  • The year 2021 recorded devastating extreme weather and climate events – a signature of human-caused climate change.

  • The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.

  • Global mean sea levels rose 7.8 inches from 1900 to 2018 and at an accelerated rate from 2006 to 2018.

  • Even if emissions are reduced to limit warming below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, global mean sea level will likely rise 13–26 inches by 2100.

  • If greenhouse emission continue to rise unabated global mean sea level will likely rise 26-39 inches by 2100.

  • Rising temperatures are linked to increased heat-related mortality and work impairment, with an excess of 103 billion work hours lost globally in 2019 compared with those lost in 2000.

  • 2020 tied 2016 as the warmest year on record and the last 7 years have been among the warmest on record, typifying the ongoing and dramatic warming trend.
  • A 2019 study shows that $5.2 trillion was spent globally on fossil fuel subsidies in 2017 -- the equivalent of 6.5% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that year.

  • In the U.S., direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry totals $20 billion per year, with 80% going toward oil and gas. In addition, from 2019 to 2023, tax subsidies are expected to reduce federal revenue by around $11.5 billion.


  • Continuing current fossil fuel subsidies would emit an additional 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next few decades.

  • More than 50% of insurance regulators believe climate change is likely to have a high impact or an extremely high impact on coverage availability and underwriting assumptions.

  • Only 13% of Americans realize that over 90% of climate scientists believe climate change is real.


For more on the Environment, click here.
Resources
Climate Central
An independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the public. Surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and reports on climate science, energy, sea level rise. Learn more.
For more on the Environment, click here.
Grove Collaborative
A Certified B Corporation that works for the good of people, animals, communities, and the planet. Works for sustainable living without compromise. Everything they create — from cleaning concentrates to laundry detergent to hand soap — is crafted with the highest standards for efficacy and sustainability. All of their products meets strict standards for being nontoxic, effective, sustainable, and cruelty-free. Also partners with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees across the United States. Learn more.
For more on the Environment, click here.
Well Aware
A 501(c)3 nonprofit that funds and implements sustainable clean water systems to drive economic development and empower communities in East Africa. 100% of their systems work and last because of realistic, responsible planning and collaboration. Each project is adapted according to the community's specific needs and collaborate with local leaders to ensure the water system’s long-term success.
For more on Water Access, click here.
How To Be a Professional Trouble Maker
A TED Talk featuring author Luvvie Ajayi Jones, who says that disrupting the status quo can be scary, but sometimes it's necessary to make the world a fairer place. She offers three questions to ask ourselves when tackling fear and standing up for what we believe in -- and urges all of us to speak up in ways that honor ourselves and others. Watch now.
For more Public Witness resources, click here.
Radical Sufficiency: Work, Livelihood, and a US Catholic Economic Ethic
By Christine Firer Hinze. Looks back at the influential teachings of priest-economist Monsignor John A. Ryan (1869-1945), who supported worker justice and defended a living wage for all Americans in the first half of the twentieth century. Advancing Ryan's efforts to articulate a persuasive plan for social reform, the book advocates for an action-oriented livelihood agenda that situates US working families' economic pursuits within a comprehensive commitment to sustainable "radical sufficiency"
for all.
For more on Economic Justice, click here.
Games for Change
Inspires youth to explore civic issues, learn 21st Century and STEM skills, and trains educators to run game design classes on impact games. Game themes include: Campaigning for an Issue and Activate Your Community, How Do You Rebuild When You Can Never Go Home?, Arabic Literacy and Psychosocial Support for Syrian Child Refugees, An Interactive Celebration of History’s Most Influential Women Scientists etc. Learn more.
For more Justice resources, click here.
Forging Opportunities for Refugees
in America
A Chicago based non-profit organization that provides the educational support needed for refugee children to succeed at school and in life. Pairs students with online tutors from across the country, using pedagogically sound reading and math software platforms for one-on-one tutoring every weekday. Learn more.
For more on Refugees, click here.
Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America
By Eyal Press. Offers a paradigm-shifting view of the moral landscape of contemporary America through the stories of people who perform society’s most ethically troubling jobs. Shows that we are increasingly shielded and distanced from an array of morally questionable activities that other, less privileged people perform in our name. Examines psychological and emotional hardships such as stigma, shame, PTSD, and moral injury that disproportionately fall on low-income workers, undocumented immigrants, women, and people of color. Tells the stories of the people doing society’s dirty work, and examines the structures of power and complicity that shape their lives, revealing fundamental truths about the moral dimensions of work and the hidden costs of inequality in America. Read more.
For more on Economic Justice, click here.
The State Must Provide: Why America's Colleges Have Always Been Unequal --
And How to Set Them Right
By Adam Harris. Argues that the higher education system in this country has systematically excluded Black people from its benefits. Weaves through the legal, social, and political obstacles erected to block equitable education, studying the Black Americans who fought their way to an education, pivotal Supreme Court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and the government’s role in creating and upholding a segregated education system. Explores the role that Civil War–era legislation, intended to bring agricultural education to the masses, had in creating the historically Black colleges and universities that have played such a major part in educating Black students when other state and private institutions refused to accept them. Read more.
For more on the Education System, click here.
Hunger: A Faith & Justice Response
A program from JustFaith Ministries in partnership with Bread for the World. Consists of an 8-session, prayerful process that includes study, dialogue, and an immersion experience, designed to inspire and equip participants to take concrete action to end hunger and food insecurity. Learn more.
For more on Hunger, click here.
Equality Now
Works to achieve legal and systemic change that addresses violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world. Strives to create a just world where women and girls have the same rights as men and boys by tackling the most difficult issues, challenging ingrained cultural assumptions and calling out inequality and using the power of law to create enduring equality for women and girls everywhere. Specifically focuses on ending sexual violence, eliminating sex trafficking and achieving legal equality. Learn more. 
For more on Gender Equality, click here.
Borders and Belonging:
The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times
By Pádraig Ó Tuama & Glenn Jordan. A leading poet and a theologian reflect on the Old Testament story of Ruth -- a tale that resonates deeply in today's world with its themes of migration, the stranger, mixed cultures and religions, law and leadership, women in public life, kindness, generosity and fear. Brings the redemptive power of Ruth to bear on today's seemingly intractable social and political divisions, reflecting on its challenges and how it can help us be effective in the public square, amplify voices which are silenced, and be communities of faith in our present day. Read more.
For more on Immigration, click here.
Never Again is Now
A documentary about the troubling rise of global antisemitism, told through the eyes of Evelyn Markus, a Dutch Jewish woman, against the backdrop of Holocaust history. When Markus saw similar signs of antisemitism returning to the Netherlands, she and her lifelong partner, Rosa, left the land her family called home for centuries and moved to the US. Now she sees antisemitism rise here as well. Watch now.
For more on Religious Intolerance, click here.
Learning for Justice
Formerly called Teaching Tolerance, this project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, founded in 1991 to prevent the growth of hate, provides free resources to educators which emphasize social justice and anti-bias, including lesson plans, film kits, posters, webinars, workshops and the Learning for Justice magazine. The project has been named a “Friend of the UN,” recognized by the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, and selected by President Clinton’s Initiative on Race as one of the nation’s “Promising Practices” to eradicate racism. Learn more.
For more Justice resources, click here.
Nonviolence: Understanding the Basics
A resource from the Metta Center, narrated by Dr. Michael Nagler, professor emeritus from the University of California, Berkeley. Covers topics such as: What is Nonviolence?, What are the Principles of Nonviolence? How Do You Evaluate its Effectiveness? Why is It Important for the United Nations?, What is the Relationship Between Nonviolence and Human Rights? Watch now. 
For more Peace resources, click here.
 Prayer
Loving God,
Bless each act of welcome and outreach that draws those in exile into the "we" of community and of the Church, so that our earth may truly become what you created it to be: the common home of all our sisters and brothers.
 Important Dates This Month
First Monday of October World Habitat Day
Second Monday of October Indigenous Peoples Day
2nd to Last Sunday of October World Mission Sunday
October 5th: World Teachers' Day
October 15th: World Rural Women's Day
October 16th: World Food Day
Individuals Honored This Month
October 2nd
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
October 4th
While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
October 5th
One is called to live nonviolently,
even if the change one works for seems impossible.
October 7th
If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends, you talk to your enemies.
October 11th

The solidarity which binds all people together as members of a common family makes it impossible for wealthy nations to look with indifference upon the hunger, misery and poverty of other nations whose citizens are unable to enjoy even elementary human rights. The nations of the world are becoming more and more dependent on one another and it will not be possible to preserve a lasting peace so long as glaring economic and social imbalances persist.
October 11th

Looking deeply requires courage.
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