A.) Lessons for Christians from other cultures
B.) Is the bible anti-environment?
C.) Environmental issues as social justice ones
D.) New weapons in the battle for environmental justice

A.) In your own backyard: troubles close to home
B.) Chilling reports from the Arctic
C.) The health implications of climate change

A.) A comeback for coal?
B.) Cattails and dandelions as environmental "watchdogs"
C.) New energy sources and fewer wastes

"Among theologians and those in ministry, there's a lot of interest in what a spiritual life should be in terms of our relationship with nature. This has not yet reached mainstream congregations, because they didn't grow up with a reverence for nature as part of God's creation, as integral to spirituality. I have never heard a Sunday sermon on care for the earth as vital to the spiritual life...I don't see this happening in the near future because the economy is so good. In the healthy economy, we're even less conscious of things like fuel consumption." contact: 920-403-3084

B.) IS THE BIBLE ANTI-ENVIRONMENT?
Ronald Simkins, associate professor of theology, Creighton University: "Earlier notions from the 1970s held the bible responsible for the use or, rather, misuse of the natural world. Thus up into the early '90s, we saw a debate about what the bible really says about care of the environment. That debate has somewhat subsided because more and more people realize you have to read the Hebrew text within the cultural context in which it was written.

It's the misreading of the text, the reading of it without the correct cultural context that has led to the use of the Hebrew bible as authorizing environmental destruction. To read the text within its cultural context, we find that the ancient Middle Eastern Hebrews had a holistic view of the world. It's Western thought that split this into a dualistic notion human vs. nature, and thereby misinterpreted biblical ideas of dominance and subjugation. In the ancient Hebrew culture, humans and nature blended more seamlessly together. There was no notion of 'unspoiled nature' standing alone." contact: 402-280-2504

C.) ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AS SOCIAL JUSTICE ONES
Sister Dianne Bergant, professor of biblical studies, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, examines the Old Testament world view concerning the cosmos and creation. "Interdependence and interconnectedness are explicitly stated in the text. When humankind is told to 'till and guard the garden,' the Hebrew word for 'till' is the same word for 'serve.' This implies responsibility."

Similarly, Bergant explains that the mandate to "subdue and have dominion" has been misinterpreted. Correctly understood, it's a statement of God's sovereignty and was not a mandate for human autonomous control of the world. A corollary message is found in the Old Testament Book of Job when God asks Job a series of questions. The basic gist of the questions are, "Do you know how the cosmos works?" and "Do you have control of it?" The answer to both is "no."

Bergant, who teaches adults preparing for a variety of religious ministries, says that she has noted a growing concern for the natural environment among those already in or preparing for ministries, for 10 to 15 years now. "It often begins as a social justice issue. If we in the developed countries want to give a bigger piece of the pie (world resources) to others, that's easy if there's no end of pie. But the pie has limits and is, in fact, shrinking in size." contact: 773-753-5325

D.) NEW WEAPONS IN THE BATTLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
A number of studies have shown that poor people and racial minority groups are more likely to live near polluting industries and waste disposal sites, according to Bradford Mank, a professor in the UC College of Law with an interest in environmental law. The key issue remains striking a balance between protecting the health of minorities and the poor with prohibiting all new industry in their neighborhoods. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently struggling to develop an environmental justice policy under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that prevents disparate impacts against minorities without preventing job growth in minority neighborhoods. contact: 513-556-0094

II.) NEAR-TERM TROUBLES
A.) IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD: TROUBLES CLOSE TO HOME
Saving the spotted owl and redwood forests are worthy environmental goals, but John Delicath warns that national environmental movements sometimes emphasize the environmental problems of nature while overlooking the threat that exists "where we live, work and play."

Delicath, UC assistant professor of communication and an affiliate of UC's Center for Environmental Communication Studies, said the structure of the environmental justice movement is very grassroots and nonhierarchical, incorporating support from civil rights and social justice organizations. According to Delicath, the origins of the environmental justice movement lie in two pivotal moments: protests against a proposed landfill for PCB-contaminated soil in a black neighborhood in Warren County, N.C., in 1982 and Love Canal in 1979. Today, the Directory of Environmental Justice Organizations lists more than 400 such organizations in the United States. contact: 513-556-4440

B.) CHILLING REPORTS FROM THE ARCTIC
It's clear that the temperature of the Earth's permanently frozen areas, called permafrost, has risen over the last century, but it's not clear why, said UC geographer Kenneth Hinkel, a geologist who works with researchers internationally to monitor permafrost changes. "It could be global warming, yet a deeper snow cover could also cause the same effect," he said. Hinkel leads a team that travels to Alaska each summer to gather data from sophisticated temperature measuring devices stationed across northern Alaska. He is one of the co-authors on the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) report, collaborating with several scholars on a report chapter that will focus on permafrost. The report will be the third published in the last 10 years and is expected to be released in 2001. contact: 513-556-3430

C.) THE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
A new report released April 18 by the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) outlines a wide range of health threats that residents of Ohio could experience as a direct result of climate change. The 30-page report, "Death by Degrees: The Emerging Health Crisis of Climate Change in Ohio," is the last in a series of state health reports on climate change released by PSR since October 1999. Three other states covered by previous reports are New Hampshire, Georgia and Maine, according to Kent Bransford, a physician-member of PSR.

In Ohio, which ranks as the fifth-smoggiest state, over a million people currently suffer from asthma and other breathing problems, and that number that will inevitably increase with higher temperatures, the report said. Heat-related deaths in Ohio's cities are predicted to double or triple with a 3-4 degree rise in global temperature. Last year Ohio experienced double digit deaths from heat waves. This pattern is likely to continue and may be particularly deadly in Cuyahoga, Franklin and Clark counties, where high rates of cardiovascular disease make people more vulnerable to premature death from heat.

The Death by Degrees report predicts that global warming could also bring more waterborne disease, such as intestinal distress from drinking contaminated water or consuming contaminated foods. The water-borne Norwalk virus that sickened 27 Ohio residents in 1999 could become more common as floods increase. The report also predicts more outbreaks of infectious disease spread by insects. contact: Karen Hopfl Harris, Physicians for Social Responsibility, 202-898-0150

III.) NEW TOOLS AND OLD RELIABLES
A.) A COMEBACK FOR COAL?
Timothy Keener, a UC professor of environmental engineering, believes the abundance of untapped coal reserves worldwide will make it a fuel to be reckoned with for decades to come. "Nuclear energy is clean, but not publicly accepted in many places. Many utilities switched from coal to natural gas a decade or so ago, but if gas and oil prices continue to rise, coal becomes an attractive option again."

"Coal is 'old value.' added Keener's long-time collaborator Soon-Jai Khang, a professor in chemical engineering at UC. "It's like a dot.com versus Procter & Gamble." Keener and Khang also noted that there are more efficient and less polluting methods for burning coal. They simply haven't been adopted under the current economic and regulatory climate. contacts: Timothy Keener, 513-556-3676, Soon-Jai Khang, 513-556-2789

B.) CATTAILS AND DANDELIONS AS ENVIRONMENTAL "WATCHDOGS"
UC biologist Steven Rogstad says common plants could become commonly used indicators of environmental pollution. Rogstad and other UC researchers have detected significant differences in the genetic diversity of common cattails in areas heavily impacted by pollution, evidence that cattails might prove to be an effective indicator of environmental stress. Cattails were selected for study because they have a wide geographic distribution, from the Arctic circle to the tropics, and could be used widely for stress monitoring. The biologists focused on changes in variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) sequences, a type of DNA fingerprinting modified from similar techniques used with humans. Other possible candidates for natural environmental watchdogs include dandelions, honeysuckle and wild raspberries. contact: 513-556-9744

C.) NEW ENERGY SOURCES AND FEWER WASTES
In the next millennium, major changes will occur in the energy generation arena, predicts Rakesh Govind, UC professor of chemical engineering. Our dependence on natural sources such as oil and natural gas will change as these sources are depleted or become environmentally unmanageable, as in the case of nuclear wastes. In the next 10 years, synthetic sources of energy will emerge, such as controlled fusion, and materials and methods will emerge to manage the fusion process, since it would occur at very high temperatures and pressures. New sources of energy will also be found, such as synthetic photosynthesis, using catalysts, wherein water will be split at ambient or near ambient conditions into hydrogen and oxygen.

"Large-scale environmental control systems will emerge, which will clean the environment not only at the stack level, but for an entire city." said Govind. "These environmental control systems will utilize natural systems to achieve low-cost and efficient conversion of waste products to useful raw materials." contact: 513-556-2666



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