friday justice notes

THRU THE LENS OF JUSTICE:

We are Sisters and Associates of St.Joseph transforming structures that promote violence.

June 15, 2012

Finding one’s own voice, however, haltingly, imparts the power of the Spirit crying out. The boldness to hear the claim of conscience and follow its deep impulses even in the face of loss; the courage to taste righteous anger and allow it to motivate critical resistance to evil; the willingness to utter the prophetic word – these occurrences inscribe the movement of the Spirit’s compassion into the ambiguity of the world.

~Elizabeth Johnson CSJ, She Who Is, 126

THE FUTURE WE WANT

"The Rio+20 Conference is an opportunity for the world to get serious about the need for development to become sustainable. Our report indicates that we haven't yet done that since the last Rio summit," said David Nussbaum, WWF-UK chief executive.

The latest Living Planet report, published on Tuesday, estimates that global demand for natural resources has doubled since 1996 and that it now takes 1.5 years to regenerate the renewable resources used in one year by humans. By 2030, the report predicts it will take the equivalent of two planets to meet the current demand for resources.

Most alarming, says the report, is that many of these changes have accelerated in the past decade, despite the plethora of international conventions signed since the initial Rio Summit in 1992. Climate-warming carbon emissions have increased 40% in the past 20 years, but two-thirds of that rise occurred in the past decade. Find more at Center of Concern

What? When? Where?

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want. This Earth Summit will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

DID YOU KNOW? That a delegation of 22 Sisters of St. Joseph from the Congregations of London, Ontario; Rochester, NY; Australia; Chambery; Argentina; and Lyon will be attending the Summit in Rio. Learn more about the Global Joseph Commitment at the Earth Summit here.

PROPOSED FUNDING CUTS IN FEDERAL BUDGET
The House has voted in favor of capping the overall spending budget to $19 billion less than the amount agreed upon by the House and Senate last August which will limit and make cuts to the amount of money each appropriations subcommittee (with the exception of defense) will have to fund programs to meet the needs of people struggling to survive. More specifically, to the lower spending number would cut an estimated 75,000 children from Head Start services (proven to be highly effective in their later school success); 17,000 seniors would no longer receive Meals on Wheels; job training would be lost to over 650,000 adults and youth, and over 700,000 households would no longer receive help paying for their home heating or air conditioning. Contact your senators at Network!