Book (Revisited) Review

Sometimes, you have to revisit the oldies but goodies....

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Review: Book Revisited –

Chapter 10 of The Christian Call to Justice and Peace, Copyright 1987 St. Mary’s Press – Printing #6

When I was a senior in high school, the religion class text book was “The Christian Call to Justice and Peace” by Joseph Stouzenberger. It is basically a tour of contemporary issues and the church’s standing and recommendations for living a life and building a world that is just and peaceful. I’ve kept it handy for almost two decades now. One of the reasons I’ve kept it handy is that it has one chapter for each major social justice issue, like poverty and racial prejudice. The book is a summary of the church’s stance and teachings on these, and other key issues. Despite my conflicting emotions about the Catholic Church, the book itself is a valuable resource and offers lots of food for thought.

In particular, there is one chapter dedicated to the Earth. The themes and arguments in this section are also echoed in the chapters on hunger and poverty.

Are you surprised? Yes, the Catholic Church wants you to be green and it is 

important enough to warrant a whole chapter!  It has been in the justice and peace handbook for at least 20 years- way before Alicia Silverstone started her blog and Jessica Alba started selling you good-for-the-environment soap.  This book makes it quite clear that the Catholic vision of justice and peace for humanity includes and depends – on a sense of justice and peace and caring for the Earth as well.

The 5 issues the book points out as examples are as follows:

1)      Land – Preserving Farmland. Namely the concern that farmland is being absorbed by urban developments and our soil is being abused. (My personal vow: COMPOST!!!!  Also – it  has been to walk and use public transportation as much as possible, and to try not drive so much. Easier in NY, uphill in Philadelphia. This is something I am trying to recommit to. In NH I took the train to NY instead of driving and tried to support the public bus as much as possible.  I took up composting the first chance I had to make a real pile. I haven’t dumped any chemicals on our lawn either, though I do need to learn ways to deal with bugs without using pesticides).

2)      Air – At the time of this publication, general air pollution eclipsed climate change, though they do mention the “greenhouse effect”.  (Personal vow – Try not to drive so much, no aerosol hair spray – huge at the time!)

3)      Water – Demand for fresh water is beginning to exceed supply. (Personal vow – No garbage disposal in the house, compost instead. Try not to leave the water running. I still feel enormously guilty taking a bath and instead use the hot tub at the gym to relax. Try not to take long showers.)

4)      Waste – Americans make nine pounds daily – but not in our house. (Personal vow- Try not to waste food. Ger remarked on this when my parents stayed with us for hurricane Sandy- food waste was minimal. Also, if you know me you know I’m a recycle nazi.  At Bear Stearns I had all the derivatives contracts changed from 12 point font to 11.5 to save paper. No one noticed but I felt good about the paper we were saving. Also, my vegetable soup every week uses up whatever scraps are in the fridge).

5)      Animals, Plants and the Natural Habitat – The book points out the cruelty in factory raised chickens. (Personal vow – In NY tried to buy free range chicken (at the Gourmet Garage- RIP!), in NH joined a co-op. In NH I really tried to make the stand on organic milk. Here in Philadelphia we joined weaver’s way co-op. Though we don’t always eat free range (price is an issue) I try to sneak it in –it really does taste better anyways. Also, Vax, our dog was a rescue, rather than subsidize puppy mills).

The point of reviewing this book is to point out that besides being trendy, being green has been a long standing tenant of the Catholic Church. “With conscientious changes in our lifestyles, we can lessen the amount of waste, pollution, and destruction of nature that we require future generations to cope with,” the book reads.

While there are plenty of other reasons besides being advised by the Catholic Church to try and trend lightly on the environment, it often surprises people and I get push back when I bring up this viewpoint in conversation. I’m glad I held on to the book all this years and like to revisit this chapter in particular from time to time.