Healing a Broken World - Society of Jesus

Healing a Broken World
the prominent ones and those relatively less visible, have essentially turned
on questions concerning the misery of marginalized communities brought
about by the alienation of their livelihood resources. 28 There is a lack of
political will to address this ecological crisis holistically. 29 In recent years, the
government, rather than working for land reforms and equitable
distribution of resources, has been providing free land and resources to
foreign companies. As a result of neo-liberal policies, the socio-economic
situation has worsened of late, especially for the poor, the tribals and the
Dalits. 30 The growth of the Chipko movement provides valuable lessons in
grassroots advocacy 31. Apart from the complete ban on felling of the trees in
the Himalayas today, the demand of the local populace is for greater local
control of the forest for local use.
North America
21] Reliance on fossil fuels is a fundamental environmental issue in North
America (N.A.). Historically, the United States has been the world‘s largest
emitter of greenhouse gases (exceeded only by China in this decade),
whereas Canada ranks 7th. International action on climate change requires
cooperation from the U.S. to be effective. Recent technologies developed for
extraction of hitherto unattainable fossil fuels produce immense damage to
large landscapes (e.g. tar sands extraction in Alberta, mountain-top removal
coal mining in the Appalachians, oil shale extraction in Canada and U.S.,
and deep sea oil drilling). Other environmental challenges in North America
are consequences of industrialized agriculture technologies. While food
production is higher than at any time in history, industrialized agriculture
has wide-spread external environmental costs, including extensive
deforestation, loss of soil, depleted aquifers, accumulation of herbicides and
pesticides, polluted rivers, coastal marine dead zones, and the release of
relatively untested Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into the
environment. A third issue, overconsumption, is a driver for natural
resource depletion, an economy of disposable goods, and waste
accumulation. An emerging environmental movement is responding with
awareness campaigns, clean energy research, entrepreneurial ―green‖
businesses, small-scale organic farming, used-products outlets, and more
responsible consumerism.
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