FAITH IN ACTION - Sierra Club

FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA
NEW ORLEANS, LA
After Hurricane Katrina, the thousands of members of Mary Queen
of Vietnam Catholic Church were the first to
return to their homes in the Versailles neighborhood
of East New Orleans. As city officials
considered bleak reconstruction
options, church members were already hard
at work to rebuild their community. Led by
the church’s charismatic Father Vien, the
close-knit and persistent Vietnamese community
had electricity before the city even
knew they were back. Despite their determination, this community
had yet to realize the magnitude of the fight that lay ahead.
To deal with the enormous amount of debris left behind by
Katrina, city officials rapidly approved the placement of a giant
landfill one mile from the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church.
According to Rev. Vien, this abrupt decision was suspicious
because the city tried to open the landfill twice in the 1990s. The
concerned community defeated both previous attempts. However,
some residents believe that the cloak of Katrina’s aftermath enabled
city officials to go around normal legal proceedings and expedite
opening the landfill.
MAINE’S FIRST CHURCH-SPONSORED LOCAL FARM
ROCKLAND, ME
As the gravity of global warming becomes more evident, members
of First Universalist Church in Rockland seeks practical ways their
congregation can reduce its carbon footprint. After discussing several
ideas, they decided to focus on sustainable food choices in order
to reduce their energy use and combat global warming.
Many people do not realize that food choices can contribute to environmental
damage in a variety of ways. The production, processing,
transportation, and packaging of food all have substantial energy
costs, each greatly contributing to global warming. For example, the
average American meal travels 2,000 miles from farm to dinner plate!
Buying food that is grown locally avoids the pollution that transportation
causes — and it also provides families with fresher food. At
a time when many small farmers are going out of business due to the
growth of industrialized agriculture, eating locally can provide much
needed support for the farmers and families in our communities.
These days, many members of First Universalist participate in
community supported agriculture (CSA). A CSA is a subscription
with a local farm to provide fresh produce on a monthly or weekly
basis throughout the growing season. First Universalist contracts
with Hatchet Cove Farm, a small organic family farm. Last year,
the church’s CSA subscription helped Hatchet Cove Farm pur-
The winds of Katrina had barely died down before hazardous waste
was being dumped perilously close to the Versailles community. To
add insult to injury, the unlined landfill is
directly adjacent to a protected wildlife sanctuary.
Water flows in and out of the landfill,
directly contaminating the wetlands ecosystem
as well as the community’s canals.
It didn’t take long for Father Vien and his
parishioners to figure out that something
was terribly wrong. Working in coalition
with Sierra Club and others, they were
determined to shut down the landfill. Thanks to their hard work
and persistence, the community was able to halt landfill operations.
Although this was a huge victory, it was only one step
toward protecting their environmental quality of life.
More than 200,000 cubic yards of waste from Katrina was
dumped in the landfill, which continues to leak toxins into a
canal used by the Vietnamese community for irrigation and fishing.
The landfill placement is an injustice that is bad for the environment,
bad for the community and bad for local wildlife. The
coalition members continue to fight to have the waste removed
and disposed of in a responsible manner.
chase the land they had been leasing and build a second greenhouse.
The church also donates one CSA share to a local food
pantry, presenting one more way to support the local community.
Rev. Mark Glovin reports, “the CSA has been wonderful for our
church and also for Hatchet Cove Farm. It allows us to support a local
family farm and provides us with fresh organic produce. In addition,
we are given an opportunity to put our faith into action in a way that
benefits everyone and lets us live more lightly on the earth.”
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