• Never underestimate the influence of your dollars. Voice your complaints to airlines, airports and hotels that don't recycle.

• Carry a reusable water bottle, and avoid buying water in plastic bottles. When traveling to countries with questionable water quality, carry a water-purification filter or other water purifier. Or buy water in glass bottles.

• Reduce your fuel consumption by renting a hybrid or a compact car. Avis, Hertz, National, Alamo and Enterprise all offer hybrids in some locations.

• Help conserve water and energy use by staying in hotels or vacation rentals where you can opt out of having bed or bath linens changed daily, thus saving water and energy. 

Click on the above link to read the full article.

To search for green-friendly hotels/motels, rental car agencies, airlines, and other travel businesses, look to one of these two websites:

National Green Pages: Directory of Products and Services for People and the Planet

Greenopia: Experts on Green Living

“Going Green” – A new Newsletter from Marianjoy Hospital

Marianjoy recently launched a new electronic newsletter, "Going Green" which focuses on the organizational efforts and initiatives that help our environment and sustainability.  You will find useful information and tips on how you can help contribute at work and at home.  (Click“Going Green” above to read the newsletter)

PRAYER FOR THE HEALING OF GULF WATERS

Someone remarked to me the other day how helpless she felt regarding the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP drilling disaster.  I offered that there is a few things we can do in response.

First – we must continue to call on President Obama and Congress to enforce stricter standards for drilling practices, to limit off-shore drilling, and to focus resources on alternative/sustainable energy and green technology.

For the most up-to-date information, videos and email actions you can take, please visit the Sierra Club website. 

Second – we can pray.  Pray for all the lives most affected by the disaster: the people who live around the Gulf and rely on the waters for their livelihood; for the wildlife creatures and vegetation who will suffer irreparable damage or even extinction; and pray for the Living Waters of the Gulf itself.

Dr. Masaru Emoto - author scientist, and humanitarian - has shared a brief, yet
powerful prayer, conscious of creation, allowing us to move past fear, judgment and retribution, into Unity, Harmony and Wholeness. This prayer is directed initially at WATER - the element connecting ALL Life on the planet. 
 
We are not powerless. We are powerful. Our united energy, speaking this prayer
daily...multiple times daily....can literally shift the balance of destruction that is
happening.  We don't have to know how......we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any power active in the Universe today. 

Dr. Masaru Emoto's Healing Prayer for the Gulf:

"I send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings.

To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures . .
I am sorry. 
Please forgive me.
Thank you. 
I love you."

(Thank you to Sr. Diane Przyborowski for the inspiration for this Blog entry)

PROTECTING CHILDREN

The JPIC Office is following two pieces of legislation that is aimed at protecting children.

Child nutrition reauthorization: Take action now to end childhood hunger
(From NETWORK: National Catholic Social Justice Lobby)

We need to urge members of Congress to keep child nutrition a national priority. With the introduction of the House's Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill on June 10, we have an opportunity to make great progress toward reducing child hunger.

The House bill takes positive steps to increase funding for child nutrition programs, and provides $8 billion over 10 years. NETWORK supports this bill as an important step forward, though it is important for Congress to provide the full $10 billion over 10 years that the President has requested in order to combat childhood hunger and make nutritious food available for low-income children.

 

 

You can show your support for child nutrition by:  

• encouraging your representative to cosponsor HR 5504, the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act, and encourage them to push for funding at the level of the President's request.
• urging your Senators to bring the Senate Child Nutrition bill to the floor. Remind them that childhood hunger cannot be neglected any longer!

Click here to send the above messages:

http://capwiz.com/networklobby/issues/alert/?alertid=14993746&type=CO

Senator Franken Introduces Legislation to Protect Children During ICE Raids
 (from Catholic Charities USA)

On June 22, Senators Al Franken (D-MN) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) introduced the "Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for Separated Children," a proposal that aims to keep children safe, informed, and accounted for during Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. According to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, 108,434 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported over the past 10 years.

As introduced, the bill would:

• Require that schools, states, and local authorities are notified before or soon after a raid occurs;
• Allow child welfare and non-governmental agencies to screen and identify parents with children;
• Allow detainees to arrange care as well as allow daily calls and regular visits with their children;
• Allow detainees to contact their children prior to being transferred;
• Protect children from witnessing their parents' interrogations and/or translating on behalf of ICE agents;
• Require authorities to assist detained parents with family court proceedings affecting their children; and
• Require ICE to take into consideration the best interest of children in detention, release, and transfer decisions affecting parents.

The future of the legislation is uncertain as the bill has not received bipartisan support. Similar legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Lynn Woosley (D-CA).

Catholic Charities USA is supportive of the legislation and will provide updates as the bill moves through the legislative process.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE RELEASES 2010 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT

The JPIC Office continues to monitor the tragic issue of human trafficking, and I’m pleased to share that the US Dept. of States has recently released a detailed report on the serious issues related to trafficking.  Please read Secretary Clinton’s announcement below, and an analysis from Catholic Charities USA.

Secretary Clinton (June 14, 2010): "The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries. The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it."

On June 16, the U.S. Department of State released its annual Trafficking in Persons Report.  The report outlined trends seen throughout the world including the suffering of women and children in involuntary domestic servitude, the challenges and successes in identifying and protecting victims, and the need to include anti-trafficking policies in our response to natural disasters.

For the first time, the United States has taken a ranking using the same criteria as all other nations.  Recommendations for the United States include: