Tag Archives: Tar Sands

The Good News, Justice, and the Tar Sands XL Pipeline

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Mendenhall Glacier

“But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.”

Paul waits. As the parousia seems to be delayed, he is becoming more patient. He is waiting for the Cosmic Christ, the Risen One, who will bring all things to completion—a new heaven and a new earth. Paul senses that the Creator is flaring forth and that the cosmos is evolving into what it already is—a new heaven and a new earth. It is far from perfect when Paul writes but he sees it coming. Continue reading →

Fishers of Men

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Do we really want to drill for more oil in Alaska? c. J. P. Mahon 2011

Paul speaks about confessing Jesus, believing in Jesus and professing that belief. Jesus is the Word who brings salvation, healing, and wholeness. Jesus is the Christ, the Risen One, who announces a new world order—the Kin-dom. The new world order is an order permeated by justice, compassion, gratitude, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Traditionally, believers have interpreted Jesus’ call to the fishermen to come follow him and he will make them “fishers of man,” simply as a call to discipleship. Jesus walked by, issued the invitation, and they dropped all their nets and followed him. Followed him where? To Calvary—up to Jerusalem. Continue reading →

Prepare ye the way of the Lord

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The readings for the First Sunday of Advent set the tone for the season. Richard Rohr, reflecting on Advent, tells us that we must adopt an adult view of Advent and Christmas. We always have a threefold dimension—part, present, and future. The past is the physical birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The present, about which we will say more, is the presence of the Risen Christ in our hearts and our universe. The future is the coming of the Cosmic Christ to bring all things to completion.

Jesus of Nazareth is history, so to speak. Jesus today lives on as the Christ—the Son of Man anointed by the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, the Christ lives in our hearts and in our communities of faith. Merton was fond of quoting the Eastern mystics, “God became human so that we might become divine.” Thus, Christ lives in us as our deepest reality, our true self which is aligned with the will of God as Jesus was during his earthly life. We are created in the image and likeness of God. God is our deepest reality. Continue reading →

The Tar Sands Pipeline Project

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Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

The cosmos is a delicate web. As Christians, we are to care for creation. Problems arise when profit meets commitment to environmental preservation.

The tar sands project to reclaim oil from bitumen embedded in sand is just one example of the rape of our nest. We continue to recklessly destroy our environment. Now the Obama administration  wants to issue a permit to build an oil pipeline from Albert, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. This week Jesus and Paul and their followers would be at the White House fence protesting the government’s

pipeline.

A brief description of the destructiveness of the tar sands reclamation of oil from bitumen embedded in sand reads:

Environmental Defence just released a new report on the Alberta Oil Sands, calling it the most destructive project on Earth. DeSmogblog gleaned some facts from it:

-Oil sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.

-At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing.

-Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes.

-The toxic tailing ponds are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. -The ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space.

-Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.

All to keep up the happy motoring! PDF of report here via ::DeSmogBlog (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/tar-sands-most-destructive-project.php )

The complete report on the environmental destructiveness of the tar sands project can be read at http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/TarSands_TheReport%20final.pdf

The September 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine has a feature article on the tar sands project  (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text )