5/21 CCC: Secular enviro. publications, TIME on Climate is Everything, New Documentary, IPPNW, more Earth Day resources, Creation Justice Ministries Bible quotation.
A sample of periodicals from secular environmental advocacy organizations. These membership groups are directed to the general public, not specialists or scientists.
America's Wilderness is the member newsletter from The Wilderness Society. wilderness.org .
Arbor Day is the official publication of the Arbor Day Foundation. arborday.org .
Audubon magazine. audubon.org .
Banking on Climate Chaos 2021: Fossil Fuel Finance Report. Rainforest Action Network. ran.org .
Catalyst. Union of Concerned Scientists. ucsusa.org .
CeresWorks arrives from the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible EconomieS (CERES).
Defenders: The Voice of Defenders of Wildlife. defenders.org .
Earth Island Journal: News of the World Environment. An Earth Island Institute publication. eii.org/projects .
Green American: Live Better, Save More, Invest Wisely, Make a Difference. GreenAmerican.org .
Humane Activist and Humane Scorecard (reports on U.S. Congressional Sessions). Humane Society Legislative Fund. hslf.org .
The Living Planet Report is issued every two years by the World Wildlife Fund. worldwildlife.org .
National Parks. The magazine of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Nature Conservancy. See Nature.org/magazine .
Newsmagazine: Eco Edition. Friends of the Earth.
Orion: People and Nature. orionmagazine.org .
PETA Global: Advancing the Animal Rights Revolution. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. peta.org .
Population Connection. Magazine from Population Connection.
Rails to Trails: Inspiring Movement. Magazine from Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
Rainforest-Alliance.org has many reports on-line.
Sierra: Explore, Enjoy, Protect. Sierra Club magazine.
Solutions: Finding the Ways that Work. Environmental Defense Fund periodical. edf.org .
The Source. Newsletter of American Rivers.org (Rivers Connect Us).
Splash. oceanconservancy.org .
Spotlight is the new newsletter from Corporate Accountability: Join the Global campaign, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. It also conducts annual "Corporate Hall of Shame" inductee ballot votes.
A Year of Progress for People and the Planet. greenpeace.org .
Note: Membership benefits may include
action plans, bookmarks, briefing papers on issues, bumper stickers, calendars, financial reports,
greeting cards, legislation profiles, maps, matching funds appeals, petitions, postcards, priority projects, return address labels, survey questionnaires, "things-to-do" lists, voting record profiles, wallet membership cards, writing note tablets, year-end reports, etc.
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Another "environmental" group (a continuation from earlier monthly columns):
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
IPPNW received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, by which time it had 135,000 members in 41 countries, having been founded in 1980 by a group of six American and Soviet doctors, one of whom was Harvard cardiologist Dr. Bernard Lown (1921-2021). An obituary for him shares these quotes: "To me, you cannot be committed to health without being engaged in social struggle for health." His involvement in the IPPNW led detractors to accuse him of playing into the 'hands of Soviet propagandists,' said The New York Times. He dismissed such criticism as irrelevant considering the cataclysmic threat posed by nuclear weapons. "We are not indifferent to other human rights," he said in accepting the Nobel. "But first we must be able to bequeath to our children the most fundamental of all rights, which preconditions all others: the right to survival." (Obituary: The cardiologist who campaigned against nukes, THE WEEK, March 12, 2021, p. 35).
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A valuable TIME magazine double issue theme: CLIMATE IS EVERYTHING for April 26/May 3 is 36 pages (1/3 of the total pages) and continues their launch of a decade-long "TIME 2030" effort to spotlight "the ideas and innovations driving progress toward a more sustainable and equitable world."
The concept of "climatization" runs through the many articles: the course of processes by which climate change will transform society. Policies and systems such as national security, finance, energy, housing, architecture, racial justice, public health, schooling and academia, crime, transportation, economics, economies, and economic growth, politics and government, labor markets, corporate social responsibility, food, poverty, trade routes, supply chains, leadership advocacy and activism, media, science, ethics, climate risk disclosures, the legal and medical professions, taxes, technologies, emergency preparedness, migrations, infrastructures of all kinds, urban adaptations, challenges of pollution and sanitation, the need for climate literacy at all levels of education, biodiversity protection, global senses of racial and economic inequalities, global senses of moral obligations and interdependency, catastrophic weather event warnings, etc., etc., etc., are each detailed in these TIME essays.
It is these climate connections, intersections, linkages, cross-cuttings, intertwinings, interactions, spillovers, externalities, etc., call them what you will--- the wide gamut of efforts to save the integrity of the environmental commons--- will become the priority for us. The economic and environmental benefits and losses, the "trade-offs", will factor in more decision-making transformations across all sectors. The essays in this edition of TIME covers these.
In other words, climate change will permeate everything.
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New Documentary
Extinction: The Facts is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and premiered on PBS 3/31/2021, and is about biodiversity loss and halting it. Attenborough is vice-president of Fauna & Flora International. One review of the documentary is by Ed Rampell, "How We Can Put a Halt to Biodiversity Loss."
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Some resources from Earth Day 2021:
Parade magazine for April 11 and again on April 18 provided several pages devoted to Earth Day issues (problems and solutions), some of which are derived from Laurie David's co-authored book Imagine It: A Handbook for a Happier Planet. Some "earth-friendly cities" are raised up (Louisville KY, San Diego CA, Seattle WA, Orlando FL, and Washington DC). An article by Kathleen McCleary notes "5 Ways to Help the Planet Today" (ditch the glitter; be food smart; embrace earth-friendly fashion; try a new way to compost; quit the plastic habit). The 4/18 article "Go a Little Greener" has tips for a better wipe, a better cup of coffee, a better swab, a better ride, a better clean, a better wrap, and a better wash.
See parade.com and search for earth, earth-day-facts, and picks.
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2 Peter 3:12-13. The second letter of Peter asks early Christian communities to orient their lives towards their hope for "a new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." Such was the Bible study for Earth Day 2021 recommended by Creation Justice Ministries.
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Mike Ochs finds common ground between religion and politics in his concern for the environment.
Politically he self-published the first "Greens Bibliography" of the English-language literature on the international Green Party movement (1989), the project for his Master of Liberal Arts in International Studies degree at Lock Haven (PA) University. He also helped plant the seeds for the Green Party of PA at that time, and remains a cyber-activist with it.
For a monthly newsletter of the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County (PA), he has written the "Creation Corner Column" since 1997. It became a blog in 2011 at
He received a B.A. degree from Gettysburg College in 1965.
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