Semester Wrap-up

I would like to thank the Academy. Actually, God did it. Without Him I would probably have dropped out a while ago. And without my parents, sister, friends, gramma, aunts and uncles, cousins, dog, fish, mosquitoes, plants and water I would have never made it.
(Picture is of my dog Shilo. Taken by me.)
My 10 year adventure in college is coming to an end. See Dad, I'm not actually going to be a forever-student! Three weeks from today I'll be sitting at home as a college graduate with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. Wow.


It's been another adventure to do this blog for the Catscan. It was pretty interesting learning about what different religions are doing to help the environment. My first favorite was talking about Christianity and interviewing my friend Will because I had a chance to share my faith. My next favorite was Rastafarianism because I learned so much about it.

I know my dad and teacher Jay were loyal readers. I'm not sure if there were really any others, but thank you.

To future Catscanners:
This class is a great chance to learn about anything you want to know for fun or your future career. I learned a lot about organization and communication as the copy chief. Any of you that decide to do editing - we learned it's easier to just call the reporter instead of emailing them when you have questions about a story. Also, don't be too uptight. My role got a lot easier once I relaxed and let people write their stories how they wanted.

Here's a couple bloopers that were changed before publishing:
"Davis Mountain" instead of Davis Monthan Airforce Base
"Papus New Guinea" instead of Papua
"Eclectic Car" instead of Electric

There were many scriptures that I clung to to get me through school, but I'm going to leave you with one that I think sums it all up.

"An Inconvenient Truth" in hotel rooms.

(Photos Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Guests at Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa will find a copy of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" next to the Bible from the Gideons in their rooms. The hotel also includes a book on Buddhism in each room.

We had a guest one morning at church from the Gideons in Tucson who made a passing statement about California hotels replacing Bibles with "An Inconvenient Truth," so I had to look it up and find out what's happening. My first thought was "there goes my trip to California." I found only one hotel that does this and the Bible is still there. But I still wanted to explore this idea for this week's blog.

(Photo Courtesy of a Wikipedia)

The Gideons International is an evangelical Christian group whose mission includes making the Bible available worldwide. The group buys Bibles through donations and puts them in hotels, motels, jails, doctors offices and pass them out on college campuses. Our guest speaker at church said there are numerous testimonies of business travelers reading the Bible in a hotel room and giving their lives to Jesus as a result.

The new choice California travelers have is to read "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. This book is about the global warming trend and how to stop it. It was published in 2006 and companioned by a documentary featuring Al Gore. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts on educating people about global warming.

(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia)

The remaining question is will other hotels do the same? While supporters of Al Gore applause this decision Christians are concerned about the impact. Will "An Inconvenient Truth" end up replacing Bibles in hotel rooms?

Rastafarians and the Environment

I thought I had picked a lighter topic when I settled on Rastafarians this week. It didn't take me very long to see how wrong I was. I'm sure I'm not alone with thinking all they do is smoke weed and sing reggae music. I figured I would find out a lot more about the basis of why they smoke weed, or ganga. What I found was a deeper religious belief taken from pieces of the very Bible I live my life by. The main differnce is that I believe the Bible is 100% the Word of God while Rastafarians believe the parts that pertain to their religion.
(Photo from Wikipedia.)

Rastafarianism was founded in the 1930s with Haile Selassie I as the leader. Rastas believe former Emperor Selassie was the personification of the second coming of the messiah. As far as ganga goes, it is used as a means to get closer to God. According to the "Religion & Ethics - Rastafari" article on BBC Website.

Doing research on the Internet got me into a bit of a tight spot; most of the information was about the beginings of the Rasta religion and not modern beliefs. Here's a comparison:

(Initial beliefs info from Religious Movements.), (Current beliefs info from the BBC Web site.)

Rasta Environmentalism:

Devoted Rastafarians are vegetarians. They follow the laws given in Leviticus chapter 11, in the Bible. Some examples include eating fish that's less than a foot long and no shell fish. I-Tal food has never touched chemicals and is all-natural.

I didn't find a whole lot on how Rastas are helping to save the environment, *(I had some information here on Derek Wall, but he actually put a comment here telling me I had wrong info so I changed it).

So, what I was trying to talk about was Nandor Tanczos.

Humanist Ecology

I jumped ahead to a close relative of atheism, humanism, for this weeks blog entry. I didn't find enough on atheist ecology so I did research on humanist ecology. See my segway blog entry on the difference between atheism and humanism.

"Life on Earth is both beautiful and valuable, and we should do more to preserve habitats, species and ways of life that are being destroyed by the over exploitation of natural resources and wilderness areas." - from A humanist discussion of... ENIVRONMENTAL ISSUES, 2006 (www.humanism.org.uk)

From a science perspective, humanitsts say one reason to protect the environment is because so many medicines come from plants. The British Humanist Association Web site has an article stating there are many more medicines yet to be found from natural resources.
(Photo by username OBMonkey on the stock.xchng Web site)

The same article on this Web site says that humanists use reason to make decisions on moral issues, such as how to protect the evnvironment, instead of "dogmatic rules."
(Photo by Rodolfo Galindo on the stock.xchng Web site)

Atheism - Humanism

I didn't find enough on how atheists and the environment are connected so I am going to talk about humanism and the environment. This is a segway blog entry to tell you about the similarities and differences between atheism and humanism.

Here are the definitions straight out of the American Heritage Dictionary:

Atheism:
* Disbelief or denial of the exsistence of God or gods.
* The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

Humanism:
* A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on humans and their values, capacities and worth.
* Concern with the interests, needs, and welfare of humans.
* In medicine: The concept that concern for human interests, values, and dignity is of the utmost importance to the care of the sick.
* The study of the humanities; learning in the liberal arts.
* A cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance and study of the literature, art, and that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome.civilization of ancient Greece and Rome.

HOW THEY ARE ALIKE:
*Neither atheism nor humanism focus on the existence of God or gods. (Eventhough some humanists do believe in God).
*Both believe in the capability of humans to choose how to live their lives. (As opposed to religions such as Christianity and Islam, which believe in surrendering and obeying God or Allah).

HOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT:
I found a paraphrase in Elaine Friedman's "Debate: Atheist vs. Humanist" article that puts it simply. On The Institute For Humanist Studies Web site Friedman sums up humanist Edd Doerr's thoughts:

HUMANISTS believe in science, reason and compassion.
ATHEISTS do not believe in a diety.

Atheism Intro

(From The American Heritage Dictionary.)

I decided to focus on Atheism this week. I must admit this was a tough one for me. First of all, atheism is hard to define. Web sites differ on whether atheism is free-thinking, humanism or basic lack of belief in God. One Web site is focused on keeping church and state separate. The Atheist Alliance Inc. Web site is an example of a free-thinking based group.
(Logo Courtesy of atheistalliance.org.)

Atheism has been around for a very long time but didn't gain popularity until the Enlightenment Era in the nineteenth century. According to the University of Virginia Web site Religious Movement Project there are many factors going into the beginning of atheism, but there are a few notable people who helped it become part of mainstream society.

(Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Woody Allen is a well-know atheist. I didn't find anything current so I don't know if he still is, but he is quoted on most Web sites that refer to celebrity atheists. His most famous quote on his beliefs comes from his autobiographical film "Stardust Memories."

"To you I am an atheist, to God I'm the loyal opposition." -from Celeb Atheists Woody Allen Info.

Celebatheists.com lists Katherine Hepburn, Lance Armstrong and Rodney Dangerfield as other Celebrity atheists.

Secondly, it was hard to find information on what atheists believe about taking care of the environment. My assumption is that since atheists don't believe in God, they don't see themselves as appointed caretakers. I used to be an atheist and I believed then that people were carelessly using up the earth's resources and if we didn't fix it the earth wouldn't survive.

I will do my research this week and hopefully be able to give you more information on the connection between atheism and environmentalism.

Islam Ecology

Muslims believe Allah intended humans to be the caretakers of the earth.

There are five general areas taught in Islam about how Allah expects His creation to interact with the environment. The Alliance of Religions and Conservation Web site lists these as Khalifa, Tawheed, Akrah, Avoiding Waste, and Shariah. Khalifa is the concept that Allah trusts people to take care of the environment. Tawheed represents the interdependence between the environment and people. Akrah is Allah's future judgement based on how well people protect the environment. Avoiding waste means although the environment is there for people to use, they are to use it wisely and not overuse it. Shariah is the law created based on the principal of protecting the environment.

The main organization created for serving environmental needs based on Islam beliefs is the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, based in London. The foundation does research, outreach, creates journals and teaching materials, provides training and has projects in several countries.

Several worldwide projects teach environmentalism from an Islamic viewpoint in a modern way. These projects are in Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, Yemen and Mexico. One example is in Yemen where the foundation is helping to set up water conservation techniques.

ECO-ISLAM is a journal put out by the foundation that covers all kinds of environmental issues from an Islamic point of view. The August 2007 issue has an article about Iraq's marshes being destroyed by the war.

Future Plans include building a College for Ecology and Environmental Sciences. Right now they're raising funds to build the college.

Islam

All pictures on this post have been taken from the Stock Exchange Web site. The author and link to their other work will be under each picture.

("The Rising" by Ozan Uzel.)

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with about 21% of the population following it, according to the Religious Tolerance Web site.

Islam means "peace" or "submission." Muslims are followers of Islam who believe Muhammad was the last of many great prophets sent by Allah (the one and only true God) to give them the Qur'an, or Koran. The Religious Tolerance Web site and the Islamic Center of Tucson say the framework of Muslim life next to the Qur'an is the five pillars, which are:
Faith
Prayer
Concern for the needy
Self-purification
Pilgrimage to Mecca if possible

Here are some links for more information about Islam:
*Alliance of Religions and Conservation
*Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology
*PBS's "Islam: Empire of Faith"

("She is praying..." by Yi Nam Jahe)

According to the Qur'an, Allah intended people to be stewards, or guardians of the environment, which He created.

(Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust Inviting Balanced Stewardship)


(From "What do Muslims Teach About Ecology?" at the Alliance of Religions and Conservation.)

It still amazes me to find so many religious groups that have put together organizations to help save the environment. It's interesting that people aren't joining secular environmental groups but creating their own based on their beliefs. Here are some links to Islamic groups and projects for the environment:

The Islamic Foundation For Ecology and Environmental Sciences, based in the UK, has practical ways for Muslims to get involved and explains the connection between Islam and the environment.

Islam News on the ARC Web site tells about Islamic groups in Africa and Brittain that have recently started projects to help the environment.

Jewish Tree New Year

(Photo/image by Shannon Bergman)

Trees are so important in the Jewish religion that they have their own day, called the Tu B’Shvat, a new year’s day for trees. I heard and read about a Jewish tree-planting holiday and thought this would be a perfect blog topic. I found out quite a bit that I’d like to share. First of all, today the holiday is celebrated by planting trees, eating fresh fruit and drinking wine.

This year’s Tu B’Shvat at the Temple Emanu-el in Tucson was celebrated by songs, stories, a dinner and a wine tasting. The announcement said the stories and songs were for “celebrating our connection to God and the natural world…”

One way to do this is by learning from trees. Nesansel Yoel Safran wrote in his introduction to a kids’ story about Tu B’Shvat about the example of patience. In “Family Trees: A TuB’shvat Story for Kids,” an 11 year-old girl asks an old man why he bothers planting trees. As the man tends to his newly planted tree he tells her it’s for his children and grandchildren to enjoy. The girl gives up her impatience and learns the importance of “planting for the future.” She says to her mom “There’s no rush, after all. Don’t all good things and good times, take time – to bear fruit?”

I remember planting my own tree when I was little. It had no spiritual significance for me because I didn’t go to church back then. But it was a little black walnut tree that I would be able to nurture and watch grow and eventually have my very own large walnut tree. I think I still have one of its walnuts. My tree was not even two feet tall when it took its last breath. There was some kind of gardening accident, something about my dad not realizing it was a tree because it looked like the weeds surrounding it.
(Photo courtesy of Cirrusimage.com)

Today I planted my very own virtual tree. I went to the Knesset Birthday Web site for Tu B’Shvat and planted a carob tree. I found this as a link to kids’ activities for the trees’ New Year.

The New Year comes from Jewish scripture explaining when to give tithes. It instructs you to only use fruit that has flowered before the New Year for tithing.

Here are some scriptures from Judaism 101: Tu B’Shevat, which adds that Jewish children collect money on Tu B’Shvat to send to Israel for tree planting.

Leviticus 19:23-25 “When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the Lord. In the fifth year, you many eat its fruit”

Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 “There are four new years… the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month.”

More scriptures where the Torah compares people to trees are given in “Man is a Tree” by Rabbi Shraga Simmons.

Deuteronomy 20:19 “A person is like the tree of a field…”

Isaiah 65:22 “For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people.”

Jeremiah 17:8 “He will be like a tree planted near water…”

Green Judaism

This week’s entry will again be updated throughout the week. Today I want to start with two good websites that you can look at to find out more about how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment. I know I’ve given my readers a lot of info these last couple weeks but I really think this is important background info and I will have some profiles coming up.

(I took this picture)

“Man is entrusted with the proper management of the world. We may not stand aside and watch the world being destroyed.”
by Rabbi Yehudah Levi

“Judaism is replete with highly-refined environmental consciousness.”
by Rabbi Barry Freundel

These quotes are from the Tu B’shvat Insights web site. There are several articles by rabbis about how Judaism and the environment are linked. This is a great resource because the articles are easy to understand and have many references to Jewish law and books.


(This is copy and pasted from last week’s post for anybody who hasn’t read it yet)

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
I really like this source because the website provides its readers with various ways to get involved in helping the environment. It encourages people to buy energy saving light bulbs, tells them how to contact government officials and what people can do in the synagogue. It explains well how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment on this page: “What’s Jewish about protecting the environment?”

One of my favorite pages is the Source for Environmental Education, Discourse, and Study. There is an incredible amount of resources and programs including tree planting how to have green holidays and many ways to teach green Jewish principles.

Eco-friendly religions and their websites

I've narrowed down my focus to five religions that I will cover this semester. I chose them based on the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, but I haven't learned about statistics so I won't try to give you percentages because they could be wrong. Here's a link of the complete list:

2001 U.S. Census Stats

Here's my shortened version of the stats based on the religions I chose:
U.S. citizens interviewed
207,980

Total Christians
159,506

Total Jewish
2,831

Total Muslim/Islamic
1,104

Total Atheist
902

Total Native American
103

Now for the websites:

Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology
This is a great place to start because it gives you background on ten religions and how they relate to ecology and environmental concerns. Each essay tells you about the author, uses end notes and has links at the side for more information. The overall project is supported by nine different institutes including the Humane Society of the United State and the forum coordinators are from Yale University. These are all signs that the website has trustworthy information.

I especially love that the website is color coded. My learning style is visual so it helps me find things easier. The sections and colors on the main page are: Information, Religion, Intersecting Disciplines, Resources for Educators, Publications and Events.

Religious Tolerance
I really like this website because it comes from the perspective that world religions aren't doing enough to help the environment. The religion-specific websites tell you all the great things that are being done so it's nice to hear what's lacking.

The supporting organization is Religious Tolerance, which promotes religious freedom, but not any particular religion, and is based in Ontario. It provides background information on many different religions, uses footnotes and has website links. On the home page you can find a list of issues with their background information and law resources.

Sept. 15 UPDATES:

Here's a few more websites. I had a hard time finding good ones. There seems to be more organisations in the UK then in the US, but I think I found a couple.

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
I really like this source because the website provides its readers with various ways to get involved in helping the environment. It encourages people to buy energy saving light bulbs, tells them how to contact government officials and what people can do in the synagogue. It explains well how Judaism is connected to protecting the environment on this page: “What’s Jewish about protecting the environment?”

One of my favorite pages is the Source for Environmental Education, Discourse, and Study. There is an incredible amount of resources and programs including tree planting how to have green holidays and many ways to teach green Jewish principles.

What Would Jesus Drive?
I added this here because I used it as my link in my last blog on Christian ecology. I had thought it was such a neat title and liked that it had so many ways Christians can get involved. I want to make sure you know that this is probably not a great source because the web site has apparently not been updated since 2003.

Creation Care Magazine and Evangelical Environmental Network
This is the creator of What Would Jesus Drive and has been updated more recently. There is a Winter 2007 issue of Creation Care up. I like this website because it tells you about the connection between Christianity and the environment. It also includes fact sheets on global warming, air pollution, water quality, and oceans.

The American Muslim
This is an article from March 2007 about the relationship between Islam and the environment. It includes links to other articles and is part of a larger website called “The American Muslim” which has all kinds of information and other links.

Christian Ecology

I chose to do my first blog on my friend Will Schmitt. This week I had a limited amount of time to research a religion so I decided to start with my own. I want to be able to understand what I’m writing about to help give my readers a full view. Will goes to my church and is married to one of my best friends. I chose to use him as an example because he takes an interest in studying Science from a creationism point of view.

What Will actively does for the environment:

*Recycles
*Recently got a new gas-saving heater
*Installed double pane windows to keep heat/cold in
*Upgraded to a high efficiency water heater
*Covers his outdoor spa so he doesn’t have to refill it as often due to water evaporation

Will Schmitt, 33, is a born again Christian, goes to Faith Christian Church and works at Raytheon. He says he would consider himself a conservationist instead of an environmentalist. See: FCC Statement of Belief

When I asked Will to be my first profile he eagerly accepted it and went home to do his own research. He carries with him a strong belief that God created the earth, the universe and all it contains. Christianity teaches that the earth will come to an end and people will live eternally either in heaven or in hell. But because Jesus died for us, if we give our lives to Him and believe He is God we will go to heaven. Because God will create a new earth after we die, many Christians believe it’s important to take care of what is on the earth now without being too concerned about what will happen millions of years from now. Will said that with that we need to be good stewards
of God’s creation without actually worshipping
it. He gave me some specific scriptures in the Bible (he mostly used the New American Standard Bible) about the environment and how God sees it. Here’s what Will found: One thing that is taught at Faith Christian Church is that the Bible is 100% true and therefore to find out what God thinks that’s the place to go. Here's what Will found.

God created the environment and all it contains for three main reasons.
1. To be an example for people.

Proverbs 6:6-8 “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer, or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.” - God uses the ant as an example of being faithful with what God has given you. Will said this shows that God is more interested in our character that we can provide for ourselves.

Deuteronomy 25:4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”
1 Corinthians 9:9-10 “For it is written in the Law of Moses, ‘you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.’ God is not concerned about the ox, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.” - God actually does care about the ox, Will said, but God cares more for us. Will added that this law was created to first and foremost build our character and secondly for our physical well being.
2. To bring God’s glory

Job chapters 38 & 39
– Will said these chapters show God’s majesty and that He created the earth and the entire environment for people to look at and be in awe of.
3. To provide for people
Genesis 6:19 “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.” – Will said that even though God cared about the animals, He brought them on the ark with Noah to provide for the people on the ark during and after the flood.

One of the things that stood out after talking to Will is how much he said God loves the environment; He created it and loves it when we take care of it. Here are a few more scriptures Will found that convey God’s love of His creation. I put Will’s summary followed by a link to the scripture reference.

* God created plants and saw that it was good Genesis 1:12

* God created aquatic animals, animals of the air and saw that is was good Genesis 1:20

* God created land and saw that it was good Genesis 1:24

* God says wants to have compassion on Nineveh, including the animals Jonah 4:11

* God cares so much for His creation that he doesn’t allow even one sparrow to fall without His knowing Matthew 10:29

* God remembers the animals on the ark and stops the storm early so they will not be destroyed Genesis 8:1

OTHER LINKS

Evangelical Environmental Network

What Would Jesus Drive

Welcome to Green Religion

My official topic for my blog is Green Religion. First let's start with why I'm doing this. As a journalism student at the University of Arizona and part of the team at UA's Cat Scan one of my assignments is to create and keep a blog. The blog needs to relate to the online newspaper's topic, green living. Since one of my passions is my faith I decided to research and share how people coming from different religions view taking care of the earth.

Using Harvard University's Forum on Religion and Ecology as a jumping off point I plan on talking to local Tucsonans representing different religions about what they believe they should be doing for the environment based on their religious views. I do recognize that talking to one person does not give us a complete view of one religion. I ask you the reader to keep that in mind as you are reading my posts and feel free to comment if you see something I missed, that you think is untrue or maybe have questions about and I will do my best to address it.

Here is the link to the information I found at Harvard's webisite:
Forum on Religion and Ecology


There is also a list of links at the bottom of my blog page which will take you to the Cat Scan and the other blogs my classmates have created.

Thanks! Shannon

Blog Topic

The focus of UA's Catscan this semester is Green Living. I'm not sure what the correct term is, but I am pretty sure my blog will focus on religion-based green living... There are many topics to be explored and I have a plethera of resources so it will definately not be a bunch of posts of me telling you what I think, but of interviews, website links, research, etc... This is a work in progress, though, so hang in there with me please :)

Welcome

Welcome! This is the first time I have ever blogged so please hang in there while I figure this out. As a journalism student I find it very challenging to write about things that always have to have some kind of struggle. I hope to find a way to share good news. I know there's gotta be lots out there. I haven't decided on an official topic yet, though. I'll have to sit on that one and think about it for awhile.
Thanks!