As Anglicans and Episcopalians met last week in the Dominican Republic to share their stories and organize around issues of climate justice, in Panama heavy rains and floods killed at least 10 people, displaced 4,700 more, and forced the first-ever weather-related closure of the Panama Canal.
“While we are here for the conference on climate justice, in Panama people are being evacuated out of areas that are being flooded,” said Bishop Julio Murray of the Episcopal Church of Panama Dec. 9, in an interview with ENS. “The groups that are mostly affected are the indigenous groups that live in the area of Alto Bayano … it is the first time in my lifetime that the Panama Canal has had to suspend traffic ”¦ this is an example of what happens when water levels rise in rapid ways.”
“climate justice” ? Who created this one? Did I miss a memo? Is it just me or is there a tendency to slap the term ‘justice’ at the end of any cause to give that cause a sense of urgency?
Keithj0731 — it’s just you! I myself have been promoting “salary justice” and my dog has been whining a lot about “breakfast justice.”
I read the entire article and I still don’t exactly understand what “climate justice” is. There are some very interesting points in the article, though. First, the conference was attended by 30 poeple. Thank goodness ENS was on top of this massive story! Second, it rained in Panama, which was a huge shock to me since it is a rain forest. But I was glad to find out that rain in a rain forest is my fault. Third, hurricanes have increased in number and severity. Nice point. Too bad its not actually not. And finally, the Bishop of Cuba’s greatest concern is climate justice. Forget that maniacal commie who is in charge of his country and kills people whenever he takes a notion. That’s about it. I need to go turn up the heat now because global warming has made it 17 degrees in South Carolina today.
OOPS–That should have read “Too bad its not actually TRUE.”
“Justice” refers to the sacred late-period addition to the Baptismal Covenant, by which certain people hope to remake the Church and the World in their own image.
“Climate justice” is taken from “environmental justice”, which means that those that are poor and/or minority are more adversely impacted by pollution. The reasoning is that: 1) Big Industry purposely builds in these areas, since the poor can’t fight back against the permitting process; 2) Big Industry can pollute more in these areas because they don’t care what happens to the people; 3) Even if emissions are the same as for more affluent areas, the environmental justice communities have greater adverse impacts due to inadequate health care.
So for “climate justiceâ€, the rich countries are using more resources per capita than developing countries, so the rich countries must pay lots of money to the UN. The UN will then distribute the money to the Third Word for “mitigation†of adverse climate change impacts.
Remember, this is big business for the “scientists†in this area. Lots of grant money for “research†and adding on graduate students. So, any bad weather, no matter if it’s rain, snow, sleet, frogs, hot, cold, is blamed on climate change.
I’m sure that the cutting down of the rain forest that used to be there has nothing to do with rapid runoff and flooding.
They’ll do *anything* but care about things like jobs for real people. They’re contemptible.
Funny, though, how they don’t seem to have a thing called “orthodox justice”. Instead, that’s a lawsuit.
Texas, So the UN gets the money from the rich countries and they decide who gets the money to balance out the climate ‘injustice’ , right? Considering their track record, I can sleep easier at night, knowing the the UN is on the job.
Justice used to be such a lovely word. I saw its demise on the horizon about 15 years ago when I called the ECUSA National Office to ask a question and was routed to a person who answered the line with, “Office of Justice and Peace, may I help you?”
I kid you not.