EarthBeat Weekly: What's the value of values?

What's the value of values? Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change August 25, 2023   A pedestrian walks past the haze-shrouded New York Stock Exchange building in New York City June 7. Smoke from intense Canadian wildfires severely affected air quality in the Northeastern United States in early June. (AP/J. David Ake) I'm not sure how many people are aware that the U.S. Catholic bishops and the Vatican have both issued documents in recent years on investing in a way that aligns with Catholic values. In the financial world, it's often called environment, society and governance criteria — or ESG. As NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe reported at EarthBeat on Thursday: In its 2021 revised socially responsible investment guidelines, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops echoed Pope Francis in stating that economic progress cannot be defined only by increasing profits and production. The guidelines endorsed efforts to "actively promote and engage" companies through dialogue, proxy votes and shareholder resolutions to adopt corporate social and environmental responsibility guidelines. Another document, "Mensuram Bonam: Faith-based Measures for Catholic Investors: A Starting Point and Call to Action," issued in November 2022 by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, references ESG directly nearly two dozen times. "Many of the underlying factors for ESG resonate with the aims underlying [Catholic social teaching], creating a potential for new synergy between value and values," the document states, though it stresses the two are not synonyms. "At their core the new and multiplying measures attending to environment, society and governance (ESG) reflect a fundamental truth: that the economy is nested within society, impacts human beings in positive and negative ways, and is bound by the natural limits," it states. But in recent months, some Republicans have dubbed ESG as "woke capitalism" and are pushing back against its use. While congregations of men and women religious have long been at the forefront of advocating for such environmentally and socially responsible investing, other people of faith — like Catholic conservative activist Leonard Leo — may be tied to groups who are funding the anti-ESG campaigns. Read more: Republican anti-ESG push complicates faith-based impact investing John Gafabusa, custodian of the Mutyona natural sacred site near Buliisa, Uganda, points at a water covered sacred site on Lake Albert at the Karakaba landing site, Aug. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda) What else is new on EarthBeat: As oil activities encroach on sacred sites, a small Ugandan community feels besieged Alex Wakitinti is worried about the sacred natural sites he tends in the large swath of bushy grassland near Lake Albert. It's the same slice of his homeland that oil companies are developing in order for Uganda to become an oil producer by 2026, reported Rodney Muhumuza for The Associated Press. Editorial: Climate action requires interfaith collaboration The vital work of care for creation must be done together. NCR editors say that by working together across denominations, people of faith take the first step toward the integral ecology about which Pope Francis speaks. Pope tells lawyers he's writing a new document on the environment "I am writing a second part to Laudato Si' to update it on current problems," Pope Francis told a group of European lawyers Aug. 21 during a meeting in the library of the Apostolic Palace, reported Cindy Wooden for Catholic News Service. Faith leaders call for repentance and spiritual reformation to address climate change Dealing with the climate crisis will require developing renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind power, decreasing greenhouse gases and creating more sustainable lifestyles, reported Bob Smietana for Religion News Service. It also requires a change of heart. Sisters in Brazil commit to supporting Indigenous peoples and their land Amid rising violence in some Indigenous communities over land rights in Brazil, sisters there say that, if necessary, they'll fight alongside the original inhabitants to protect their land, reported Lise Alves for Global Sisters Report. Letters to the editor on global warming NCR readers respond to a column where Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese says that the good news is there are ways to reduce and eliminate the growth in global warming; the bad news is he's not sure we will implement them fast enough. What's happening in other climate news: Chaos Erupts When Republican Candidates Are Asked if They Believe in Climate Change —Neil Vigdor for The New York Times Ecuador votes to ban oil drilling in part of Amazon, mining outside Quito —Alexandra Valencia and Julia Symmes Cobb for Reuters What role did the climate crisis play in Storm Hilary – and could there be more like it? —Maanvi Singh for The Guardian White House is torn over Joe Manchin's fury at climate law he crafted —Jeff Stein and Evan Halper for The Washington Post What's the fairest climate policy of all? —Mark Harris for Anthropocene  Final Beat: At the Hollywood Climate Summit held in Los Angeles in June, 2022 Goldman Prize Winner Nalleli Cobo shared her experience of environmental racism as a young girl growing up near an oil well in L.A. It was an experience that nearly took her life. You can watch a portion of her powerful speech on Instagram here. What she doesn't mention in this speech is that the oil well in question was on land owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  Roewe reported on the archdiocese's lack of support for Cobo and other activists' efforts to shut down the oil and gas site in this 2020 story at EarthBeat. And there are still active oil drilling sites on archdiocesan land in L.A., like the Murphy Drill Site, which a Christian faith-centered nonprofit has been working to shut down.  Thanks for reading EarthBeat! Stephanie Clary Environment Editor National Catholic Reporter sclary@ncronline.org Instagram: @stephanieclaryncr     Featured Advertisers   Join this five-part webinar series connecting spirituality and human sexuality. Learn how the Church understands sex, sexuality, gender, and human love in light of contemporary questions.   Advertisement