We continue our focus on the effects the extraction of natural resources, such as oil, gas, and minerals.  Historically this can be a huge money maker for commercial investment.  For those who live in the areas of extraction, it can also be deadly and exploitative, often resulting in extreme poverty and human rights abuses.  Extraction provides oppressive governments a huge source of income, preserving their power, while the exploited lands Lands can become polluted and uninhabitable.

As the Amazon Synod meets to discuss a variety of ecological issues and faith connections, the Maryknoll office of Global Concern has summarized them nicely with this article.  The fires burning in the Amazon give new urgency to these conversations as so many of the issues facing the region (and the world) are related to extractive industries.
Also see this story from a Spanish language website with the perspective of people most effected by mining and fires in the rain forests.  http://iglesiasymineria.org/  (as needed, use your browser's "translate" when you open the webpage)

Extractive industries are a major contributor to climate change, since they are responsible for extracting the natural resources whose consumption and extraction release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Even metallic mining such as silver and iron contribute to climate change given the energy needed to extract it, transportation to another country or region where it is processed and then sold. 

The Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach has researched the connection between extractive industries and climate change and corruption.  Read their reports here

They Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns have just published their fourth article in a series on extractive industries.  The series is designed to educate Catholic organizations about ways to participate in the fastest growing divestment campaign in human history - the fossil fuel divestment movement. Read the full series here

Both these communities have worked closely with The Inter-religious Working Group on Extractive Industries,  a Washington, D.C. based coalition of faith, human rights, and environmental organizations concerned about the negative impact of extractive industries on Creation which includes both the human and natural world.  Learn more about their work here

Finally, the Catholic Climate Covenant has been exploring various aspects of extractive industries.  Explore their work here:

• Webinar recording and slides 
• Webpage on extractives

​Photo: Pixabay

EarthJustice Fighting Against Fracking
 
Fracking: Using millions of gallons of water and secret chemicals, oil and gas companies crack open underground rock formations, forcing deposits of oil and gas tucked deep within the earth up to the surface. This controversial process, combined with industry deregulation, has landed our country smack in the middle of an ill-timed oil and gas rush.
Seemingly determined to get every last drop of oil and pocket of gas, the industry has worked itself into a 31-state frenzy, drilling next to homes, schools, even in the middle of cemeteries. They’re polluting air and water, making people sick, hurting communities and delaying our transition to clean, safe, renewable energy.

Now People are joining together to fight back

And Earthjustice is fighting alongside them—in the courts and in communities. Every day we are fighting to keep fracking out of places where it doesn’t belong, working to protect people impacted by this dangerous practice, and challenging fracked oil and gas infrastructure project that will lock us into a future dependent on fossil fuels.

Together, we can keep communities safe and help our renewable energy economy flourish.
Latest Resources:

• Things Fine a Way: An Animated Video About Fracking
• UnFracktured Communities: In communities across the country, people are standing up to the fracking industry, passing bans and limits on fracking and defending their right to do so in court. And when the oil and gas industry tries to bully communities into backing down, communities are fighting back—and winning.
• Fracking and Community Control: Experts from New York, Colorado, California, Pennsylvania and Texas hosted a teleconference on the growing trend of community control over fracking.
• Using Municipal Zoning to Limit or Ban Fracking in California Communities: Legal experts discuss options available to California communities that want to limit or ban fracking and other methods of oil and gas development.

Taking on the difficult issues in the Philippines

In January 2016, Fr. Rey Carvyn Ondap, C.P. was named Coordinator of the newly formed JPIC Commission of the Passionist Asia Pacific Configuration.  This young priest takes on a daunting role, but his energy, dedication, and his track record of activism all point to Fr. Rey’s ability to further the mission of the Passionist JPIC: “to “defend the rights of the most vulnerable and exploited sector of the society.”  In this new position, Fr. Rey will take on many challenges in Philippine society, such as environmental destruction, banishment of indigenous peoples, and the violation of workers’ rights, especially farmers. 

Grown in the tradition of JPIC values and commitment
Fr. Rey was born in 1981 in Agape, Loay, Bohol, Philippines. He was raised in a middle class family as one of seven siblings.  He describes himself as “an ordinary student,” studying first in public school and graduating from a private high school run by Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit.  In 1997, he joined the Passionists immediately after his graduation from high school.  He studied philosophy from 1997-2001 at the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines, then went back to the seminary in 2002 to continue his formation at the Loyola School of Theology in Manila.  He graduated and was ordained in 2009.

Hitting the ground running
After his ordination, Fr. Rey was assigned as assistant mission director of the Catholic mission to indigenous people, eventually becoming the Executive Director of JPIC in 2013 when it moved from the umbrella of Catholic Mission to the Indigenous People of the Philippines and was declared as an independent ministry.
In his second year of priesthood, Fr. Rey became involved with others in a campaign against the Xstrata Tampakan gold and copper project to force international mining companies “to do the right thing” for the workers and the environment.  He faced great hostility for his position from many who would benefit from the mine.  "The first five years of your priesthood are supposed to be the honeymoon,” he reflect, “but they have put me in hell.  But I am not opposed to mining per se. If they followed the so-called responsible mining program, then there would be no problem. We are not just fighting against the Tampakan mine; we are looking for a solution."

Justice in the face of a massacre
In 2013, Fr Rey showed his strong solidarity with people suffering injustice when he officiated at a commemoration mass on the anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre of November 23, 2009.  58 persons were killed there on November 23, 2009 – 32 of them from the media, when a political convoy was attacked by armed men, believed to have been hired by another local politician. 
At the mass, Fr. Rey reminded the families and colleagues of the victims that four years’ delay in pursuing justice is 1,460 days of “delaying justice, controlling justice, maneuvering justice, paying justice, playing justice.”  He offered specific prayers, both that politics will not hinder the pursuit of justice and that those in the Church continuously support the families of the victims.  “We should not worship the god of money, the god of gold. We should worship the God of Justice,” the priest said.  Read more about this story at  http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2013/11/22/no-political-or-judicial-yolanda-please-for-ampatuan-massacre-case/.

Fighting for seafood workers
Another issue close to Fr. Rey has been the struggle of commercial seafood workers, specifically those from the Citra Mina seafood corporation.  His home base of General Santos is a highly urbanized city of more than half a million and home to some 200,000 workers in the tuna industry.
In 2014, Fr. Rey and the JPIC one of the many networks supporting Citra Mina workers struggle for better working conditions and an end to oppressive practices.  He inspired the union members before the start of "die-in" action to show their cause during World Food Day 2014.

In mid-February 50,000 people from all over the country gathered in Washington DC to challenge our government to halt the building of the Tar Sands Pipeline. This monumental structure is conceived to stretch the length of the country and through part of Canada, harming the environment in many ways, disrupting communities of people and wildlife, threatening ecosystems and water sources. One participant was pleased to see a young couple with their baby in a stroller, and stopped to thank them for being there. They answered: “Our baby made us come.”

Yes, we must turn our ears to the cries of the children of our planet. If we cannot choose a healthy environment for ourselves, choose instead for the most vulnerable among us who will live with the ramifications of our choices for the next 80 years.

Take a few minutes to listen to the voice of 10-year old Ta’Kaiya Blaney, from the Sliammon Nation, who lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia. In this original song she begs all of us to help protect her native coastline from the oil spills like the Exxon Valdez spill that still lies a few inches under the surface of the water 22 years later.

More from Ta'Kaiya on the song, Shallow Waters