I like this:
http://thehill.com/...
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Thursday that Pope Francis agrees with him that climate change is a “moral issue.”
“The Pope and all people of faith understand that climate change is a moral issue, and that we are called to respond to this personal and planetary challenge,” Markey said after meeting with the Pope and other high-level Vatican leaders in Rome to talk about climate change.
Markey said he and other lawmakers from around the world discussed the health and economic consequences of not addressing climate change.
“It was an honor and a privilege to meet with Pope Francis and other Vatican leaders to share our common concern about the challenge of our time, climate change,” Markey said. - The Hill, 5/29/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/...
Markey said the pope nodded and thanked him, but did not otherwise comment.
The Vatican confirmed in January that Pope Francis is preparing an encyclical letter on the environment, considered the most developed form of papal teaching. Markey said the legislators were asked by Turkson to contribute recommendations for that encyclical, and he focused on what he described as the disproportionately negative impact of global warming on the poor and on the working class.
Assuming it appears, this will be the first encyclical issued by a pope entirely devoted to the environment.
Markey said he used a Massachusetts example with Turkson to drive home the real-world cost of climate change, saying that warming ocean temperatures in the Atlantic are driving cod further north and having an adverse impact on the local fishing industry.
Markey has long been an outspoken advocate of environmental protection, even suggesting in 2010 that those who deny climate change should be exiled to a massive iceberg to “start their own country.”
At least on ecological matters, the pontiff is of like mind. During a speech to diplomats in January, for instance, Francis said that, “God always forgives, we sometimes forgive, but when nature – creation – is mistreated, she never forgives.”
He returned to the theme during a general audience on May 21.
“Custody of Creation is custody of God’s gift to us and it is also a way of saying thank you to God,” the pope said. “If we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!”
Markey, a graduate of both Boston College and Boston College Law School, both institutions run by the Jesuit religious order, said meeting history’s first Jesuit pope had special meaning.
“It was one of the most important moments I will ever have,” he said, “not just as a senator but as a Catholic and a human being.” - Boston Globe, 5/29/14
More below the fold.
Markey is an environmental champion and I appreciate him doing everything he can to help not only the country but the world wake up to the severe dangers of climate change and I am proud of this Pope for speaking out for the environment.
Another thing Markey is a champion on is gun control and has been pushing this:
http://www.masslive.com/...
Markey and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced bicameral legislation calling for the CDC to receive $10 million each year for six years beginning in fiscal year 2015 to fund research on gun violence prevention and firearms safety.
A 1996 bill passed by Congress and backed by the National Rifle Association effectively slashed gun violence research from $2.5 million to approximately $100,000. President Barack Obama in Jan. 2013, following the shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn. a month earlier, signed an executive order which effectively ended the funding freeze.
Obama included $10 million in his budget proposal released in March of this year after lifting the 17-year ban on federal gun violence research through his executive order, but action by Congress is needed to ensure future funding.
"It is time we study the issue of gun violence like the public health crisis it is. If we want to prevent injury and deaths from guns, we need to know what can be done to prevent it," Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement. "No one should be afraid of more non-partisan, scientific research of this issue – not Democrats, not Republicans, and not the NRA." - The Republican, 5/21/14
Here's a little more info:
http://www.motherjones.com/...
The CDC sponsors a wide variety of disease and injury prevention programs, focusing on everything from HIV/AIDS to averting falls by elderly people. Since 2007, the CDC has spent less than $100,000 a year on firearms-focused work, according to a CDC spokeswoman. The money goes not for research but for a very rough, annual estimate of the number of Americans injured by shootings.
The NRA's director of public affairs told CNN last year that more government-funded gun research is not needed.
"What works to reduce gun violence is to make sure that criminals are prosecuted and those who have been found to be a danger to themselves or others don't have access to firearms," Andrew Arulanandam said. "Not to carry out more studies."
Professional groups that represent doctors, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support the push for more research funding. In a letter last summer, the associations wrote that "the dearth of gun violence research has contributed to the lack of meaningful progress in reducing firearm injuries," and noted that "firearm injuries are one of the top three causes of death among youth."
The CDC is not the only source of federal funding for gun violence research. The Justice Department—which has funded gun violence prevention studies since the 1980s—gave nearly $2 million to firearms violence projects last year, and is offering as much as $1.5 million in research funding this year.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which invests $30 billion in medical research each year, put out a call last fall for new research projects on gun violence prevention. It's not yet clear how much money the NIH will devote to the research. The NIH will announce the gun violence projects it will fund in September and December, a spokeswoman said. - Mother Jones, 5/21/14
And after the most recent tragedy, we could need it now more than ever:
http://www.thenation.com/...
Students and faculty at the University of California–Santa Barbara are understandably in shock after the murder of six innocent people Friday in the Isla Vista community that borders the campus. Over the next few weeks, there will be many memorial services, tributes and other events to remember the victims and provide family and friends with opportunities to mourn. But if UCSB students, alumni, faculty and staff want to channel their feelings into constructive action, here’s a suggestion: ask the University of California Regents if its $88 billion endowment is contributing to gun violence by being invested in gun companies that fund the National Rifle Association (NRA) and obstruct common-sense gun policies. If it is, demand that the UC system divest itself from these merchants of death.
America mourns with the families affected by this latest mass shooting. We face the responsibility to work together to stop the epidemic of gun violence.
“Not one more,” said a heartbroken Richard Martinez, the day after his 20-year-old Christopher, a UCSB student, was killed in the Isla Vista tragedy. “Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live?”
The following day, Martinez made additional comments: “There’s a tendency to think that this was a madman and that we can’t do anything about it. I think that’s an easy out. I don’t believe it. I know this is a complicated problem but I do believe it has a solution.”
Martinez is right. There is a solution, and it starts with putting economic pressure on the gun industry. The companies that manufacture guns and ammunition and the NRA are responsible for the United States having the weakest gun laws among modern democracies. In April of 2013, a few months after the Sandy Hook massacre, the gun lobby killed legislation to extend background checks for gun sales, ban assault weapons and limit the size of guns’ ammunition magazines.
The NRA has even used its political clout to block medical and academic research that would help us understand and end the epidemic of gun violence. According to ProPublica, “Since 1996, when a small CDC-funded study on the risks of owning a firearm ignited opposition from Republicans, the CDC’s budget for research on firearms injuries has shrunk to zero.” Last week, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) filed a bill that would fund the CDC research. The NRA issued a statement calling Markey’s bill “unethical” and an “abuse of taxpayer funds for anti-gun political propaganda under the guise of ‘research.’” - The Nation, 5/27/14
Markey is a progressive champ and ever since he won his special election to succeed current Secretary of State John Kerry, Markey has vowed to make gun control and climate change his top priorities. Lets help make sure Markey gets his full term this year. Click here if you want to donate and get involved with his campaign:
http://www.edmarkey.com/