RCS and the Earth's resources

Resurrection Catholic School has taken many strides toward helping better the environment. There are many things in place, but the problem is getting people to continue and use them.
Outside of the cafeteria there are 2 green recycling bins. Students and teachers should throw their empty, plastic, water bottles into those green recycling bins, instead of chuncking them into the regular garbage, where they will spend their life in a land fill.
Teachers and students should also try to print double sided and use their Promethean board more often, so that little paper is needed. The less paper we use, the less trees that are cut down.
We should also follow the tips that are on posters in each classroom. They include: turn the lights off and open the blinds, turn computers and surge protectors off when you leave a room, turn the A/C off and open the windows if it's nice outside, and make sure the A/C is off when you leave.
Additionally, RCS should get rid of styrofoam trays as soon as we get a new cafeteria. We could also follow the lead of other schools, and ask to turn food waste into compost, rather than just dumping it in the trash.
Simple things like recycling printer cartridges and joining a club, like Pascagoula cleanup, are fun and beneficial.

Be better stewards of the Earth!

Poll

I asked the class if they thought the environment is an important issue. Here are the results:

Strongly agree 4
Agree 10
Somewhat Agree 1
Somewhat Disagree 1
Disagree 1
Strongly Disagree 1

Additionally I have gotten the opinion of Ms. Jeffcoat and Mr. Banks.

Jeffcoat-Strongly Agree
Banks-Currently Unknown

The Catholic Church and the environment

The Catholic Church has recently been almost condemned for not caring about the environment, compared to other religions around the world. The Catholic Church has always cared for all of God's creations, and that includes the environment, but they haven't been as involved as other faiths.
Many people may not fully understand the Catholic Church's position, but to my understanding, based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is what it is: The Church is alright with using natural resources, as long as it is beneficial to humankind and you must keep in mind the future generations of the world.
The environment is an important issue for the Church, but they teach that we can use what God created for us, in order to better the world (within reason, of course). The Catholic Church does stress that we should take care of our home and respect it, because everything on it was created by God, and everything deserves dignity.
This teaching of the Catholic Church on the environment is backed up by an ethical framework made up of 5 principles.

What catholics do at a local level

The E.J.P has provided over 150 small grants to several community organizations. The projects range from educational retreats across the country to large scale organizing against the destruction of wetlands in coastal Louisiana. While the E.J.P does not offer grants any more the programs created still serve as models of how small communities can effect both local and national change.
Father Kemp directs preaching the Just Word, a program based at thew Woodstock theological center at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. At these meetings were Father Kemp preaches he reflects on a deeper lack of connection to the Earth. If the best environmental activism is local, then environmental awareness must begin with locals immediately.
Santuario Sister farm in central Texas which was founded in 2001 has organized many projects that combine empowerment of local Latina women with the modeling of sound environmental practices.

Post 5 ~ Quotes

These quotes are by Bruce Babbitt, a Catholic Politician in California. They show some of the things Catholic Politicians are doing for the environment; trying to get bills passed, spreading the word, et cetera.

~ I wouldn't miss this opportunity for anything. For the chance to work on these conservation issues, to serve my country, to work for this president, I'd do it all over again, every single minute.

~ We have an obligation to live in harmony with creation, with our capital... with God's creation. And we need to administer and work that very carefully.

~ We have to preserve it and use it sustainably. And the short-term use of resources at the destruction of the long-term heritage of this country is not a policy that we can pursue.

catholic enviromental responsobility

The Catholic attitude toward nature in one word is stewardship. Stewardship is the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. From the first pages of the Bible, we are instructed to "cultivate and care for" God's Creation (Genesis 2:15). Created in the image and likeness of God, we are granted dominion over the rest of Creation (Genesis 1:26-28). Dominion means that we have sovereignty over and responsibility for the well-being of God's Creation. We resemble God primarily because of this dominion; hence our dominion must also resemble God's dominion. We must cultivate and care for the Earth as God does, with love and wisdom. We are called to exercise dominion in ways that allow God's original Creative Act to be further unfolded. And because we resemble the Creator, we are also in a sense co-creators with Him.
Dominion does not mean that God does not care how we use the material world. From the beginning, God insists that humans are not “little gods” with limitless authority. Not only does Genesis describe the creation of humankind as “very good,” it describes the creation of non-human creation as “good.” In other words, nature has its own value, and that value is given by God. God enables people to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of Creation and to perfect its harmony.