Social Justice Action Alerts

Written on: May 22, 2014

Below are three action alerts or FYI’s however you see fit to receive them. They are all connected to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart’s Corporate Stand to Support the Principles of the Earth Charter.

1. Evidence is mounting that the massive use of glyphosate, also known as Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, is a poison that is making us sick. The introduction of Roundup in 1973 has corresponded with a rise in conditions including celiac disease (gluten intolerance), autism, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, obesity, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s and others.

We recommend that you take action against the use of this extremely toxic herbicide. If you choose to do so, you may click on the link below and sign the petition urging the EPA and FDA to immediately suspend the use of glyphosate.

The EPA and FDA should immediately suspend the use of Roundup. Click here to automatically add your name. You will also fine there a fuller explanation of this issue.

2. Good News: Governor O’Malley of Maryland, vetoed HB 1168, that would have threatened wind power development in Maryland for years to come due to overblown military radar concerns. This is a major victory not only because of what the governor did — but also how he did it. Governor O’Malley explained his veto by boldly stating that the “real threat” at hand to our national security is “rising sea levels caused by climate change,” and that, “shifting to clean energy … is critical to sustaining the economy and living environment of our State.”

The governor’s veto of HB 1168 effectively unlocks the construction of a $200 million wind farm on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore and it clears the way to a billion dollar wind industry on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

If you would like to join Marylanders in thanking the Governor please do so by clicking on this link: Thank Governor O’Malley for pulling out his veto pen to defend Maryland’s clean energy economy.

3. Great news! Two critical anti-trafficking bills have just been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and could be brought to the floor for a vote as early as next week.  Help is needed now to pass these bills to ensure that survivors are able to access needed services and exploiters are brought to justice. Click here to contact your representative today and ask them to support these two important bills!

• The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (H.R. 3530) addresses domestic sex trafficking by creating a fund for domestic victims of trafficking; ensuring that U.S. citizens as well as foreign victims of trafficking can access services and support; and reduces demand for sex trafficking by calling on law enforcement and prosecutors to go after sex buyers in addition to pimps and exploiters.
• The Stop Exploitation through Trafficking Act (H.R. 3610) protects children exploited through sex trafficking by requiring all states to help ensure that minors who are sold for sex aren’t treated as criminals but are recognized as victims; creates a National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking to coordinate efforts between federal, state, local and tribal authorities; and, helps survivors of trafficking rebuild their lives by increasing their access to job training opportunities and to restitution.

Never be tempted to be overwhelmed by all the issues that need to be addressed and never doubt the effectiveness of a few. Attached is a copy of a poem that you probably have read, but it seems to relate to this point.

Pace e bene,

Sr. Diane

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village,
The child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in still another village,
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty.

Then for three years
He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles
From the place where he was born.
He did none of the things
One usually associates with greatness.
He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three
When the tide of public opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away.
He was turned over to his enemies.
And went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross
Between two thieves.
While he was dying,
His executioners gambled for his clothing,
The only property he had on Earth.
When he was dead,
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone,
And today he is the central figure
Of the human race,
And the leader of mankind’s progress.

All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliament that ever sat,
All the kings that ever reigned,
Put together have not affected
The life of man on Earth as much as that one solitary life.

Dr James Allen Francis, © 1926

This entry was posted in With a Heart for Justice and tagged: clean energy, Earth Charter, Eastern Shore, glyphosate, Human Trafficking, Maryland, Monsanto, Round-up, wind energy