Can you take the heat?

In Indiana, there is man named Kyle Kramer who lives on a farm in the Ohio River valley. Mr. Kramer's family and him turn off their air conditioner during the summer, which temperatures reach over 100 degrees. All they were doing was trying to conserve energy as much as they could. They have a passive-solar home, fluorescent light blulbs, efficient appliances, and even some solar panels for their electricity and hot water. They do this because they believe in asceticism, which involves dicipline-physical, mental, and spiritual. Mr Kramer said, " We hace come to accept--sometimes joyfully, sometimes grudgingly--that our attempts to live more simply and justly in a rural setting entail a degree of deprivation, discomfort and self-denial." We think that conserving a little energy wouldn't be that bad. What's a little heat? Give us your opinion on what would you do if you lived in a place that had the temperature of over a 100 degrees.

Catholic Responsibility to the Environment

In Mr. Banks' fabulous 10th grade Morality class (6th period), we read an article about Eco-Asceticism. It was a very interesting article. Kyle T. Kramer told about how he decided not to turn on his air conditioning in the middle of summer in Indiana because he wanted to be a good steward of the Earth. Let's back track shall we, Indiana... middle of summer.... on a farm.... can you say 100 DEGREES!!! This guy is insane. Yes, we understand that maybe you wanted to do something good for the environment, but a line needs to be drawn. What is you problem? Who doesn't turn on their AC when it's that hot outside. It's called maintaining homeostasis! You can not turn that AC as long as you usually do, but AC, to us, is something that is needed. So we believe that the Kramer family lifestyle is EXTREMELY INSANE!!!

Catholics should live the way they see is best. I think everyone should do what they can to use as little resources as possible. I guess Catholics should live moderately.

Is the environment a big deal?

Of course the environment is a big deal, it is where you live and breathe everyday! You always want to keep your environment a clean and healthy place to live because if you do not have a healthy environment you would not be healthy and you might even die from an unclean environment. You should always care about your environment because if you do not then you are hurting yourself.

There are many ways to help keep your environment a better place to live such as: recycling, riding your bike every once in a while, using your resources wisely, and picking up around your neighborhood or home. When you do these things you are not only making it a better place for yourself to live, you are making it a better place for everyone else to live.

The environment should always be treated as an important issue in your life, even if you think everything is going great.

What Catholics are doing at the local level

There are a lot of Catholic organizations that come down to the Gulf Coast to help with various service projects. A group of students from Notre Dame came down to Pascagoula, MS the year after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf. They helped rebuild the coast by cleaning up the community and rebuilding homes and schools. These students came down on their spring break to help out families in need of homes and shelter. It was a very kind and caring gesture that people all along the coast will never forget. It showed us just how much Catholics care about each other and the environment we live in.

More and more schools have been helping out on the Gulf Coast and coming down on their spring and summer breaks to clean up and do other things. One Catholic high school from Illinois came to the coast one year and helped us clean up our school. They didn't even complain about their living arrangements in the RCS High School Gym. They put on a talent show for us and there was a dancing priest! Thank you to all that have helped the coast since Katrina.

How can RCS students and teachers be better stewars of Earth's resources?

Two years ago, Resurrection welcomed a new member to its faculty, Ms. Jeffcoat. She immediately noticed how little Resurrection did for the environment. Her first year at Resurrection she started Pascagoula Clean Up, where a group of students come together after school to pick up trash around Pascagoula. RCS students were inspired by the things she was doing. She started the 1st annual Earth Day Extravaganza at RCS. It was held on Earth Day and the outdoor lawn of RCS. Speakers from various organizations spoke to students, refillable water bottles and reusable bags were handed out, and healthy snacks were eaten. There was also a drawing for a tree. It was a really fun day for students at RCS! Ms. Jeffcoat and one of her students, Taylor Lawerence, started a recycling program at the school. Plastic water bottles in the cafeteria were now able to be recycled. Ms. Jeffcoat also has bins in her room for paper and plastic. Since her arrival on campus, RCS has become A LOT more environmentally friendly.

RCS can definitely improve on many things. First off, if you walk around the campus and look into classrooms, you will sadly find that Ms. Jeffcoat seems to be the only teacher that has bins for recycling. This is not good. If you look in the cafeteria trash cans, you will find plastic water bottles when the recycling bin to literally two steps away. This is EVEN worse!! As students of RCS, we have noticed that not all the teachers print back-to-back. This waste a lot of paper that could be used for other things. The windows at RCS should be opened a lot more than they are and the lights could be turned off more. Other than these few big problems, RCS is very eco-centric!!! "I make the environment a better place to live by educating others about humans connection to the natural world. This is done in both the classroom and in extra circular activities and through my interaction with a diverse group of people," Ms. Jeffcoat said. Thanks Ms. Jeffcoat for all the things you do to improve the environment at RCS!! YOU ROCK!!

Let's take a look at a school in Miami called Miami Northwestern Senior High. They won $250,000 in a contest because they had the most earth-friendly overhaul of a campus. They had major upgrades, including lighting retrofit, wind tribune, green roof, water systems that are more efficient, outdoor garden areas, and a brand new recycling program. They put cardboard boxes in every classroom and collected paper, cans, and bottles. Then, they hauled the goods outside themselves. Very good MNSH. Looks like RCS has a loooong way to go!!!!

We love Mr. Banks!!

Thank you for everything you do! This blog activity was really fun. Keep up the cool ideas.

P.S.-- This looks like an A+ blog page if you ask us. haha

"We must always strive to be good stewards of Gods creation."- Mr. Banks

The Catholic environment

In the Catechism, we have a section on where they talk about the respect of the integrity of creation. I think it is important for people to understand that we Catholics do care for our environment not just for the poor as Mark Stoll had said, and I quote, "Catholics have not been prominent environmentalists in the past because their religious worldview encouraged a sense of sacredness among a community of people rather than with nature." Even Pope Benedict XVI has seen that environmentalism is a part of a deeper spiritual away from what he called in Australia the “folly of consumerism,” toward a lifestyle rooted in the traditional virtues of self-sacrifice and solidarity. The pope also sees care for the earth as part of a whole of moral truths, including defense of human life and dignity. He shows us that we should treat our environment with the most respect. In the Catechism there is a section (2415) and it says:

"The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity.195 Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation."

To us this quote really sums 2415 in the Catechism and is a really good perspective. This quote says, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."- From The Great Law of The Iroquois Confederacy

Another part of the Catechism where it really talks about the environment and how man should treat it is 346 which says:

"In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant. For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it."

Really all that this is saying is that humans have the domain over the animals and that we have the responsibility to take care of them and their environment.