Environmental Justice Committee
Our Mission & Goals
The Environmental Justice Committee works to advance, educate and participate with individuals and groups to improve the condition of the environment for all of the earth’s inhabitants through direct action, education and advocacy in harmony with the environment.
- To improve the environmental footprint of our parish, it’s members, and the community.
- To conduct direct action by implementing such programs as, composting, tree plantings and maintenance, stormwater reduction, neighborhood clean ups, energy reduction strategies, and other environmental efforts to improve our footprint through collaboration within the parish and with partners.
- To educate each other through information sharing and with speakers to explore and expose the adverse effects humans have on the environment and its inhabitants and to propose solutions to improve these effects.
Top Priorities for 2023
Contact
Theresa Furnari
Environmental Justice Committee Chair
tafurnari10@gmail.com
Welcome Letter
Hello All: My name is Theresa Furnari and I want to welcome you to the Environmental Justice Committee of the Justice and Peace Ministry.
I am honored to be taking over the reins for the committee and I thank Len Heckwolf for his years of service as the former chair.
As a parishioner of St. Ignatius Church for the past years, I have tremendously enjoyed the work of the Justice and Peace Committee.
My desire to chair the Environmental Justice Committee is rooted in my lifelong passion for living in harmony with nature.
The Environmental Justice (EJ) Committee is guided by the principles cited in Lauduto Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical letter. Specifically, that we as individuals need to act for the benefit of the natural world, which includes the animals, soil, plants and waters.
In addition to direct action and advocacy, EJ seeks to educate individuals as to the changes we can incorporate in our own lives that will benefit the community.
We welcome all who are interested in learning more and/or serving on the committee. I can be contacted at TaFurnari10@gmail.com
– Theresa
Upcoming Events
How’s the Water, Hon? Speaker Event
The Environmental Justice Committee invites you to a presentation to learn about the water that arrives at your house and leaves your house, and what you can do to mitigate contamination of our...
How Does One Person Make Any Difference?
A Conversation about the Importance of Reducing, Composting, and Recycling. by Valerie Doze https://vimeo.com/733707720 Reduce, reuse, recycle. How many times have we heard these three seemingly...
Suggested Reads
A Terrible Thing to Waste
By Harriet A. Washington
A “powerful and indispensable” look at the devastating consequences of environmental racism (Gerald Markowitz) — and what we can do to remedy its toxic effects on marginalized communities.
THe Overstory
By Richard Powers
The Overstory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of—and paean to—the natural world.
Bicycling with butterflies
By Sara Dykman
Sara Dykman made history when she became the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies on their storied annual migration—a round-trip adventure that included three countries and more than 10,000 miles.
Tracking Climate Change in 193 Countries
A team of more than 40 Opinion writers, photographers and editors spent five months canvassing the globe to illustrate the deadly consequences of our warming world.
Review of Climate Change 2021
Earlier this year, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. The full report, clocking in at a mere 3,949 pages, is an extensive assessment of the current evidence on the physical science of climate change.
See The True Cost of Your Cheap Chicken
This video from the New York Times Opinion Piece shows how modern poultry farming keeps the cost down, but takes away the dignity of the farmer and the animal.
There are graphic images in this video.
Current legislation that needs your support!
There are currently six environmental justice bills before the General Assembly that provide environmental protection and promote social justice.
The bills are supported by Maryland Catholics for Our Common Home, parishioners across the state, and our parish. Additionally, nearly eighty parishioners signed a petition supporting the bills. There is more to do.
On behalf of the Environmental Justice Committee, we ask that each of you contact your legislative representative and ask them to support the bills.
If your representative sponsored the bill please thank them. If your representative is a committee member or a chair of the committee that the bill has been assigned to, please state your support and urge them to successfully vote it out of the committee.
Your legislative representatives want to hear from you and this is your time to voice your position! Time is of the essence so please act.
SB528 Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, HB/708 comprehensive climate solutions, HB696 and others
HB596 / SB783: Maryland Constitutional Amendment on Environmental Human Rights
Ultimately, this decision will be up to the voters. If this bill passes with the required votes, it will be on the ballot this fall and up to us to decide whether to enshrine these rights in the Maryland Constitution. But the legislators must give the voters a voice.
HB108 / SB524: Energy efficiency assistance to low-income Marylanders
HB141 / SB 23: Equity in Transportation Sector
HB11 and SB616: Reclaim Renewable Energy Act of 2022
HB1031 / SB791: Maryland the Beautiful Act
Upcoming Events
A Message From Pope Francis
Take Action
Composting
The Environmental Justice Committee is working on eliminating all paper waste from the parish by implementing a program to introduce compostable paper cups, plates, and utensils to all parish functions.
The Green Library
Check out the new Green Library in Ignatian Hall . You will find over a hundred books and articles on the environment. Books are arranged by author. You are welcome to take a book home but please return to the shelves after you have enjoyed it.
Media Watch
How’s the Water, Hon? Speaker Event
The Environmental Justice Committee invites you to a presentation to learn about the water that arrives at your house and leaves your house, and what you can do to mitigate contamination of our waterways and damage to our pipes”. John Marra, Ecoliteracy &...
Virtual Pilgrimage of Mother Mary Lange
February 26 @ 1:00 pm - 3pm “…Mother Lange’s love for all enabled her to see Christ in each person and the pain and prejudice of racial hatred never blurred that vision.” Come join St. Ignatius, the Racial Justice Circle and the Pastorate of St. Ann, St. Francis...
Tax Sale Nightmare: How an unpaid bill can cost Baltimore homeowners thousands, or even their homes
Some 41,000 properties have gone through the city’s tax sale since 2016, a Baltimore Banner investigation found, threatening home ownership and prolonging vacancies in majority-Black neighborhoods. Arnita Owens-Phillips had always promised herself one thing: She would...