Pedro Walpole SJ Exclusion and conflicts highlight the suffering of millions of people that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to address. The Goals are a global strategy coming from an extensive dialogue of 193 nations, and though more critically designed than its predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), still need to be grounded,...
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The Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APC), an upland indigenous school in Bendum, Bukidnon in northern Mindanao, Philippines invited Ms Victoria “Vicky” Tauli-Corpuz, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as the key speaker during the student graduation activity on 28 March. APC runs a Kinder to Grade 12 basic culture-based...
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From the vast oceans and rivers around the world to the organs and cells in our bodies, water connects us all. Access to safe and drinkable water is a basic and universal human right. Though it is indispensable for life and our inherent dignity (Laudato Si’ 28-30), we continue to experience many challenges regarding...
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Pedro Walpole SJ After 16 months of discernment in common, and with the approval and confirmation of Pope Francis, Father General Arturo Sosa of the Society of Jesus announced the four Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs) on 19 February 2019 to guide and inspire the mission for the next 10 years (2019-2029). These UAPs are:...
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by Pedro Walpole SJ With the heat of the Australian summer in the southern hemisphere and the freezing in North America by the polar vortex, 2019 begins with the extremes. For those in the tropics, especially the west Pacific, there is a need to be watching the east Pacific 3.4 zone to understand the emerging...
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by John Colin Yokingco We are given a deadline: 2030 – 12 years from now. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report 15, we have 12 years to drastically reduce our emissions or else it will be too late to slow down global warming to a rate that can...
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Knowledge on the catastrophic effects of increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere has been around as early as the 1800s, and the top CO2 emitters were even warned by their own scientists of the possible effects of these emissions to the climate. However, along with the continuing research, warnings, and global initiatives to...
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In the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5℃ released on 6 October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 91 authors and review editors from 40 countries declared that the world needs to limit global warming to 1.5℃ rather than 2℃. The situation demands urgent global action to...
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Dr. Pedro Walpole Seemingly forgotten public documents and scientific studies are revealing the extent of the fossil fuel industry’s research on climate change as early as the late 1950s along with the warnings from the industry’s scientists, but these were taken over by the cover-ups and misinformation that followed during the 1970s and 1980s....
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The Amazon region, with an area of 550 million hectares, hosts the world’s largest tropical rainforest, the world’s second longest river and its largest with more than 20% of the entire planet’s flowing water, around 400 unique cultures and communities, and a third of all known terrestrial plant, animal, and insect species. Along with...
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