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Green Junction: Waterways by Julie Peller Ph.D.
The James River in Virginia is the longest river in the state and it flows from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. For centuries, hundreds of thousands of James spinymussels, small fresh water mussels less than three inches in length, inhabited the James River. They filter water (up to 15 gallons of water a…
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Happy Birthday, St. Bonhoeffer
Happy Birthday, St. Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born on 4 February 1906, fully in the image and likeness of God. Like all of us, our life challenges us to maintain God’s likeness. Bonhoeffer became for the world a well-known theologian, pastor, and Nazi resister. He was educated in Europe and the US and had his…
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Green Junction: By Julie Peller, Ph.D., “one of the largest contributors to the climate and ecological crisis.”
A November 2022 publication of The United Nations Environment Program describes the fashion industry as “one of the largest contributors to the climate and ecological crisis. It is nature intensive, reliant on fossil fuels, polluting throughout its value chain and wasteful to the extreme. It is also predicated on a culture of overproduction and consumption,…
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Green Junction: Spring is coming! By Julie Teller Ph.D.
Early spring is the time of the year when it is easy to see humanity’s enormous, modern day waste problem, particularly along the roads. Our lifestyles generate, on average, 5 pounds of waste every day for every person in the US, and most people do not pay attention to garbage once it leaves the house.…
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The TLM debate
The TLM debate How does a Latin Mass (or any Mass) “save” our soul? These are a means to an end, not the end in itself for bringing about the kingdom. On judgment day, it will call for our concrete acts of love. Let’s focus on what Jesus taught us, separate the wheat from the…
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Green Junction: latest research on micro and nanoplastics on Monday, January 23rd. By Julie Peller Ph.D.
When the statistics on plastic waste are analyzed, it is quite clear that recycling of plastics has mostly failed. The vast majority of this waste has been buried, burned or is polluting in the environment. The plastics industry has been a strong force behind plastic recycling. In the 1970s and 1980s, it encouraged American municipalities…
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René Girard
René Girard “The goal of religious thinking is exactly the same as that of technological research — namely, practical action. Whenever man is truly concerned with obtaining concrete results, whenever he is hard pressed by reality, he abandons abstract speculation and reverts to a mode of response that becomes increasingly cautious and conservative as the…
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Green Junction: Are Plastic Waste Bags Our Best Choice? by Julie Peller, Ph.D.
A walk around a typical neighborhood on garbage collection day (especially after Christmas) confirms our entrenched throwaway culture and the acceptance of plastic bags for garbage disposal. A convincing yet erroneous message on waste disposal is that plastic garbage bags are the best choice. However, the reality is that the widespread use of plastic garbage…
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What is the future of “catholic journalism”?
What is the future of “catholic journalism?” thinking about how much of what we see in print on all sides of the “catholic” issues are creed based on what we believe as Catholics and what we pledge allegiance to. But only a little on what we do with those beliefs, very little on See-Judge-Act. Very…
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Green Junction: Trees. By Julie Peller, Ph.D.
An enormous number of trees are harvested daily for paper and cardboard products. The trees are transported, processed into pulp, then into coarse paper, and finally, cardboard or paper products. Pine trees with long fibers are required for corrugated paper packaging (cardboard). At a major processing plant in the International Paper facility in the Georgia…