June, 28 2018, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jeff Hoagland (Primary) Phone: (202) 745-4635Â Email: jhoagland@sojo.net, Jim Simpson (Secondary) Phone: (202) 275-4609 Email: jsimpson@sojo.net
Sojourners to Hold Vigil to Protest Indefinite Detention of Immigrant Families
On Friday, June 29th from 8:30-9:30pm Sojourners and other faith partners will hold an interfaith candlelight vigil on the lawn of the Capitol Building to protest the Trump Administration's policy of indefinite detention of families.
Over the past few weeks, the news has been dominated with the images of children who have been heartlessly torn from their parents. The cruel separation was a direct consequence of the administration's zero tolerance policy at the border.
WASHINGTON
On Friday, June 29th from 8:30-9:30pm Sojourners and other faith partners will hold an interfaith candlelight vigil on the lawn of the Capitol Building to protest the Trump Administration's policy of indefinite detention of families.
Over the past few weeks, the news has been dominated with the images of children who have been heartlessly torn from their parents. The cruel separation was a direct consequence of the administration's zero tolerance policy at the border.
The crisis on our border is morally indefensible. Contrary to the false claims of this administration, their brutal zero-tolerance policies are not "biblical law enforcement" -- they stand in direct opposition to the teachings of multiple faith traditions. This problem is far from solved and for thousands of children cruelly separated from their parents the crisis is ongoing.
Merely ending the policy of separating families at the border is not enough. We are witnessing a massive humanitarian and moral crisis of the President's own making. He can stop it at any time. Our demand is clear and not negotiable: Trump's policies of jailing families indefinitely must be stopped immediately. If the Administration refuses to act, we call on Congress to pass a law to welcome the stranger and protect the immigrant among us. Now is also the time to end the zero-tolerance policy and lift-up the need for comprehensive, compassionate, and just immigration reform. This is not a political choice; it is a moral choice. Expected crowd 500+
What: Interfaith vigil to protest indefinite detention of families and separation policies
When: June 29th, 8:30-9:30pm
Where: Capitol Reflecting Pool
Who: Shane Claiborne, Founder, the Simple Way; Bishop Jose Garcia, Senior Advisor for Prayer and Strategic Initiatives, Bread for the World; Marie Dennis, Co-President, Pax Christi International; Priscilla Martinez, Holistic Families Circle Founder, All Dulles Area Muslim Society; Jess Morales Rocketto, Political Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner, President, Skinner Leadership Institute; Dr. Rajwant Singh, Founder and Chairman, Sikh Council on Religion and Education; Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley-Rea, Director of Refugee and Immigration Ministries, Disciples Home Missions; Talib M. Shareef, President and Imam, The Nation's Mosque, Masjid Muhammed; Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Senior Advisor and Former National Director of Interfaith and Community Alliances, Islamic Society of North America; Rev. Adam Taylor, Executive Director, Sojourners; Rev. Jim Wallis, Founder and President, Sojourners; Lisa Rodriguez Watson, Leadership Development and Training Director, Christian Community Development Association; Barbara Weinstein, Associate Director, Religious Action Center;
Visuals: Clergy from multiple faith traditions, standing on a stage, reading prayers for immigrants on the lawn of the Capitol Building. Expected crowd size 500+
Read "Suffer the Little Children," the statement from the Reclaiming Jesus Elders on our current moral crisis here: https://www.reclaimingjesus.org/sites/default/files/downloads/reclaimingjesus.family.pdf
LATEST NEWS
Study Reveals Up to 11 Million Tons of Plastic Polluting Ocean Floors
"Every minute, a garbage truck's worth of plastic enters the ocean," researchers said.
Apr 07, 2024
The amount of plastic waste littering the Earth's ocean floors could be up to 100 times the quantity floating on the surface, according to a study published this week.
Researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)—an Australian government agency—and the University of Toronto in Canada found that up to 11 million tons of plastic are polluting the planet's ocean floors, including microplastics and larger objects like fishing nets, cups, and bags.
"We know that millions of tons of plastic waste enter our oceans every year but what we didn't know is how much of this pollution ends up on our ocean floor," CSIRO senior research scientist and study co-author Denise Hardesty said in a statement. "We discovered that the ocean floor has become a resting place, or reservoir, for most plastic pollution, with between 3 to 11 million tons of plastic estimated to be sinking to the ocean floor."
Study leader Alice Zhu, a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto, said that "the ocean surface is a temporary resting place of plastic so it is expected that if we can stop plastic entering our oceans, the amount would be reduced."
"However, our research found that plastic will continue to end up in the deep ocean," Zhu stated. "These findings help to fill a longstanding knowledge gap on the behavior of plastic in the marine environment."
“Understanding the driving forces behind the transport and accumulation of plastic in the deep ocean will help to inform source reduction and environmental remediation efforts, thereby reducing the risks that plastic pollution may pose to marine life," she added.
The study is part of CSIRO's Ending Plastic Waste program, whose goal is "an 80% reduction in plastic waste entering the Australian environment by 2030."
Humans produce approximately 440 million tons of plastics annually, or roughly the combined weight of every person on the planet. Plastic pollution harms not only the environment and ecosystems, but also human health and economies.
Plastic use is expected to double by 2040. Negotiations on a global plastics treaty have made little progress amid lobbying by the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Orbán Challenger Promises New Era of Hungarian Politics at Massive Budapest Rally
"We were pitted against each other instead of allowing us to band together," said political newcomer Péter Magyar. "We will put an end to this now."
Apr 07, 2024
At least tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Saturday to rally against right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and in support of a political newcomer who recently launched a movement that plans to field candidates in European and local elections in June.
Demonstrations against Orbán's increasingly autocratic 14-year rule were sparked by Péter Magyar, a lawyer and former associate of the prime minister who recently released an audio recording exposing corruption in the ruling Fidesz party. Protesters gathered Saturday in Kossuth Square outside Parliament, waving Hungarian flags and chanting "Orbán resign!", "We are not afraid!", and other slogans.
"Step by step, brick by brick, we are taking back our homeland and building a new country, a sovereign, modern, European Hungary," Magyar, 43, told supporters.
"Our elected leaders have incited the Hungarian people against each other for the past 20 years," he added. "Whether the fate of our country went well or we were close to bankruptcy, we were pitted against each other instead of allowing us to band together. We will put an end to this now."
One protester toldAgence France-Presse that "something needed to be done because it's insane how much this government has gotten away with."
Magyar, the ex-husband of former Justice Minister Judit Varga, last month released an audio recording of his ex-wife discussing an attempt by members of Orbán's inner circle to interfere in a corruption case. Varga and Hungarian President Katalin Novak resigned in February over an unrelated child sex abuse pardoning scandal.
Zsuzsanna Szigeti, a 46-year-old healthcare worker attending Saturday's rally, toldReuters that "we had known that there is corruption, but [Magyar] says it as an insider and confirmed it for us."
Domestic and international critics have accused Orbán of systematically eroding Hungary's democratic institutions, tightening his grip over the country's political system, and consolidating control over much of the media to strengthen Fidesz and its parliamentary supermajority. European Union leaders have condemned Orbán's rule, calling his government a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy." Orbán describes it as "illiberal democracy," while touting its universal appeal to international conservatives, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
European leaders also bristle at Orban's warm personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the Hungarian leader did condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and voted along with the rest of the 27-nation E.U. to impose economic sanctions on Moscow.
Human rights have deteriorated markedly during Orbán's tenure, especially for LGBTQ+ people, migrants, women, and Roma. The E.U. has withheld billions of dollars in funding in response.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit New Record Levels
"As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere," said one NOAA scientist.
Apr 06, 2024
The three most critical heat-trapping gases in Earth's atmosphere again reached record levels last year, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday, underscoring the inadequacy of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions amid the worsening climate emergency.
NOAA said the three most important human-caused greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide—"continued their steady climb during 2023."
While the levels of these heat-trapping gases did not rise "quite as high as the record jumps observed in recent years," the figures "were in line with the steep increases observed during the past decade."
"We're caught between a rock and a charred place."
Global surface CO2 concentrations averaged 419.3 parts per million (ppm) last year, an increase of 2.8 ppm. It was the 12th straight year in which worldwide CO2 concentrations rose by more than 2 ppm.
Atmospheric methane—which while not as abundant as CO2 is up to 87 times more potent over a 20-year period—increased by 10 parts per billion (ppb) to 1,922.6 ppb, while nitrous oxide rose by 1 ppb to 336.7 ppb.
"As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere," Vanda Grubišić, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory, said in a statement.
According to NOAA:
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere today is comparable to where it was around 4.3 million years ago during the mid-Pliocene epoch, when sea level was about 75 feet higher than today, the average temperature was 7°F higher than in pre-industrial times, and large forests occupied areas of the Arctic that are now tundra.
About half of the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to date have been absorbed at the Earth's surface, divided roughly equally between oceans and land ecosystems, including grasslands and forests. The CO2 absorbed by the world's oceans contributes to ocean acidification, which is causing a fundamental change in the chemistry of the ocean, with impacts to marine life and the people who depend on [it]. The oceans have also absorbed an estimated 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases.
"Methane's decadal spike should terrify us," Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist who heads the Global Carbon Project—which tracks global emissions but wasn't part of the NOAA effort—toldNBC News.
"Fossil fuel pollution is warming natural systems like wetlands and permafrost," Jackson added. "Those ecosystems are releasing even more greenhouse gases as they heat up. We're caught between a rock and a charred place."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular