CND Submission to NS Fracking Review Panel
We are making this submission to the Fracking Review Panel as members of the Congregation of Notre Dame (CND), Roman Catholic sisters. As Christian women we believe that God not only created the universe and all its myriad forms (within an evolutionary process), but that material reality manifests sacred presence and is a gift of love from the Creator. “If you look at the world with a pure heart, you too will see the face of God.” (Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day, August 1993) We maintain that any act of violent assault or contamination of Earth’s resources is not only a violation of the integrity of the planet and its peoples but is, at the same time, an act of aggression towards the Creator whose spirit is manifested through Earth and all its creatures.
God’s glory is revealed in the natural world, yet we humans are presently destroying creation. In this light, the ecological crisis is also a profoundly religious crisis. In destroying creation we are limiting our ability to know and love God. (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Oct. 4, 2003)
As CND sisters we express our mission in the world as that of liberating education. This commitment has led us to recognize the interconnectedness—and corresponding interdependence--of all life. Such deep connections evoke in us a profound compassion for the brokenness within this community of life, creates in us a desire to live in greater harmony and conscious union with all that is, and to express that through works of peace, justice and care of the earth. Based on our mission we are compelled to cite the negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing on water, and to defend the integrity of this resource from a perspective of ethics and rights.
The hydrological or water cycle is a closed system. The waters of the Earth exist in an ever-moving and delicately balanced cycle. Our present levels of water pollution harm the hydrological system, they are unsustainable, and put all life forms on the planet in peril. This implies that the cost and consequences of fracking are threats to and violations of a range of universally-recognized rights:
- Universal Declaration on Human Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- UN Declaration on the Human Right to Safe Water and Sanitation
- Rights and Responsibilities derived from the above
- A proposed Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth…and
- …an evolving body of Earth jurisprudence, which would enshrine in law the protection of the gifts of air, water, soil, plants, animals, minerals and genes—all elements of the global Commons, which the Earth provides.
This moment suggests that we need to make a critical shift from “stewardship,” where humans are the managers of the Earth, to “cooperation”, where we are co-inhabitants with the larger life community. We are called to a deeper “ecological conscience” where our sense of community is expanded beyond the human family to embrace the community of life itself. Realizing our deep interconnection and corresponding interdependence with all of life on our planet, we are sensing that we are both potent shapers of the unfolding of that life and yet, at the same time, entirely dependent upon it for our very survival. This perspective suggests that we can only be fully human when the individual and communal elements of our social concerns are integrated and expressed in life-affirming cultural patterns and social justice.
At the very least, we would want to invoke what is known as the Precautionary Principle, set forth by UNESCO and the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), which states that:
“When human activities may lead to morally unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish that harm. Morally unacceptable harm refers to harm to humans or the environment that is
- threatening to human life or health, or
- serious and effectively irreversible, or
- inequitable to present or future generations, or
- imposed without adequate consideration of the human rights of those affected.”
For us, Earth care rests on foundations integrating ethics, rights and spirituality with scientific, ecological, and political insights into a dynamic and energizing relationship. We are invited to work for a just society, a fair economy, and a flourishing land.
In the end, we must defend and protect what we value.
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Presented by:
Mary Corbett, CND, Masters Mus.Ed. Diploma, Adult Educator,
UN-Accredited representative of the CND to the NGO Forum of the UN, 2008-2012
Rebecca McKenna, CND, PhD, Adult Educator and Theologian
Eileen Roach, CND, M Ed., Counsellor
Residence: “The Small Plot”, 7201 Hwy 6, RR #3, Pictou, NS B0K 1H0……………
Further endorsed by the Provincial Leadership Team of the Congregation of Notre Dame: 1336 Bedford Highway, Bedford, NS B4A 1C9:
Ann Broderick, CND, Province Leader
Nina Glinski, CND, Associate to the Province Leader
Constance MacIsaac, CND, Councillor
Catherine Walker, CND, Councillor