Catholic view on Population

Right before Spring Break we were studying about the world’s population and the factors that determine its size and growth. Yesterday, on April 16, 2007, the
Vatican’s representative in the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, sent a letter to the UN about how the Roman Catholic Church thinks the population issue should be dealt with. In this letter, Archbishop Migliore says that although the population is suppose to stabilize in 2050 at about 9 billion people, we still need to work on keeping the world population from getting out of control. With more people being born and the baby boomers reaching old age, the
Vatican feels that extra attention should be given to them and not forgotten. They urge states to “foster respect for human life in all its stages and to find solutions that are right and just, not merely pragmatic.”

Another way to help the population growth is to assist developing countries become more advanced. One place in particular is the continent of
Africa. Archbishop Migliore feels that giving money for primary education would help the countries of
Africa to be more developed. Another solution is one we talked about in class, elevating the status of women and girls in the community by educating them which would give them more respect, something else to do to help out the family and would help them gain maturity in making parental decisions.

A lot of what the Archbishop wrote in the letter is similar to what we learned in class with a more Catholic moral spin to it. For instance, in our book, it says that developed countries would help give women access to contraceptives, but being the Roman Catholic Church, they believe that education alone would be the only contraceptive needed. And with the aging baby boomers some countries, like Japan, don’t feel it’s the governments job to take care of the old people, but the family; the Vatican feels that the government should act like old people’s families in that regard by caring for them. 

Source: Zenit News Agency

No Money or Clean Cars

When I was in California over Spring Break, I came across an article in the San Jose Mercury News newspaper on Monday, April 9, 2007. The article was about California’s new idea to lower emissions from vehicles, not by consenting to the good nature of people, but to their wallets. The bill that is being debated right now to become a law puts certain prices on every car sold. Depending on the type of car that is bought, the person would either have to pay or get paid for the amount of greenhouse gas emissions the vehicle puts out. So if you wanted to buy a Hummer H2, you would have to pay an additional tax of $2500. But if you wanted to buy a Toyota Prius you get paid $2500. All the money is paid as a tax and the state pays the car-owners, not the dealerships.

 

The list of cars that you’ll have to pay extra for are:

§ Hummer H2

§ Dodge Viper

§ Dodge Ram

§ Ford Expedition

§ Chevrolet Avalanche

§ Toyota Sequoia

§ GMC Yukon

§ Toyota Tundra

§ GMC Sierra

§ Chevrolet Silverado

§ Dodge Dakota

§ Chevrolet Tahoe C150

§ Ford Explorer

§ Audi S8

§ GMC Safari

§ Chevrolet Astro Van

§ Chevrolet Trailblazer

 

The list of cars that you’ll get paid to have are:

§ Hyundai Santa Fe

§ Oldsmobile Silhoutte

§ Pontiac Montana

§ Chevrolet Venture

§ Ford Mustang

§ Chrysler PT Cruiser

§ Ford Taurus

§ Chrysler Sebring

§ Buick Century

§ Volkswagon Passat

§ Chevrolet Malibu

§ Honda CR-V

§ Nissan Altima

§ Mazda B2300

§ Honda Accord

§ Toyota Rav4

§ Toyota Camry

§ Volkswagon Jetta

§ Chevrolet Cavalier

§ Mada Protégé

§ Volkswagon New Beetle

§ Dodge Neon

§ Hyundai Elantra

§ Ford Focus

§ Nissan Sentra

§ Toyota Corolla

§ Honda Civic

§ Toyota Prius

If this bill passes into a law, new car buyers are really going to have to think about whether those sport cars and SUVs are really worth paying $2500.

 

Source: Rogers, Paul. Clean Cars: Paying the Price for SUVs San Jose Mercury News 4/9/2007