April 28, 2000
When religion joins forces with environmental groups, powerful changes can happen.
This March, the Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation teamed up with the National Forest Protection Alliance (NFPA) to sponsor a formal briefing of Congressional staff on the issue of forest protection on national forests.
This briefing introduced the moral and ethical reasons for saving our nation?s public forests to the legislative assistants in the Capitol. It also demonstrated the growing emphasis in religion for action on this key issue.
?The logging is unsustainable,? reported John Talberth, forest economist and executive director of the NFPA; ?it cannot continue for more than a few more years.? Meanwhile the forests that are supposed to belong to all people are being logged as repayment for campaign contributions. The proceeds from that logging do not remain in the local community, but are concentrated in large metropolitan areas where the timber companies maintain offices.
Representatives from the nation?s major religious traditions made presentations not often heard in Congress. Evangelicals, Jews, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Greek Orthodox, Charismatics and other Pentecostals were all represented.
All of the speakers joined in calling for both an end to all cutting of old growth forests and an end to the commercial logging on the national forests.
Participants in the Congressional staff briefing were part of a 42-person delegation of religious leaders and concerned citizens that had journeyed to Washington from all over the nation to educate legislators on the moral and ethical sides of forest issues. The delegates represented the many faces of religion in America, but were united in a message that forest conservation is a religious mandate for our times.
Delegates visited over 250 federal lawmakers and their staff. They spoke of the growing plight of America?s national forests and how legislators are going against public sentiment in support of national forest cutting as polls show 70% of Americans support an end to commercial logging on the public?s forests. But it doesn?t become law because large campaign contributions from the timber industry push for continued logging, despite public sentiment.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2000