{"id":609,"date":"2009-11-02T10:27:29","date_gmt":"2009-11-02T10:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html"},"modified":"2009-11-02T10:27:29","modified_gmt":"2009-11-02T10:27:29","slug":"big-oil-corporate-responsibili","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html","title":{"rendered":"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gehring is the Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of
\nwork and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a
\npickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the
\nfirst station on the road. It wasn’t until my tank was nearly full that I
\nlooked up and saw a glowing CHEVRON sign. My stomach sank. Last Friday, I
\nattended the premier of “Crude<\/a>,” a
\npowerful documentary that chronicles the 16-year lawsuit waged against the oil
\ncompany on behalf of nearly 30,000 indigenous people living in the rainforests
\nof Ecuador.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that Texaco (bought by Chevron in 2001)
\ndumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon from 1964 to
\n1990. Plaintiffs for the indigenous tribes believe the ecological disaster
\npoisoned an area the size of Rhode Island and is at least 30 times larger than
\nthe Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The once pristine waters that nourished
\ngenerations of indigenous communities now run black with oil. Infants are born
\nwith birth defects, cancer is ravaging villages, and a way of life dating back
\n500 years has been destroyed. Chevron executives deny responsibility and have
\nused deep pockets to drag out the case. The company, based in San Ramon,
\nCalif., recently reported profits of $3.8 billion and has no shortage of savvy
\nPR consultants or expensive legal minds at their disposal. The non-profit Amazon
\nWatch is leading a coalition of international groups demanding accountability<\/a> from the oil
\ngiant. Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, who attended the premier in
\nWashington, DC, visited the affected areas of Ecuador last year and in a letter
\nto President Obama described what he saw as a “terrible humanitarian and
\nenvironmental crisis” that as an American left him “angry and ashamed.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The film raises haunting questions for those of us
\nprivileged to live in comfort while others suffer from the greed of U.S.
\ncorporations. How do we reconcile our call as Christians to live simply and
\nseek justice for the most vulnerable amid a culture of excessive consumerism? How
\ndo we avoid becoming indifferent to human rights abuses far from our daily
\nexperiences? “Crude” shakes us out of the cocoon of complacency. It forces us
\nto consider how personal choices relate to systemic injustices.<\/p>\n

I grew up steeped in the intricate vocabulary of sin. In
\nclasses that should have been called Catholic Guilt 101, I learned about mortal
\nsins, venal sins, sins of omission and sins of commission from the good sisters
\nat Immaculate Conception Elementary School. It was also a sin, I was sorry to
\nhear, not to confess all<\/i> my sins
\nduring confession. I suspect most of us still think about sin as personal slights
\nand wrongdoing against another individual. Christian conservatives are
\nparticularly fond of railing against sexual sins and could barely contain
\nthemselves when Bill Clinton got into trouble in the Oval Office. But we hear
\nmuch less indignation about “social sins” that include environmental
\nexploitation or the humanitarian impact of war. Consider the potential for
\nprogress on some of our most urgent moral challenges if we could channel some
\nof the anger fanning the flames of our ubiquitous “culture wars” into campaigns
\nagainst global poverty, preventable diseases and ecological disasters.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While some elected officials like Sen. James Inhofe of
\nOklahoma still deny the reality of global climate change and lobbyists for Big
\nOil engage in what amounts to legalized bribery on Capitol Hill, I’m proud that
\nChristians are on the front lines of a growing movement for environmental
\njustice and corporate accountability. Sister
\nPatricia Daly<\/a> and her fellow Dominican sisters of Caldwell, N.J. challenge
\ncompanies like Exxon Mobile, Dow and General Electric at shareholder meetings.
\nThe Catholic sisters are part of the Interfaith
\nCenter on Corporate Responsibility<\/a>, an association of
\n275 faith-based institutional investors that press companies to be socially and
\nenvironmentally responsible. Each year religious institutional investors
\nsponsor over 200 shareholder resolutions. Pope Benedict XIV has been dubbed the
\nGreen Pope<\/a> for his resolute commitment
\nto environmental justice. The Vatican even became the first “carbon neutral”
\nstate in the world. The pope’s latest encyclical addressed the need for
\nsustainable development, and the responsibility wealthy nations have to help
\ndeveloping countries escape the deadly traps of debt and poverty. Last spring,
\nthe Catholic
\nCoalition Against Climate Change<\/a> <\/span>launched A Catholic Climate Covenant: the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation
\nand the Poor<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/i>.<\/b> As Christians, we recognize that
\nending the poisoning of our planet is a pro-life issue central to defending
\nhuman dignity.<\/p>\n

Colonialism, in the official sense, is the shameful legacy
\nof a bygone era. But multinational corporations that plunder and exploit the
\nrainforests of South America or the mines of Africa continue this brutal cycle
\nwith tragic consequences. If those of us who know the truth fail to speak out,
\nwe stand complicit in our silence. <\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Gehring is the Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of work and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a pickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":305,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholics","category-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nBig Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Gehring is the Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of work and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a pickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-02T10:27:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"guestblogger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt - Progressive Revival","og_description":"John Gehring is the Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of work and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a pickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html","og_site_name":"Progressive Revival","article_published_time":"2009-11-02T10:27:29+00:00","author":"guestblogger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html","name":"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt - Progressive Revival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-11-02T10:27:29+00:00","dateModified":"2009-11-02T10:27:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/ab30af78c798415183ebaf131152ce9e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/11\/big-oil-corporate-responsibili.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/","name":"Progressive Revival","description":"Politics from the New Religious Progressives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/ab30af78c798415183ebaf131152ce9e","name":"guestblogger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f35\/f3587d75a20cb88f1c76fd277ee82fc5x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f35\/f3587d75a20cb88f1c76fd277ee82fc5x96.jpg","caption":"guestblogger"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/guestblogger"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}