MARION COUNTY, Ky. - Environmental activism is flourishing in communities of Roman Catholic nuns stretching from the Bluegrass to Appalachia.

Susan Classen is among 85 women who live at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Loretto. Those 788 acres of land in Marion County are home to both vowed sisters and co-members, like Classen, who is a Mennonite lay member.

"We describe our commitment to the land as a sacred trust," she states.

To do their part in reversing the effects of climate change, the Sisters of Loretto are divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting in renewable energy.

Classen says while their voices lend credibility to environmental activism, the sisters' desire for sustainability has roots in their faith.

"We recently put solar panels on the cabin where I live, because we don't want to only be against something, we want to be part of living into the alternatives," she stresses. "And there are alternatives to some of the destructive ways of using fossil fuels that we've become dependent on."

The faith-based activism in Kentucky is featured in the new edition of YES! Magazine.

Author Laura Michele Diener spent the fall and winter visiting Loretto, the neighboring Sisters of Charity at Nazareth and the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Tabor in Floyd County for the article.

Diener says she came away "incredibly impressed" by the sisters' spiritual mission, and calls them a "vital force" in the environmental movement.

"To them, this environmental work was just one facet of how they define sustainability - that to them, sustainable living was about care of each other, care of their surrounding community, and care of the earth," she states.

In 2013 the Sisters of Loretto was the first faith group to oppose a proposed natural gas pipeline that threatened to cut through land in 13 Kentucky counties - including theirs.

The project was stopped, an experience Classen describes as a "gift" because it showed the sisters how deeply their neighbors also value their land.

"They'll describe land as a heritage," she points out. "So, they describe it differently, but it's really that same sense of, 'We have been entrusted this land as something to care for.'"

This story was produced with original reporting from Laura Michele Diener at YES! Magazine.


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A new film documents the 2018 battle between Colorado environmentalists and the oil and gas industry over proposed fracking regulations.

The film also documents a grassroots effort by Colorado Rising to pass a ballot initiative which would create a 2,500-foot setback for all hydraulic fracturing wells in the state, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Sarah Schulte, organizing committee member of GreenFaith Boulder County, which recently previewed the film for about 100 members, said the film has a strong message.

"What probably makes the film pretty dramatic and kind of shocking is the length to which oil and natural gas industries in Colorado set out to thwart them," Schulte pointed out. "Not only with some of the tactics you might expect, but also some kind of more nefarious tactics sabotaging their signature gathering, for example."

In the end, the petroleum industry defeated the measure after a $50 million campaign opposing it. Schulte acknowledged Colorado Rising raised only $1 million for its campaign. After the election, the state adopted a 1,000-foot drilling setback from schools and residential property lines.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, involves drillers injecting a mixture of chemicals underground to break up the shale and free the oil. The chemicals used in the process, which are sometimes toxic, can pollute groundwater and make the surrounding land unstable.

Schulte emphasized the movie had a powerful effect on the group's members.

"I think most people were pretty angry and maybe even a little sad after seeing how these kinds of politics play out in Colorado," Schulte observed. "They asked questions like what can we do next? How do you keep going when it's so difficult to fight such a big and powerful industry?"

The film, Fracking the System: Colorado's Oil and Gas Wars, is currently being previewed by select audiences. It has won the "Spirit of Activism" award at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival
and the "Environmental Award" at the 2024 DOCUTAH International Film Festival.

As part of an effort to restore the Mississippi River delta, an organization is collaborating with nature to address environmental challenges.

The Big Muddy is the second-longest river in North America, flowing more than 2,300 miles.

Simone Maloz, campaign director for the group Restore the Mississippi River Delta, said the coalition uses nature-based solutions to help tackle some of the river's environmental problems in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"We use the power and the sediment the river provides to help us to put solutions into place," Maloz explained. "For example, we might have an area of wetlands that needs to be nourished with freshwater sediment, we can tap into that wonderful resource that we have."

Maloz pointed out some farmers are turning to nature-based solution, using cover crops like clover or other plants to protect the soil. Cover crops typically grow in between primary crops, or are planted in the offseason to help keep nutrients on the ground so they do not become toxic in the water as runoff.

Maloz emphasized nature-based solutions are key to building resilient communities, which she said are those communities thinking about how to plan for climate change, such as floods, droughts, and rising sea levels, wildfires, hurricanes and coastal threats.

"What we know about resilient communities, whether you're on the coast, or whether you're not on the coast, is about how you can brace yourself for these impacts and how you can more quickly recover," Maloz stressed. "We know that when you include nature in those plans, it helps you to better do that."

Maloz added her group is involved in various projects along the Mississippi River, using sediment to replenish marshes, rebuild ridges and barrier islands and create habitats for migratory birds.


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The Iowa Environmental Council has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to invoke emergency powers to protect sensitive soil and groundwater in northeast Iowa.

The council is holding a public webinar today and wants the EPA to address groundwater contamination in northeast Iowa's so-called Driftless region. The groundwater there has a well-documented history of nitrate contamination.

Alicia Vasto, director of water program for the council, said the highly porous and soluble karst soil prevalent in the region is susceptible to contamination from centralized animal feeding operations.

"We did some analyses of private well data and public water systems and found that there was a lot of contamination of nitrate in those drinking water sources," Vasto reported. "The state has really failed to take action meaningfully that would address those problems."

The state has said it is constantly working to upgrade groundwater quality standards and is in the process of taking public input on creating yet another set of rules.

Vasto emphasized since the state has failed to address the water safety concerns for decades, the council and a coalition of other environmental groups have, in effect, gone above the state's head to the EPA, asking the agency to implement an emergency stop gap on nitrate pollution the way the agency did in neighboring Minnesota last year.

"We're asking that at, at minimum, the EPA would require the state of Iowa to do what they required the state of Minnesota to do under the same petition," Vasto explained. "Because the geology of northeast Iowa is the same as of southeast Minnesota."

The council's recommendations include calling on the EPA to create a communications plan with residents whose water could be at risk, create a drinking water sampling plan, and establishing a thorough permitting process for centralized animal feeding operations.


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