Holy See becomes first `carbon-neutral' state

BY STAFF REPORTER THE HOLY SEE has accepted a donation designed to make the Vatican the world's first "carbon-neutral" sovereign state.
The US-based Planktos Inc and its Hungarian partner, KlimaFa, will designate part of a reforestation project in Hungary as the Vatican Climate Forest.
The size of the Vatican Climate Forest in Hungary and the number of trees to be planted will depend directly on the Vatican's 2007 energy usage, said Planktos and KlimaFa. The companies said they would offset all of the Vatican's 2007 emissions of carbon dioxide.
The burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline and heating oil, emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is one of the "greenhouse gases" that traps heat in the earth's atmosphere and is seen as a prime cause of global warming.
Planktos and KlimaFa earn money by selling greenhousegas mitigation credits to individuals and businesses. Whatever carbon dioxide emissions someone cannot eliminate can be offset by planting trees or buying the carbon mitigation credits of a company that plants trees or takes other action to eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, accepted the gift on behalf of the Vatican.
In his statement to executives from Planktos and KlimaFa, Cardinal Poupard thanked the companies for helping the Vatican "do its little part to contribute to eliminating polluting CO2 emissions that threaten the survival of the planet".
God created the world and appointed people as its guardians, telling them to make it fruitful, the cardinal said.
"When man forgets that he is the servant of the earth and becomes its master, the earth itself seems to rebel against man, and the place of wel come becomes a desert that threatens the survival of creation," the cardinal said.
"Safeguarding the environment is not a political question that leaders of political parties must resolve, but an ethical, cultural question" Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI, on holiday in the northem Italian Alps, sent a message to Italian forest rangers celebrating the July 12 feast of St John Gualberto, their patron saint.
"It is an appropriate occasion to express my appreciation and affection for forest rangers, certain that they want their work to be marked by a spirit of service, to be close to • the people and to better safeguard natural resources, which are a gift of God for everyone," he said.
Mark Dowd: Page 10