Good for the Sierra Club blogger to remind us all of the Good Friday connexion.  God alone knows what it means.  It is certainly disgraceful that so many in the Catholic Church do not recognize environmental values as important Gospel values.  There are indeed some who do so, and God bless them, but they are not nearly enough.  And there is no reason why Catholics (and other Christians, for that matter, but I cannot speak for them) should not recognize that the irresponsible killing of wildlife, the irresponsible pollution of an entire ecosystem, the reduction of wildlife habitat as the development of the extraction industries proceeds unchecked, and countless threats to biodiversity in general, deserve to be included in their so-called "pro-life" system of ethics.

The sociology of Alaska vs. Washington fascinates me.  How is it that so many Alaskans do not mind supporting development by the extraction industries, but so many of you Washingtonese elect clear-eyed people like Maria Cantwell?  Washington is obviously the center of the US environmental universe right now.  Alaskans have no time for us New Yorkers telling them we do not approve of their willingness to flush the willow ptarmigan, the polar bears, the aircraft-murdered wolves, the Porcupine caribou herd and the Gwich'in down the tube.  But is it not true that you Washingtonese have some sway?