Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger is an outspoken advocate of ecological spirituality and the abolition of the death penalty. For several years, she has lived in the Eagle Ford Shale development region. in this interview, she shares how she was experiencing her call these days to advocate for environmental justice, the foundation for bringing peace to individuals and communities.
1. Given the overwhelming issues of our time, how do you choose the specific issue to work on?
I never went to an area with my own agenda. I go where I am asked to help. The agenda must be defined by the people asking for help. it is their community and it is their responsibility. My role was to accompany them and to provide resources, to educate them in the systems they will be challenging and work with their leaders to plan their responses to the threat. The one exception was when I read in a local paper about the ting town of Nordheim (330 population) being threatened with the placement of a 200-acre solid waste "treatment" facility 1/2 mile from their school facilities. Nordheim was where my maternal grandparents lived, and I still have cousins living gathered. I knew they had no resources for educating the community about its dangers or organizing to help plan a resistance strategy. I simply offered help. This approach was an exception. Normally, I wait until I am asked to help.
2. How do you begin the effort to respond?
The Second Vatican Council urged us to "listen to the cries of the poor" and the oppressed; to read the "signs of the times". using them, we hear the Voice of Christ, His Body, and that is the manifestation of God's Will for us. Rural people may not always be the poorest of the poor, but they are often small and unprepared to stand up to the large corporations who want to exploit them.
3. So now that you cannot be physically present to communities like Nordheim or individuals with whom you collaborated in other places, how do you continue to work for environmental justice and the integrity of Creation?
Prayer is the biggest power resource any of us have. Prayer draws the power of the Spirit into any situation or on any individual. Many problems will not be fully resolved until the hearts of the exploiters are changed. And only the Spirit can change the human heart. So, I brought that silent petition to our daily Eucharist.
I still participate in Zoom Calls with some groups and by e-mail with individuals who do the same work as others. I can serve as a resource for people by phone.
Also, I sign petitions and collaborate with other organizations like the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund, an Anti-Nuclear Watchdog Group and especially Commission Shift, based in Laredo and founded to work for the reform of the Texas Railroad Commission. This is online.
Commission Shift, with whom I participated as a Founding Board Member years ago, is focusing on the unplugged oil wells in Texas. These are 40-50 years old. They are leaking. In West Texas, now there are high-pressure injection wells being built in the same areas that dispose of fracking wastewater. They are causing wastewater to travel underground, and these could travel through faultlines to contaminate an aquifer or water wells used for people or livestock. This wastewater is already going back to the surface through old unplugged, abandoned oil wells or dry bore holes. These high-pressure injections are also causing earthquakes and geological changes on the surface of the land.
2. Where is your energy being used given the limitations and yet calling does not stop at retirement?
First of all, I do not consider myself "retired". I have just adapted my ministry to the changed circumstances. Anyone can participate in promoting environmental justice, according to Laudato Si.
One can advocate by signing petitions promoted on the websites of established, reputable non-profit organizations on-line, e.g. the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. They are also a good source of self-education. It is critical for all of us to keep up with the effects of Climate Change and our actions that it may contribute to it.
3. What are the effects of Global Warming that you have experienced personally?
Worsening Hurricane impacts. Hurricane Beryl in 2024 had a more destructive effect on roads, piers, (between Fulton to Rockport, Texas) and personal home damages that other hurricanes have never had. The erosion was more extensive than other hurricanes in the area. Studies of sea level rise along the entire Gulf Coast show that the fastest rise is at Fulton.
4. How are you changing your plastics, Styrofoam footprints and fossil fuels in our sponsored ministries and those we are interconnected with?
I try not to use Styrofoam cups at all. I donated to the Sierra Club and received a stainless-steel water bottle for my membership. I order all my paper goods from Grove, a company that produces napkins, towels and toilet paper from bamboo instead of from trees. Their detergent that I am using is the form of sheet detergent that you drop into the washing machine. They come in small, recyclable. boxes. No plastic containers are involved.
How do you influence people with these practices?
Some people ask about them when they see them. I show them where to order them. Others ask and learn, but after they learn, they just keep using the plastic container. They may not have a computer or know how to order on-line regular stores on I recently read that one sheet detergent is now marketing in regular stores.
How is it that environmental changes like "using less plastic" can be difficult for some people?
In some cases, they are not aware that plastics are made from fossil fuels. The same for detergents. Again, education is very important. They are not aware of the alternatives that are available.
And some people are not seeing this as a moral issue. They do not see the choice of plastic or plastic bottles or detergent as a moral choice. The fossil fuel and plastic industries are producing propaganda that contradicts environmental science. Or some leaders call Global Warming a "hoax".
They are saying environmental harm is not happening. Global warming is not happening. These are not caused by fossil fuels. As a result of the choices that Americans are making, catastrophic flooding and sea level rise are occurring around the world. These are particularly destructive to poor people in the Southern Hemisphere. And they have no connections to the production or use of fossil fuels.
5. How can we bring our churches in Texas to consider its impact in the world in terms of the Climate Crisis and about the danger of fossil fuels more effectively?
First: Ask the right questions of ordinary people and of leaders or people of influence on everyone. Challenge them to think this through for themselves. Example: Do you know anyone in your family (or community) who had cancer? Any children who had leukemia, or asthma? Anyone affected by drought, or whose water supply is endangered? Or running out?
Or any has anyone in your family ever been impacted by hurricanes, tornados or sea level rise?
Second: study their community values based on their choices. e.g. What kind of vehicle do they drive? Any hybrids or electric vehicles in sight? Any charging stations around? Where do they invest their money? How do they dress? What are their values, how does the Faith Community witness their Faith? How do they express their Faith? (Mass on Sunday? Devotions? Doing the work of mercy?) Are they aware of the poor in their community? Do they connect Eucharistic community and Scripture with the moral values and practical social justice? Have they ever heard of Laudato Si?
Third: Based on the results, gather a small group of serious Faith people who have dedicated lives to the work of doing the work of the Church. Invite them to form a study group around Laudato Si, then follow up with a strategic plan of action. After they have owned the values of Laudato Si, help them do an assessment of their community in terms of toxic emissions, plastic usage, recycling, etc. They could also ask the pastors to help promote LS.
Well, perhaps some Opus Dei members or those whose jobs are in the fossil fuels, chemical or plastics industries.
6. There are of course other important Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Issues. How do we tackle all these as religious?
Carefully and with discernment. It is encouraging and humbling to note that thousands of people--some of other Faiths and some of no Faith--who share our environmental values and concerns for Earth based on science and reason. They share a sense of moral and ethical obligation to correct and even reverse the direction we have been traveling together since the Industrial Revolution began. This provides us with the opportunity not only to learn from their examples and expertise in science. This is an opportunity to humble ourselves and bear witness to our Faith.
Can we start praying and talk about the enormity of the issues on war, aggression, immigration, climate crisis, discrimination, humanitarian crisis, death penalty abolition and human trafficking?
Here in Texas, we have nuclear bomb manufacturing, and thus we are producing nuclear waste, and our taxes are going to produce wasteful and destructive technology.
What are your thoughts on these for us, not only as religious but also as human beings who care for life and the vulnerable?
Now that the objective of reversing Roe vs Wade has been settled by the Supreme Court, it is time for us to address the other pro-life issues that are also impacting millions of lives. The other pro-life issues are the death penalty and environmental destruction. Pope John Paul II established and identified them as pro-life issues when he said that all human life is sacred, from the first moment of conception to the last dying breath. Therefore, the Death penalty is immoral. Any human action that endangers human life is immoral. So, it is important to note that the 3000+ Bishops gathered for the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) stated that not only is it immoral to use nuclear weapons (of mass destruction). it is immoral to make and to possess them.
Global Warming is a life and death issue for millions around the world. Fossil fuel contamination of whole communities as in Ecuador and their indigenous people is a moral issue. These are only a few that are scientifically documented.
