This year a nest of days and weeks encourages us to reflect on the large challenges of our time, and particularly on those posed by war and by the threat of global warming. Both have already affected the lives of millions of people and will largely shape the future of the world. They are also related. The destruction of war itself affects global warming and distracts nations and societies. They become less willing and able to deal with global warming. The degradation of land and rising sea levels also drives people from their homes, deepens disputes over boundaries and prejudice against foreigners, and sows the seeds for further conflict.
Within the Catholic Church Laudato Si’ Week underlines the importance of respect for our environment as the core of Catholic faith and not merely as a good idea. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical in which he highlighted the threat to the world posed by climate change, its effect on people and especially the poorest in our world, and the need for concerted action. He addressed his Encyclical to all people of good will and advocated for action to curb climate change in the United Nations and elsewhere. He called Christians to join others in respect for the environment in their personal living, transport and recreation, and to press for action by their governments to limit emissions.
He also insisted that care for the environment is not only the business of economics or politics. At its heart it is a religious duty. It is part of doing God’s will to make our world one in which people can flourish. For Christians it is not a political business to be left to politicians. Care for the environment must become part of our personal, our family, our working and our political lives and relationships.
Pope Francis reminds us that our relationship with our environment is not just one relationship among many. It is bound into all our other relationships. Respect for our family, our local communities, our friends and our nation must be accompanied by respect for our natural environment if we and our world are to flourish. We do not have an environment; we are part of it.
During Laudato Si’ Week this year, the 55th anniversary of Earth Day is also celebrated. It is one of the earliest movements to protect the Environment. Its theme links respect for our environment with the way in which we generate power. Burning fossil fuels generates a high proportion of emissions in the world.
Ten years after Laudato Si’ much has been done to reduce emissions and to plan for the future. But much, much more remains to be done in a time when governments are abandoning commitments to reduce emissions and to limit the use and sale of fossil fuels. This trend reflects the widespread focus on narrow self-interest pursued by corporations and by governments within their own nations. This selfish attitude prevents the cooperation needed to respect the environment and also breeds relationships based on power and not on cooperation. The consequences will affect particularly people who are poor in the world and also encourage the exploitation that degrades our environment and poisons our future.
For that reason the Day for diplomacy and peace is particularly timely. It emphasises cooperation between nations, concern for one another in averting conflict, and resolving disputes peacefully. When self-interest reigns, governments and entrepreneurs resist any curb to their power. That leads inevitably resentment and conflict as people are neither consulted nor have a voice in decisions that disadvantage them. In conflict the environment inevitably suffers.
At the heart of Christian faith and the Gospel is a God who loves the world, treasures it for its beauty and delicacy, and commits it to us human beings to work and talk together in our respect and delight in our environment.
Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ writes for Jesuit Communications and Jesuit Social Services.
