Ecology: We must work together

The Regular readers of my column may know that I have covered a very broad range of subjects over the 11 years since I first started writing. In fact, this is column number 136, which means I might even have repeated a theme occasionally, although — thanks to a diligent editor — I have made sure that each piece is new material.

But I am embarrassed to see that I have almost never touched on the subject of the environment and yet the umbrella title for this column is “Faith and Society”. Clearly the state of the environment impacts greatly on our society — locally, nationally and internationally. And the state of the environment should also impact greatly on our faith.

In fact, Pope Francis has focused two of his main writings specifically on this subject — Laudato Si’ in 2015 and Laudate Deum in 2023 — as well as referencing the issues when he wrote, for example, about the joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium in 2013) and social friendship (Fratelli Tutti in 2020). The pope certainly sees ecology as a pressing spiritual issue.

As I reflect on the reasons for my own reticence, I suspect that other readers might feel something similar. In part it stems from my lack of expertise in the area (though, you might exclaim, that has not stopped me in other columns!). The issues of climate change, environmental degradation, sustainable economics and alternative energy seem very big and complex, and I am not sure I can get my fairly non-scientific brain around them.

The tree-hugger trap

But I suspect that I have also fallen into the trap of dodging the issue because of fear of being labelled a “tree hugger”, the stereotype of a trendy lefty vegetarian who wants to talk to the birds and the plants while skipping barefoot in the woods. That is certainly not me, nor is it Pope Francis, and it certainly isn’t the late Pope Benedict XVI, who also voiced his ecological concerns.

But it is interesting that the title of Pope Francis’ encyclical on this subject, Laudato Si’, is a direct quote from a barefoot, vegetarian hippie who was proudly talking to the birds and the plants and other parts of creation. They are the opening words of “The Canticle of the Sun”, which directly addresses “Brother Sun”, “Sister Moon” and “Mother Earth” — a poem not from 1970s California but written exactly 800 years ago by none other than St Francis of Assisi.

Francis (the saint, not the pope) spotted centuries before the rest of us how interconnected everything in the planet is. We tend to think of him only as a lover of fluffy animals (from his reputation of preaching to bunny rabbits when humans would not listen), but it seems he was conscious of what the more recent Francis (pope, not saint) has called “integral ecology”.

This is a very Catholic expression since it harks back to St Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio. This stressed the importance of “integral human development” — that is, developing all aspects of humanity not just economic growth — and is the title that Francis has now given to the dicastery (or Vatican department) which deals with Justice & Peace and other social issues.

The word “integral” is key to how we are challenged as Catholic Christians to respond to the environmental crisis. It reminds us that everything is interconnected, and so we cannot look at individual solutions (such as wind power or recycling or farming practices) without also thinking through the wider consequences.

The “tree huggers” got their name for embracing trees so these would not be cut down to build a motorway. An integral response looks at the importance of the trees but also what the environmental consequences would be if the motorway were not built.

“Integral” makes a huge demand on us. It reminds us that human beings are not outside of creation looking down on it as a master surveys his property — an unfortunate misreading of Genesis 1:26. Rather we are an integral part of creation and the fact that we are (or appear to be) the most intelligent part of what God has created on this earth does not give us permission to abuse what there is. Instead it invests in us a huge responsibility to care for what God has created.

Become better informed

To exercise that responsibility, we need to be better informed. Recognising that few of us will read the 40000 words of Laudato Si’ or even the 8000 words in the “sequel”, Laudate Deum, there are wonderful materials on the web that help us to engage with this subject. One site from the above-named dicastery (laudatosiactionplatform.org) neatly summarises the challenge in terms of Seven Goals (seven is a favourite Catholic number).

We need to respond to the “Cry of the Earth” and notice what is happening around us — for example, the impact of exceptionally heavy rains in South Africa in recent years. In so doing, we must also hear the “Cry of the Poor” since — as again we have seen locally — it is the poor who are most vulnerable to such catastrophes.

We are, however, not helpless (or hopeless) because there is a high level of “Community Resilience and Empowerment”, and we need to celebrate this and make sure that governments and corporates are not undermining it. And in order to know how to respond, we need “Ecological Education”, “Ecological Economics” and “Ecological Spirituality” — all three, not just one or two of them.

A sustainable lifestyle

Finally, this will make specific demands on each of us to “Adopt Sustainable Lifestyles”. That means all the things that we already know about but make excuses not to do: recycling, using cars and planes less, avoiding plastics, reducing our consumption of meat. At the Denis Hurley Centre we have made a small contribution by installing 72 solar panels.

Here in the Church in South Africa we are making steps, albeit slowly, in responding to this challenge. It is noteworthy that when in 2020 the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference launched the new Pastoral Plan, they built on the title of its predecessor in 1989, “Community Serving Humanity”, and added “Serving All Creation”. Over Lent, Fr Peter Knox SJ delivered some wonderful talks about “Ecological Conversion”, and these are still available to watch on the You Tube channel of South Africa’s Jesuit Institute (youtube.com/@JesuitInstituteSouthAfrica).