Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Chapter Five: The human roots to the Ecological Crisis

Here is the link to the Vatican Document; Laudato Si
http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Again, each of these classes are filled with many things, lots of words. Please don’t feel that you have to do everything. If something speaks to you, follow your heart. If not, simply let it go.
The title of Chapter Three is: “THE HUMAN ROOTS OF THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS” (#101-136)

As I have done in other classes, I start with a video or image. Today 3:36 minutes simple cartoon starts off slow and as it continues, I felt my anxiety rising. In the end, nature gets even, though without hope. Laudato Si is the Hope that Pope Francis is calling us to. It is not a false hope or an instant fix, rather he like all spiritual leaders are calling for a conversion of the Heart - to LOVE.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=who+humanity+effects+the+environment%2c+youtube&docid=608006264603084966&mid=9D77B9B745FD2418EBDE9D77B9B745FD2418EBDE&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

So, Pope Francis is very clear that the Ecological Crisis and many others crisis’ have a human root. (We are seeing this in this time of Covit-19.) Somewhere over these past few decades we have lost our balance, our vision, the sense of the common good and our care for each other. He is not calling us back to the “good old days”, but he is calling us into the fullness of Christ/the Realm / Reign of God. (Mt3:2 Repent-Change your ways, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.)
In the opening paragraphs of this chapter, Pope Francis highlights all the good that has come from technologies. “It is right to rejoice over these advances and to be excited by the immense possibilities which they continue to open up before us, for “science and technology are wonderful products of a God-given human creativity”. (#102) Just think of medicine, transportation, and communication!!!!
Here is a small YouTube, a bit artsy about the beauty of Technology. 
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube%2c+the+beauty+of+technolgy&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dyoutube%252C%2bthe%2bbeauty%2bof%2btechnolgy%26form%3dEDGTCT%26qs%3dPF%26cvid%3df9cc009a07e54ed3a6e4ed38f243bcc1%26refig%3d5f833162802b46f09540d415f8ac0f97%26cc%3dUS%26setlang%3den-US%26plvar%3d0%26PC%3dDCTS&mmscn=vwrc&view=detail&mid=AC646E00D85607A40C30AC646E00D85607A40C30&rvsmid=31E7CB62FAAAD92102A631E7CB62FAAAD92102A6&FORM=VDQVAP
We do not deny the beauty of Technology, we celebrate it. Yet we also realize that with Technology there is Power, there is Knowledge and vast Economy resources. The question we need to ask is “In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up?  It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it.” (#104) As we ask this question, we need to remember that we in the West, in the United States and are a small part of humanity; and so how do we use Technology for the wellbeing of all and not only for ourselves? We are 4.75 percent of the world’s population and yet we consume 20 percent of the Energy. According to the World Economic Forum the U.S. spends less for food that other countries in the world.  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/this-map-shows-how-much-each-country-spends-on-food/

In #105 Francis gets a bit philosophical, yet he says, that in our modern age we equated technology and power with goodness and security. And then using the words from John Paul II he writes, “contemporary man has not been trained to use power well.” Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens (14 September 1981), 27: AAS 73 (1981), 645.  This quote speaks to us; just think of computers and cell phones and all the hacking that is taking place, computer addiction, the use of throw away single use plastics, the use of military power, fear and intimidation.

And if we base the future on a lie or a half-truth, the end result will be cataclysmic/painful for all.  Francis names that lie that many in the West have come to believe or at least have lived into: “that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet having every last drop and more squeezed out of it.” It is the false notion that “an infinite quantity of energy and resources are available, that it is possible to renew them quickly, and that the negative effects of the exploitation of the natural order can be easily absorbed”. JOHN PAUL II, Address to Scientists and Representatives of the United Nations University, Hiroshima (25 February 1981), 3: AAS 73 (1981), 422  It may take 200 to 400 years to form top soil naturally after it is either used up or is taken away be the wind or rain.   http://www.eniscuola.net/en/argomento/soil/soil-formation/how-long-does-it-take-to-form/
This past year I came upon something called “Overshoot Day” https://www.overshootday.org/about/    Basically it tells us the day in the Year that we take more for the earth than can be renewed. I know numbers are confusing, yet we all know that we are taking more than we are giving back and the Mother nature does not forget or forgive.

This part of Laudato Si is heavy and at times I wonder if there is Hope. Yet, that is the key to Laudato Si, if we are able to see that all is connected and with due reverence and care life will continue on and blessings will flow. We know it, and in certain places we have seen it. Yet there or those who “fail to see the deepest roots of our present failures, which have to do with the direction, goals, meaning and social implications of technological and economic growth.” #109 They (we often) look at the profit and gain, the stock market and the fast buck.
There is a word that we use during Lent and that is “Conversion”, and, in the Bible, the Greek word is Metanoia. Meta means to change and Noia is Mind (that is simply put, if you want there is more to the Greek you can research). So, we are called to change our minds, change the way we think, change the way we see the world, to have the big picture in mind!  I began this topic saying we are not going back to the stone age, and Francis reiterates this; “Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur. (#114)
From #115 to 136 Pope Francis asks us to look at how we human beings have put us into center of the circle of life, rising up above all of life. He uses a fancy word “ANTHROPOCENTRISM”.  We can break it down. Antropos means “human being”, Kentron/Center is the belief that human beings are the most important entity in the universe and that all is interpreted in terms of human values and experiences.
This lived belief (often subconscious) that we are number 1 compromises the dignity of all other creation. We forget that we are in this world together/all connected and that we need each other. “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given, but man too is God’s gift to man.  He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed”.^[1]  JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 38: AAS 83 (1991), 841.
In #117 Francis ask us to really look at the situation and not turn our backs. We have seen recently that government regulation regarding monitoring of air and water quality is being systematically undone. We also don’t realize the real cost of things; the cost of extraction, the human cost, the cost of disposal etc. (the plastic bottle costs more than the water in it!) “Everything is connected.  Once the human being declares independence from reality and behaves with absolute dominion, the very foundations of our life begin to crumble, for “instead of carrying out his role as a cooperator with God in the work of creation, man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature”. BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 35: AAS 101 (2009), 671.

As I continue to read the document I am growing dis-hearten. Yes, like my heart is being ripped out. And yet, I think of Jesus going into the temple and seeing it corrupted by greed and power. From his gut/womb a righteous anger rose up and flipped the tables. I have spoken in the past and used the words of Satish Kumar: Soil, Soul and Society and here Pope Francis uses similar words. #119 “Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God.  Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism dressed up in ecological garb, locking us into a stifling immanence (that means disaster).

The document goes on and on and yet I am overwhelmed with what is before me. So be gentle and mindful.
How about watching this uplifting video from a high school, and I don’t know from which country, but it touched me! Enjoy it.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=christian+enviromental+music+youtube&&view=detail&mid=09BB60048473210970CE09BB60048473210970CE&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dchristian%2Benviromental%2Bmusic%2Byoutube%26FORM%3DVDRESM

Simple reflect upon this question from a “Study Guide” and call it a day.

When you buy products are you conscious of the way the product has been developed?  Has the development process respected the employment of persons and the innate characteristics of plants and animals?