41
11
cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it
affects the choices which determine our behav-
iour. If we approach nature and the environment
without this openness to awe and wonder, if we
no longer speak the language of fraternity and
beauty in our relationship with the world, our at-
titude will be that of masters, consumers, ruth-
less exploiters, unable to set limits on their im-
mediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately
united with all that exists, then sobriety and care
will well up spontaneously. The poverty and aus-
terity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of
asceticism, but something much more radical: a
refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be
used and controlled.
12. What is more, Saint Francis, faithful to
Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnifi-
cent book in which God speaks to us and grants
us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness.
“Through the greatness and the beauty of crea-
tures one comes to know by analogy their mak-
er” (Wis 13:5); indeed, “his eternal power and di-
vinity have been made known through his works
since the creation of the world” (Rom 1:20). For
this reason, Francis asked that part of the friary
garden always be left untouched, so that wild
flowers and herbs could grow there, and those
who saw them could raise their minds to God,
the Creator of such beauty.
21
Rather than a prob-
21
Cf. t
homas
of
C
elano
, The Remembrance of the Desire of
a Soul, II, 124, 165, in Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 2,
New York-London-Manila, 2000, 354.
32
12
lem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to
be contemplated with gladness and praise.
My appeal
13. The urgent challenge to protect our com-
mon home includes a concern to bring the whole
human family together to seek a sustainable and
integral development, for we know that things
can change. The Creator does not abandon us;
he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of
having created us. Humanity still has the ability
to work together in building our common home.
Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all
those striving in countless ways to guarantee the
protection of the home which we share. Particu-
lar appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly
seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmen-
tal degradation on the lives of the world’s poor-
est. Young people demand change. They wonder
how anyone can claim to be building a better fu-
ture without thinking of the environmental crisis
and the sufferings of the excluded.
14. I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue
about how we are shaping the future of our plan-
et. We need a conversation which includes every-
one, since the environmental challenge we are
undergoing, and its human roots, concern and
affect us all. The worldwide ecological move-
ment has already made considerable progress
and led to the establishment of numerous or-
ganizations committed to raising awareness of
these challenges. Regrettably, many efforts to
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45
13
seek concrete solutions to the environmental cri-
sis have proved ineffective, not only because of
powerful opposition but also because of a more
general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes,
even on the part of believers, can range from de-
nial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant
resignation or blind confidence in technical solu-
tions. We require a new and universal solidarity.
As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated:
“Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed
to redress the damage caused by human abuse of
God’s creation”.
22
All of us can cooperate as in-
struments of God for the care of creation, each
according to his or her own culture, experience,
involvements and talents.
15. It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter,
which is now added to the body of the Church’s
social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the
appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge
we face. I will begin by briefly reviewing several
aspects of the present ecological crisis, with the
aim of drawing on the results of the best scientif-
ic research available today, letting them touch us
deeply and provide a concrete foundation for the
ethical and spiritual itinerary that follows. I will
then consider some principles drawn from the
Judaeo-Christian tradition which can render our
commitment to the environment more coherent.
I will then attempt to get to the roots of the pres-
22
s
outhern
a
friCan
C
atholiC
B
ishoPs
’ C
onferenCe
,
Pastoral Statement on the Environmental Crisis (5 September 1999).
33
14
ent situation, so as to consider not only its symp-
toms but also its deepest causes. This will help to
provide an approach to ecology which respects
our unique place as human beings in this world
and our relationship to our surroundings. In light
of this reflection, I will advance some broader
proposals for dialogue and action which would
involve each of us as individuals, and also affect
international policy. Finally, convinced as I am
that change is impossible without motivation and
a process of education, I will offer some inspired
guidelines for human development to be found
in the treasure of Christian spiritual experience.
16. Although each chapter will have its own
subject and specific approach, it will also take up
and re-examine important questions previous-
ly dealt with. This is particularly the case with
a number of themes which will reappear as the
Encyclical unfolds. As examples, I will point to
the intimate relationship between the poor and
the fragility of the planet, the conviction that
everything in the world is connected, the critique
of new paradigms and forms of power derived
from technology, the call to seek other ways of
understanding the economy and progress, the
value proper to each creature, the human mean-
ing of ecology, the need for forthright and honest
debate, the serious responsibility of international
and local policy, the throwaway culture and the
proposal of a new lifestyle. These questions will
not be dealt with once and for all, but reframed
and enriched again and again.
28
15
CHAPTER ONE
What is haPPening
to our Common home
17. Theological and philosophical reflections
on the situation of humanity and the world can
sound tiresome and abstract, unless they are
grounded in a fresh analysis of our present situa-
tion, which is in many ways unprecedented in the
history of humanity. So, before considering how
faith brings new incentives and requirements
with regard to the world of which we are a part,
I will briefly turn to what is happening to our
common home.
18. The continued acceleration of changes af-
fecting humanity and the planet is coupled to-
day with a more intensified pace of life and work
which might be called “rapidification”. Although
change is part of the working of complex sys-
tems, the speed with which human activity has
developed contrasts with the naturally slow pace
of biological evolution. Moreover, the goals of
this rapid and constant change are not neces-
sarily geared to the common good or to integral
and sustainable human development. Change is
something desirable, yet it becomes a source of
anxiety when it causes harm to the world and to
the quality of life of much of humanity.
35
16
19. Following a period of irrational confidence
in progress and human abilities, some sectors
of society are now adopting a more critical ap-
proach. We see increasing sensitivity to the en-
vironment and the need to protect nature, along
with a growing concern, both genuine and dis-
tressing, for what is happening to our planet.
Let us review, however cursorily, those questions
which are troubling us today and which we can
no longer sweep under the carpet. Our goal is
not to amass information or to satisfy curiosi-
ty, but rather to become painfully aware, to dare
to turn what is happening to the world into our
own personal suffering and thus to discover what
each of us can do about it.
i. P
ollution
and
Climate
Change
Pollution, waste and the throwaway culture
20. Some forms of pollution are part of peo-
ple’s daily experience. Exposure to atmospheric
pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health
hazards, especially for the poor, and causes mil-
lions of premature deaths. People take sick, for
example, from breathing high levels of smoke
from fuels used in cooking or heating. There is
also pollution that affects everyone, caused by
transport, industrial fumes, substances which
contribute to the acidification of soil and water,
fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and
agrotoxins in general. Technology, which, linked
to business interests, is presented as the only way
32
17
of solving these problems, in fact proves inca-
pable of seeing the mysterious network of re-
lations between things and so sometimes solves
one problem only to create others.
21. Account must also be taken of the pollution
produced by residue, including dangerous waste
present in different areas. Each year hundreds of
millions of tons of waste are generated, much of
it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive,
from homes and businesses, from construction
and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and
industrial sources. The earth, our home, is begin-
ning to look more and more like an immense pile
of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elder-
ly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now
covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemi-
cal products utilized in cities and agricultural areas
can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of
the local population, even when levels of toxins in
those places are low. Frequently no measures are
taken until after people’s health has been irrevers-
ibly affected.
22. These problems are closely linked to a
throwaway culture which affects the excluded
just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. To
cite one example, most of the paper we produce
is thrown away and not recycled. It is hard for us
to accept that the way natural ecosystems work
is exemplary: plants synthesize nutrients which
feed herbivores; these in turn become food for
carnivores, which produce significant quantities
32
18
of organic waste which give rise to new genera-
tions of plants. But our industrial system, at the
end of its cycle of production and consumption,
has not developed the capacity to absorb and
reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet
managed to adopt a circular model of produc-
tion capable of preserving resources for present
and future generations, while limiting as much
as possible the use of non-renewable resources,
moderating their consumption, maximizing their
efficient use, reusing and recycling them. A seri-
ous consideration of this issue would be one way
of counteracting the throwaway culture which
affects the entire planet, but it must be said that
only limited progress has been made in this re-
gard.
Climate as a common good
23. The climate is a common good, belonging
to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a
complex system linked to many of the essential
conditions for human life. A very solid scientific
consensus indicates that we are presently witness-
ing a disturbing warming of the climatic system.
In recent decades this warming has been accom-
panied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it
would appear, by an increase of extreme weather
events, even if a scientifically determinable cause
cannot be assigned to each particular phenom-
enon. Humanity is called to recognize the need
for changes of lifestyle, production and con-
sumption, in order to combat this warming or at
31
19
least the human causes which produce or aggra-
vate it. It is true that there are other factors (such
as volcanic activity, variations in the earth’s orbit
and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scien-
tific studies indicate that most global warming in
recent decades is due to the great concentration
of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a
result of human activity. As these gases build up
in the atmosphere, they hamper the escape of
heat produced by sunlight at the earth’s surface.
The problem is aggravated by a model of devel-
opment based on the intensive use of fossil fuels,
which is at the heart of the worldwide energy
system. Another determining factor has been an
increase in changed uses of the soil, principally
deforestation for agricultural purposes.
24. Warming has effects on the carbon cycle.
It creates a vicious circle which aggravates the
situation even more, affecting the availability of
essential resources like drinking water, energy
and agricultural production in warmer regions,
and leading to the extinction of part of the plan-
et’s biodiversity. The melting in the polar ice caps
and in high altitude plains can lead to the dan-
gerous release of methane gas, while the decom-
position of frozen organic material can further
increase the emission of carbon dioxide. Things
are made worse by the loss of tropical forests
which would otherwise help to mitigate climate
32
20
change. Carbon dioxide pollution increases the
acidification of the oceans and compromises the
marine food chain. If present trends continue,
this century may well witness extraordinary cli-
mate change and an unprecedented destruction
of ecosystems, with serious consequences for all
of us. A rise in the sea level, for example, can cre-
ate extremely serious situations, if we consider
that a quarter of the world’s population lives on
the coast or nearby, and that the majority of our
megacities are situated in coastal areas.
25. Climate change is a global problem with
grave implications: environmental, social, eco-
nomic, political and for the distribution of
goods. It represents one of the principal chal-
lenges facing humanity in our day. Its worst im-
pact will probably be felt by developing coun-
tries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in
areas particularly affected by phenomena related
to warming, and their means of subsistence are
largely dependent on natural reserves and eco-
systemic services such as agriculture, fishing and
forestry. They have no other financial activities
or resources which can enable them to adapt to
climate change or to face natural disasters, and
their access to social services and protection is
very limited. For example, changes in climate,
to which animals and plants cannot adapt, lead
them to migrate; this in turn affects the liveli-
hood of the poor, who are then forced to leave
their homes, with great uncertainty for their fu-
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