Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor

 

“Despite sharp falls in carbon emissions in 2020 linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis – which is driven by the accumulation of emissions in the atmosphere over time – continue to grow.” – Oxfam, 2020  https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621052/mb-confronting-carbon-inequality-210920-en.pdf

 Climate change hits poorer communities first (due to geography), hardest (due to lack of infrastructure) and unjustly (due to their lesser rates of consumption and emission). As I watch our students prepare for activities related to care for creation and righteous stewardship, I can’t help but ask myself - Is their message for themselves? Or for us? How can I take the call to be brother earth’s keeper more seriously? Not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all who do and will live on it, particularly the vulnerable? How have I benefited from practices that spoil me and deprive others?

 To help, I look to Laudato Si action platform, which gauges what actions individuals and parishes can do to conserve the resources of the earth, which are rightfully the property of all. (https://laudatosiactionplatform.org)

 

“When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.” -St Basil the Great