We cannot have well humans on a sick Planet

Planet Earth is our “common home,” rather than as a piece of property to use and abuse as we please. American writer Frederick Buechner bemoans the fact that we use a poor word, environment, to refer to the lively and life-giving systems of the Earth. “It makes it almost possible to forget that what we are in danger of ruining through our rapacity and folly is the mother who bore us and the green grave that awaits us. Is our heart’s delight. Is home.”

Consider learning from the Earth and respecting the Earth as a matter of life and death as we are at a critical crossroad in history. Global warming is not a liberal hype or a conservative hoax but a real crisis, with catastrophic consequences. These days “global warming” is called “global weirding” due to the unexpected changes in temperature in states like California and Texas, where it snowed in 2021, something that hadn’t occurred in a hundred years. Unprecedented weather events like punishing heat waves, deadly wildfires, devastating floods, and stronger hurricanes are challenging nations across the world.

According to a UN environmental report written in 2019, “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history; ecosystems are collapsing, and biodiversity is disappearing.” Compiled by 234 authors relying on 14,000 studies from around the globe, this report bluntly lays out what policy makers and world leaders need to do to avert a planet-wide climate catastrophe. It describes the situation as a code red for humanity. In his book Requiem for a Species, Clive Hamilton argues that human extinction is a very real danger, and many reputed scientists are predicting an apocalyptic future for the planet. We are carelessly and callously heading towards an environmental disaster in the not-so-distant future.

Why do so many people care so little about climate crisis that will endanger the lives of future generations of our children and grandchildren? Our ignorance and arrogance are part of it, but I think the best answer comes from an African farmer who said: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.”

My book, Cosmic Kindergarten, is an attempt to improve our understanding and induce love for our planet so that we will serve and conserve her rather than use and destroy her. It is an invitation for you to see the Earth as your primary guru for life.

I also hope that this book will add to the urgency of the “ecological conversion” repeatedly called for by Pope Francis, who wrote about the need for conversion in his encyclical called, Laudato Si (On care of our common home). He renewed that call in the context of the Corona virus pandemic.

The Pope thinks that the pandemic could be the result of a world ignoring the hard consequences of climate change. During an interview with the Tablet Magazine, the Pope said: “There is an expression in Spanish: God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives.” The Pope doesn’t seem to think that floods, famine, earthquakes, or pandemics are nature’s revenge, but that they are certainly nature’s responses.

On September 7, 2021, for the first time, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion jointly warned of the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on poverty, and the importance of global cooperation. They issued a statement to warn world leaders ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.The statement read:

“We call on everyone, whatever their belief or worldview, to endeavor to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor, examining their behavior and pledging meaningful sacrifices for the sake of the earth which God has given us.”

The joint declaration issued a clear warning — Today, we are paying the price…Tomorrow could be worse — and concluded that, “This is a critical moment. Our children’s future and the future of our common home depend on it.” The three Christian leaders spoke against injustice and inequality, saying:

“We stand before a harsh justice: biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and climate change are the inevitable consequences of our actions, since we have greedily consumed more of the earth’s resources than the planet can endure. But we also face a profound injustice: the people bearing the most catastrophic consequences of these abuses are the poorest on the planet and have been the least responsible for causing them.”

According to Thomas Berry, “The well-being of any member of the planetary community is derivative from the well-being of the planet…we cannot have well humans on a sick planet. Healing people and healing the planet is a simultaneous process. If the planet is dysfunctional, that will affect every being on the planet.”

He gives a warning that we ignore at our peril: “Our efforts to outsmart Earth will only bring about disastrous consequences.”

(From Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)