Today is World Environment Day. It comes after the recent anniversary, dedicated to renewing the message of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, May 16-24. Throughout the week, news items, talks and discussions highlighted contradictory images. While some lockdown restrictions in England were relaxed, the crisis in care homes continued.
Pictures of crowds at the seaside in Britain seemed cause for joy but simultaneously we learnt that India, in what looks like a hopeless gesture, may be giving up on lockdown. One early morning in my garden, delighting in the dawn chorus such as I have not heard since my childhood, I was forced to reflect on the clean air and silence delivered courtesy of grounded planes and thousands made jobless.
Five years ago Pope Francis implored us all to listen to the cry of the poor. The poor are certainly crying out in the present pandemic crisis. Among all the emails and mail drops asking for help, one from an old pupil of mine, now a head teacher, begs help for implementing the arrangements required by the Tanzanian government for re-opening schools. State schools will be provided for but the many independent, often religious, schools which pick up huge numbers of children the government can’t cater for, must fend for themselves – or remain closed. Four hundred teachers and pupils must have masks – these will be made in the school; hand sanitiser will be locally sourced; but the wash basins with running water to be installed outside every classroom will not come cheap.
And when all that is sorted, many parents will be unable to pay the very modest fees at this school because world crises nearly always hit poor countries hardest. Jobs have dried up as a result of the pandemic and the many who used to subsist on the land but had moved to urban areas to find jobs are now destitute.
Another request might at first sight seem less deserving. A few days ago, the Syrian refugees I wrote about a few weeks ago came to the end of their month-long Ramadan fast and wanted to celebrate. They were not only unable to congregate with friends in traditional gatherings, some of them were also short of basic food, let alone party cakes for the children.
To have escaped torture, bombed homes and dislocation; to have settled in a strange land and struggled to learn a foreign language, they now find they are unable to join new friends in a small celebration. When the evening news reported highly-qualified, Syrian doctors who have fled their shattered homes, throwing themselves into long hours of skilled hospital work to help the NHS combat our own enemy, I felt moved to tears.
Many of us who do not live in areas liable to flood may, carelessly, have almost forgotten the rains of late winter. This week a slight smattering of rain and hail barely penetrated a centimetre into parched ground. And ubiquitous sunshine returned. My mind turned to another part of Tanzania where the charity I work for, SHOCC, reported that the school we are trying to help build could not begin work because bridges on some of the main roads had been washed away by violent storms and supplies could not be brought. Only two years ago our parish was raising Lenten funds to support children starving from a severe drought in the very same area.
The attention given to the encyclical in recent days has enabled parishes to share some of the initiatives generated in the last five years in response to “the cry of the poor” and “the cry of the earth”. There were vegetarian parish suppers drawing attention to our over-dependence on meat and perhaps also our carelessness for animals; there were group activities to clear up waste, especially plastic waste; there were teenagers refusing to go on buying new clothes and enjoying what the charity shops have to offer. It was significant that this week 21 organisations in Britain announced that they would no longer invest in fossil fuels.
Contrasting, even conflicting images. But are we doing enough to save the planet? No, of course we are not. A sense of stewardship is, however, a promising step. An understanding that this planet is a gift not to be plundered and rendered barren for future generations. An understanding that science at its best can help us listen to the cry of the earth. Discussion on the possible negative effects of constant aspirations for growth. These timely issues have been widely aired.
Will the virus-driven exit of the well healed from cities such as New York be permanent? And if it is, will it merely be pleasant for the lucky ones or does the trend suggest opportunities for re-structuring crowded cities? Has the catastrophic loss of jobs on every High Street any possible by-product that could help redeem our hard-pressed planet? Must we accept that aviation will return to business as usual and cars will once again pollute the air we breathe?
When Laudato Si was published in 2015 Mike Berners-Lee, in The Burning Question, had already written a passionate and well-argued case for combatting climate change, the necessity for global intervention and the challenge of carbon footprinting. In 2019 he reiterated his appeal for collective action even more persuasively in his new book: There is no Planet B. He grounds his case in thorough research. As Pope Francis says, science can indeed help us listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
Loading ...
What do you think?
You can post as a subscriber user ...
User comments (1)
An informative article. It put a few useful shades of grey into the black and white coverage we have had in our western media. Even when tyrannies are pretending to follow the rule of law there is an implicit awareness that the rule of law SHOULD be followed. I hope Mary is right that more good than harm will come from these games.