The Jesuit Missions have featured a full-page interview with a year 7 student, who attends a Catholic school in Wimbledon, on why she joined them at a mass lobby to protest climate change.
Eva Tozzi, aged 11, along with the Jesuit Missions joined as many as 15,000 people who gathered outside of parliament on 26 June to demand action on from their MPs on climate change.
Tozzi said she attended the lobby because if “the younger people care, older people will listen and get involved”.
She said she cared about climate change because it “affects people”.
“Many people live in areas where they are suffering from drought and rely on the vegetation for food and shelter, this is becoming harder and harder. Climate change is important to me because I no longer want to spend my holidays walking along beaches filled with plastic bottles and rubbish. On a recent holiday in Greece me and my family filled two bin liners full of rubbish while walking along the beach. I’d much rather be playing with my siblings and enjoying myself.”
Tozzi said those wanting to take action for the climate should “just go for it”.
“Do as much as you can. Make as much change as possible. Our world is in danger. I would say that every small change can make a big difference.”
She added that her school, Ursuline High School in Wimbledon, a comprehensive school under the trusteeship of the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, has banned plastic bottles completely from the school and encourages students to bring their their own reusable water bottles. She said the canteen only sells cans and paper bottles and has invested in reusable sturdy trays, plates and cutlery.
Speaking before the mass lobby in June, Paul Chitnis, Director of Jesuit Missions said that climate change is affecting people globally.
“The increase in temperatures caused by global carbon emissions has led to an increased frequency of climate related natural disasters often affecting the poorest people in the world. We are inviting people to join us as we share our concerns with leaders who can make a difference,” he said.
June 18 marked the fourth anniversary of Pope Francis' ground-breaking encyclical letter, “Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home.”
The encyclical, addressed "to everyone living on this planet," called individuals and humanity globally to a radical revision of the way we think about, and live in, the world and the steps we need to take to make humanity’s common home something more than a place where nature and resources are destroyed and the poor and vulnerable suffer.
In it, Francis tackles pollution and waste, scarcity of water, loss of biodiversity, decline in the quality of life and breakdown of society, extreme consumerism and global inequality.
On 16 July, the Vatican pledged to ban all single-use plastics in its territory.
The upcoming, month-long, synod on the Amazon in October is to focus on climate change and its impacts on the region.
Eva Tozzi features in this week’s Tablet as “Person in the News”.
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