Young woman with poster in front of people protesting about climate changing on the street… climate emergency.
Climate Change: The Activists are both right and wrong
The activists are right: our created world and everything in it is suffering and in danger. But the climate change activists are wholly wrong in their belief that ending fossil fuels, all carbon dioxide emissions, eating meat, or decreasing the population will fix us. No government, institution, or law can save the planet and its inhabitants.
So, what, then?
We’re done for, like climate change activists predict? And there’s nothing we can do?
Hardly, in fact, we’re far more in control than we think. Much has already been done, but it isn’t packaged the way fixers prefer: gigantic windfarms or solar energy costing billions: tangibles.
First, some background.
We must recall that all of humanity’s problems began with our first parents’ disobedience.
The human urge to build runs deep. Archaeologists trace our race’s history through the evidence of settlements, whether dwellings for the living or tombs for the dead. Scripture, too, shows man forth as builder, but this trait is acquired, not original.
‘In the beginning’ there were no houses. Primordial man lived in a garden, at ease with a creation well disposed to him. Boundaries between himself and other creatures were uncalled-for. In Eden, all Adam needed to thrive was laid out before him. For food he had ‘every plant yielding seed’. He drank from a paradisal river, the sweetness of whose waters we, poor banished children of Eve, cannot imagine.
In the first stage of man’s existence, that of innocence, Eden was a congenial habitat; at the same time, it symbolised a more vital harmony. What truly gave life to man, and joy, was not just the abundance of the land; it was his Godlikeness.
Later sages would celebrate this mode of being by virtue of dim remembrance when they spoke of it as an indwelling. A Psalm titled, ‘A Prayer of Moses, the man of God’, begins with the line, ‘Lord, you have been our dwelling place’. Centuries later, St Paul spoke of God as the ultimate reality in which ‘we live and move and have our being’, citing Greek poetry’s best intuitions back to the Athenians. Moses and Paul had known divine intimacy. The first had been enveloped by God’s Presence, remaining aglow with a radiance not of this earth. The second had been caught up to the third heaven. Neither, though, had known, like Adam, a state of being in which God was an all-sufficient principle of subsistence. The communion with God which for man before the fall was the human condition as such is known to us now only in graced flashes. It remains, though, the norm towards which we strive as humanity rises towards the eschaton where God shall again be ‘all in all’.
Earth and moon on the background of outer space with a beautiful nebula, 3d illustration
Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
Monday wasn’t just Labor Day; it was the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. A couple of months after releasing his encyclical, Laudato Si in 2015, Pope Francis established September 1st as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. He did so at the suggestion of Orthodox bishop John Zizioulas of Pergamon.
The great Zizioulas took advantage of the opportunity to introduce the significance of September 1 as the first day of their liturgical year and as a moment to pray and reflect on creation. He reminded the audience that it was in 1989 that the Orthodox first invited “the whole Christian world” to pray together on that special day. Unexpectedly, he renewed the invitation: “Might this not become a date for such prayer for all Christians?” The Holy Father was quick to accept. A month later, he officially proclaimed September 1 as World Day of Prayer for the Catholic Church.
Pope Francis’s and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s brief message warrants reflection, zealous prayer, and our reparations:
JOINT MESSAGE of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the World Day of Prayer for Creation
The story of creation presents us with a panoramic view of the world. Scripture reveals that, “in the beginning”, God intended humanity to cooperate in the preservation and protection of the natural environment. At first, as we read in Genesis, “no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground” (2:5). The earth was entrusted to us as a sublime gift and legacy, for which all of us share responsibility until, “in the end”, all things in heaven and on earth will be restored in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10). Our human dignity and welfare are deeply connected to our care for the whole of creation.
However, “in the meantime”, the history of the world presents a very different context. It reveals a morally decaying scenario where our attitude and behaviour towards creation obscures our calling as God’s co-operators. Our propensity to interrupt the world’s delicate and balanced ecosystems, our insatiable desire to manipulate and control the planet’s limited resources, and our greed for limitless profit in markets – all these have alienated us from the original purpose of creation. We no longer respect nature as a shared gift; instead, we regard it as a private possession. We no longer associate with nature in order to sustain it; instead, we lord over it to support our own constructs.
The consequences of this alternative worldview are tragic and lasting. The human environment and the natural environment are deteriorating together, and this deterioration of the planet weighs upon the most vulnerable of its people. The impact of climate change affects, first and foremost, those who live in poverty in every corner of the globe. Our obligation to use the earth’s goods responsibly implies the recognition of and respect for all people and all living creatures. The urgent call and challenge to care for creation are an invitation for all of humanity to work towards sustainable and integral development.
Therefore, united by the same concern for God’s creation and acknowledging the earth as a shared good, we fervently invite all people of goodwill to dedicate a time of prayer for the environment on 1 September. On this occasion, we wish to offer thanks to the loving Creator for the noble gift of creation and to pledge commitment to its care and preservation for the sake of future generations. After all, we know that we labour in vain if the Lord is not by our side (cf. Ps 126-127), if prayer is not at the centre of our reflection and celebration. Indeed, an objective of our prayer is to change the way we perceive the world in order to change the way we relate to the world. The goal of our promise is to be courageous in embracing greater simplicity and solidarity in our lives.
We urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as well as political and cultural, responsibility to hear the cry of the earth and to attend to the needs of the marginalized, but above all to respond to the plea of millions and support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation. We are convinced that there can be no sincere and enduring resolution to the challenge of the ecological crisis and climate change unless the response is concerted and collective, unless the responsibility is shared and accountable, unless we give priority to solidarity and service.
In a masterful homily, Be Opened, last October, Bishop Barron rhetorically answers the question,
“What Does God Want?”
“”He wants his creation to recover its lost integrity…”Jesus,” says Bishop Barron, is the icon of the invisible God, the visible representation of the God of Israel…whatever he’s saying or doing is explaining who God is and what God is about.”
“And it’s not just an anthropological problem. No. Sin affects all of creation.”
Climate change: the activists are both right and wrong.
How does my sin affect all of creation?
I am imagining a progressive environmentalist asking that question, “How does my sin affect all of creation?” maybe sardonically. She would be puzzled on two levels. First, the concept of sin would be alien. Secondly, a claim that her bad actions negatively affect others would seem absurd.
Modern Woman and Her Psyche
Sin is not in my lexicon, dear friend— I do what’s good, defined my way. The end.
No sense of sin? Friend, then how do you know the right, the wrong, the which-way-to-go?
Honey, I simply do what I think right: I never harm, I give no spit, no fight.
Darling, how do you know your “right” is right? Which one authority supports this might?
Authority? Why ask me that? My might is right! My kindness clearly guides my sight.
What about consequence, sorrow, remorse? Sacrifices, mercy, and love, full course.
Love? You fool, what are you talking about?
Oh God, you want me to believe, no doubt.
Beloved dear, I’m praying that you know, it’s sin in lexicon that lets love show.
For years following my conversion, my newfound faith functioned, at times, I was told, as a hammer to my friend’s anvil of unbelief. And so I learned, painfully, that my words alone could not convert unless, of course, they’re inspired. Each moment of our lives is imbued with sanctity; we make them holy by remaining in Jesus. It’s taken me a lifetime to learn this. But some learn all they need to know far earlier. Like twenty-four-year-old Carlos Frassati (at the time of his death), who is being canonized today. Pope John Paul called him “The Man of the Beatitudes” because of the clarity and purity of his focus. Two years before he died, Carlos spoke to fellow young Catholics. His words are those of a desert father.
…Prayer is the noble supplication which we lift up to the throne of God. It is the most efficient means to obtain from God the graces which we need, and especially the strength of persevering in these times, in which the hatred of the sons of the devil is breaking out violently against the sheep who are faithful to the fold.
In recommending heartfelt prayer to you, I am including all the practices of piety, first of all the most Holy Eucharist.
And remembering that apostle of the Holy Eucharist, the Holy Father Pius X2 of venerable memory, I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles, the struggles against passions and against all adversities, because Jesus Christ has promised to those who feed themselves with the most Holy Eucharist, eternal life and the necessary graces to obtain it…
And when you become totally consumed by this Eucharistic Fire, then you will be able to thank with greater awareness the Lord God who has called you to be part of his flock and you will enjoy that peace which those who are happy according to the world have never tasted. Because true happiness, young people, does not consist in the pleasures of the world and in earthly things, but in peace of conscience which we can have only if we are pure in heart and in mind…
And in order to bring these poor words of mine to an end, let me cry out with you: Long live Jesus Christ! Long live the Pope!
2 thoughts on “Climate Change: The Activists are Both Right and Wrong”
Another beautiful composition Lin. Your talent is a gift. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Hi there, my friend!! Thank you for your read and for taking the time to comment!