Module II

CARE FOR THE EARTH

1. What is God’s purpose of creation when He entrusted it to us?
2. As the pinnacle of creation, what is our duty towards the earth?
3. What cultural practices/habits do not help us in caring for the earth?
4. What positive steps can we take to restore balance to creation?

Introduction

Being and becoming witnesses of hope, reconciliation and peace for the world in our time also takes the dimension of the care for Mother Earth herself. It is our responsibility to preserve the earth as God’s gift to us, and to make this a beautiful place to live in.
For the ecological dimension of our existence concerns our total dependence on the Integrity of Creation if the present and future generations are to survive as a species and attain a quality of life worthy of human beings.
A moral problem arises when the “will to survive” and style of human living of the present generations risk destroying this integrity or balance and risk exhausting its gifts inasmuch as it will consequently endanger the quality of life worthy of present and future generations. The “will to survive” is man’s basic human drive. And when we take this into consideration, what is at stake is the Integrity of Creation.
So, what is morally wrong in the Ecological Dimension?
We are building a nation without due respect for the beings that constitute the natural world, without care for its ecological balance and integrity, and without the awareness of our duties and obligations toward future generations.
But before we go deeply into this concern and awareness, let us first of all lay down the essence and rationale of why the “care for the earth” is a poignant and urgent call for us as we respond to the call of becoming and being “real” witnesses of hope, reconciliation and peace for the world in our times.

What is God’s purpose of creation when He entrusted it to us? And as the pinnacle of creation, what is our duty towards the earth?

This question brings us back into the very depths of God’s purpose of creation. Not only that, this brings us to the very “Christian perspective” of the whole of the created reality. And the proper way of dealing with this inquiry is to have a grasp of what the Church teaches about and her ardent stand regarding “Ecology” – which is, thus, inclusive of the moral principles, criteria and norms playing a pivotal and crucial role in our understanding of what is really the purpose of God’s creation when He entrusted it to us.
At the heart of this inquiry is “responsible stewardship”. And from this stark truth and reality, let us now outline the pervading teachings of the Church regarding Creation and Ecology.

1. The whole of creation is God’s.
   A very strong starting point is with the proclamatory words of the Psalmist, “The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it” (Psalm 24:1). God is the Creator and we are the creatures. Then, God saw that His crreation is “very good” (Genesis 1:31), even apart from human values and interests (Psalm 104). This does not mean that evil is absent from the world, but that the world was created as an expression of the goodness of the Creator and serves God’s redemptive purposes. The planet has been created as a habitat to be sahred by all, and God’s concern covers the whole (see Deuteronomy 8:7-10).

   The whole of creation is the work of God the Creator, a work entrusted to human care (see Genesis 2:15) and is inherently related to man’s dignity being created in the “image and likeness of God” (see Genesis 1:26-28). The claim that humans are created “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27) carries bothan honor and a responsibility. The “dominion” given to humankind by God (Genesis 1:26) does not justify dominion or despotism. That land is always God’s land, entrusted to humanity to “till and keep” in a responsible way (see the Code of Holiness in Leviticus 25). We are to “subdue” Earth not for self-gratification but to protect nutrition, health, and well being.

   Moreover, the God of the Scriptures is a “lover of justice” (Psalm 99:4). Upon this faith is built a tradition of concern for the weak and the poor. Although concepts of justice are not explicitly applied to nonhuman life in the biblical texts, it is wholly consistent with those texts that they should be. God cares for all flora and fauna (Psalm 104), for sparrows (Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:6) and the lilies (Matthew 6:28-29; Luke 12:27). And what we have done “to the least of these who are memebers of my family,” we have done to Christ (Matthew 25:40). [The Church and Environmentalism, p.263] And there is also this injunction and command of the Risen Lord upon his return to His Father, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15, NRSV)!

   But seeing the connectedness of all living things leads to a new attitude toward economic growth. With the trend pushed strongly by globalization and consumerism, and in the name of technological advancement, an emphasis is given on individual satisfaction and individual success. This directly leads to the shaping of the current economic model that ignores the notion of common goods and the good of the physical earth.

   The envrionmentalist-theologian Bill McKibben says: “We are engaged in the swift and systematic decreation of the planet we are born into. And does God look at our actions and pronounce them good? I doubt it. Forget the sterile debate about whether we are given dominion over the planet. Grant that we were. The question is, what have we done with that dominion?” To nail down his argument on the matter, he cites the familiar words from the Book of Job where God has spoken blatantly to Job (see Job 38:4,6-9,11).

   The great change is that now, except for earthquakes and volcanoes, “acts of God” have human responsibility mixed with them. And even earthquakes kill almost no one apart from the crumbling buildings inadequately made by humans. Floods and droughts and hurricanes are partly our doing. “If we create a world without wilderness—and that is precisely what we are doing—then we lose a critical locus for the readical encounter with the divine.” [The Church and Environmentalism, pp.264-265]

   God’s ownership is primary and absolute; all other ownership is secondary and should be faithful to will of God the creator and owner.

2. God’s creation has integrity and interdependence.
   Creation is an integral whole composed of interdependent parts. The well-being of one part depends on the well-being of the other parts. Human beings are one part of it; the other parts consists of “beings that constitute the natural world” upon which the survival of the human species and the quality of human life depend. There is, therefore, an intimate connection between environmental ecology and human ecology (Solicitudo Rei Socialis 26, 34).
3. Creation has limits.
   Natural resources are limited and some are not renewable, thus “using them as if they were inexhaustible…seriously endangers their availability for both present and future generations.” These limits are not limits to human endeavor, instead they give direction and guidance as to how we can sustain environmental stability and ecological diversity, and thus become God’s responsible stewards.
4. God’s creation is entrusted to human care.
   God appointed us stewards of Creation and called us to be co-creators with God and caretakers for God. As “co-creators,” we are to work with creation in ways that respect all creatures and meet all people’s needs. Not only now but for ages to come (Moral Duty). As “caretakers,” we are to care for creation in ways faithful to the will of the Owner and always accountable to Him (Religious Duty).
5. Respect for the integrity of creation is a religious duty.
   “At the root of the senseless destruction of the natural environment lies an anthropological error…Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint of his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man indeed develop but must not betray” (Centisimus Annus 37).
6. Respect for the integrity of creation is also a moral obligation.
   “We cannot interfere in one area of the ecosystem without paying due attention both to the consequences of such interference in other areas and to the well-being of future generations…Delicate ecological balances are upset by the uncontrolled destruction of animal and plant life, or by a reckless exploitation of natural resources. It should be pointed out that all this, even if carried out in the name of progress, is ultimately to mankind’s disadvantage” (Pope John Paul II’s Message on World Day of Peace, 1990).

   “At the core of the environmental crisis is a moral challenge. It calls us to examine how we use and share the goods of the earth, what we pass on to future generations and how we live in harmony with God’s creation…We must seek a society where economic life and environmental commitment work together to protect and enhance life on this planet” (US Catholic Bishop’s Renewing the Eearth, 1991).

   The fruits of Creation, being our common heritage, are for the benefits of all. “It is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess goods, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence” (World Day of Peace, 1990).

7. Responsibility for creation also includes future generations.
   “As individuals, as institutions, as a people, we need a change of heart to preserve and protect the planet for our children and for generations yet unborn” (Renewing the Earth, 1991).

   “We have inherited from past generations, and we have benefited from the work of our contemporaries: for this reason we have obligations toward all, and we cannot refuse to interest ourselves in those who will come after us” (Populorum Progressio 17).

8. The ecological crisis is caused by a lifestyle and a system.
   The ecological crisis is closely connected to the “lifestyle of consumerism” whereby “man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way” (Centisimus Annus 37 and 36).

   It is also caused by an economic system’s “ill-considered exploitation of nature” whereby man “risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation” (Octogesima Adveniens 21).

9. Change of lifestyle is a moral duty.
   “Changes in established lifestyles” is a moral duty “in order to limit the waste of environmental and human resources” and thus enable “every individual, and all the peoples of the earth to have a sufficient share of those resources” (Centisimus Annus 52).

   “It is therefore necessary to create lifestyles in which the quest for truth, beauty, goodness and communion are the factors that determine consumer choices” (Centisimus Annus 36).

10. Reform of the economic system is of moral urgency.
    Serious ecological problems demand that planning for development must take into account “the limits of available resources and of the need to respect the integrity and cycles of nature” instead of “sacrificing them to certain demagogic ideas” about the economy (Solicitudo Rei Socialis 26).

    “Without justice, a sustainable economy will be beyond reach. Without an ecologically responsible economy, justice will not be achievable…Christian love forbids choosing between people and the planet” (Renewing the Earth 1991).

11. A common heritage is a common task.
    “It is the task of the State to provide for the defense and preservation of the common goods such as the natural and human environments, which cannot be safeguarded simply by market forces” (Centisimus Annus 40).

    Humanity today must move toward a lifestyle that the limits of Creation can sustain and “must be conscious of its duties and obligations toward future generations” (Centismus Annus 37).

What cultural practices/habits do not help us in caring for the earth?

A better way to address this question is to see the bigger picture from which we can pinpoint the many different ways we act and desecrate God’s creation.

1. in relation to the sea and its richness
   Blessed with 4.4 million hectares of coral reefs with 488 species; second highest number of seagrass (food source for most fish) species in the world.  Blessed with 2,000 species of fish and 40 species of mangroves. Our country has one of the richest concentrations of marine life in the world.  At present ONLY 6% of the country’s coral remains remain intact while 70% are in various stages of deterioration. From 500,000 hectares of mangroves and seagrass, only 120,000 hectares have remained. Over-efficient methods of commercial fishing by big local and foreign fishing ventures, due to the government’s preference on them over small fisherfolk, is a major cause of the continuous decline of our marine resources.
2. in relation to the forests and its treasures
   We have lost 97% of original forest cover in our islands. What we lost in the last 50 years of the 20th century is equal to what we have lost in the previous 450 years. (1972) 10.4 million hectares of natural forest covering 34% of our total land area; (1990) only 6.16 million hectares covering 20.5% of total land area. It has yielded $42 billion in profits in the last 30 years for 480 logging concessions.

   Consequences of deforestation:

   • It makes weather patterns erratic and increasingly hard to predict.
   • It will warm the atmosphere, which in turn warms the temperature of the ocean, thereby resulting in a rise in sea level. Rise in sea level would inundate places below or at current sea level.
   • Changed climate conditions will place stress on forests, grasslands and other eco-systems.
3. in relation to our water resourses
   Our country has a land area of about 30 million hectares. 70% of this (about 21 million hectares) is officially watershed areas. We have 421 river basins and 61lakes, 23 of them bigger than 100 hectares. But only 43 million Filipinos (63% of the total population) have access to potable water. Degraded water quality causes 80% of waterborne diseases (cholera, dysentery, etc).

   If the 421 rivers are considered biologically dead.

4. in relation to waste management
   It is estimated that every Filipino produces 0.3 to 0.7 kilos of waste everyday. In 2000 we generated more than 10 million tons of waste; 2.45 million tons came from Metro Manila. By 2010 our waste is projected to reach 14.5 million tons, with Metro Manila accounting for more than 3 million tons. Only 40% of our waste is collected; Metro Manila collects only 70% of its total solid waste. This means that the piles of garbage that we see in dumpsites are just a fraction of the total waste that exists.
5. in relation to our lifestyle and its impact
   A lifestyle of shopping convenience, quick preparation and insatiable consumption  makes a lot of waste!
   We enjoy the convenience of plastics, detergents, aerosols! The plastic products and packaging we buy are manufactured using highly toxic chemicals. Yet they have hidden costs – they find their way into our water sources or the ground via landfills, drainage and sewage.
   • The “good” greenhouse effect
   • Natural gases in the atmosphere form a blanket which allows the right amount of sunlight to reach the earth’s surface. At same time these gases prevent the heat from escaping from the surface, thereby preserving just the right amount of heat necessary for all forms of life.
   • The “damaging” greenhouse effect
     The right amount of natural gases are offset by harmful gases that our lifestyle releases to the atmosphere. Carbon-dioxide gases from burning fossil fuels (coal, gasoline, oil), industrial chemicals, and burning of forests are trapped into the atmosphere. When heat is trapped, the earth heats up at temperature levels harmful or destructive to all forms of life.
   • Depletion of the ozone layer
     The earth’s atmosphere is blessed with a layer that protects the earth against harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. This layer is known as the “ozone layer”. The faster the layer thins out, the more increasingly we are at risk from the harmful rays. It will cause weakening of our immune system, increase skin cancer, more eye diseases, lower production of food crops.

     The gases that destroy the ozone layer come from oil refineries, power plants, motor vehicles!
     Now, the Philippine record:

     • Our increasing demand for electricity is still met by many power plants that use fossil fuels (coal, diesel and oil) which emit harmful gases to the atmosphere.
     • in 1999: 15,508 kilotons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
     • 60% of pollutants from motor vehicles; 40% from the industrial sector.
     • Metro Manila is one of the most polluted areas in the world.
   • The hidden costs of our lifestyle
     For example, the “hamburger” of fast food chains! Despite its being foreign, Filipinos consume a total of 73,000 hamburgers a day or 2.6 million in a year.

     Increase in consumption of hamburgers need increase in beef production. Increased beef production in turn require large tracts of land, hence forests are to be cleared and converted into pasture lands for beef production.

   • The problem of conflicting laws and policies
     For example, the 1992 Network of Integrated Protected Areas Act (which protects certain areas from mining) versus the 1995 Mining Act (which promotes mining as means for development).

     In Samar 41 mining companies hold claims that are inside the areas protected by the 1992 Law. A portion of it is even declared a reservation for the mining of bauxite despite its being protected from mining!

*Sources of Data:
INTERSECT (Institute of Church and Social Issues)
IBON Data Bank (Ibon Foundation, Inc.)
Asian Colloquium on the Environment 1993
Philippine Daily Inquirer

What positive steps can we take to restore balance to creation?

In this final inquiry, let us look into what MUST and CAN be done.

1. Formation/Education
   Make use of our BECs as forums for educating the faithful on the need and the responsibility to care for the Earth. Help parents instill in their children reverence for Creation and the importance of environmental protection. The values and habits necessary for the integrity of Creation should be included in Values Education or Christian Living courses in Catholic schools.

   A pastoral formation program on environmental and ecological concerns should be implemented. It should aim at making the faithful realize the need to respect God’s creation and be conscious of their moral responsibility toward nature and toward the life of future generations.

   Church leaders must continually bring in the insights of lay people who are competent in environmental and ecological concerns, and value their contribution in the formulation and implementation of plans and projects.

   Lay scientists and experts on natural sciences have an obligation to keep Church leaders informed about developments in science and technology, and engage in a dialogue with them for the better preaching of the Good News of God’s creation.

2. Witnessing
   What if the cluster families of our BECs will live a “lifestyle of enough” – a style of living that is satisfied with having what is necessary and sufficient, then the Church shall have a powerful alternative counter to the lifestyle of insatiable consumption. The four rules are:
   • Enough of the destruction of the environment.
   • Take from nature only that which is enough.
   • Eat and buy only what is enough and needed.
   • Each one must only have enough so that all may live with dignity.

   BECs must be involved in implementing concrete and viable programs designed to protect, preserve and/or restore the environment.
   At the local level they should help in monitoring and combating possible cases of overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, and other possible threats to the environment.

   Recognizing the tremendous pressure a rapidly increasing population can place on resources, couples should be helped to practice responsible parenthood and respect for life.

3. Liturgy and Spirituality
   Parishes must create opportunities to celebrate the liturgy and the sacraments in such a creative way that it has great formative value regarding the Christian responsibility toward the integrity of Creation.

   If we celebrate “simplicity of life” and encourage each other to “live with the minimum, inspired by a spirituality of sufficiency,” we shall have witnessed as community of disciples the Gospel message that “the rich must live simply so that the poor may simply live.”

   Respect for the integrity of creation, responsibility toward future generations, commitment to protect the environment, and simplicity of life – these are attitudes and habits that should be promoted as Christian virtues integral to journeying in holiness.

   Reverence towards nature and recognition of the limits and finitude of Creation should be promoted as concrete modern day expression of worshipping God the Creator and Lord of all.

4. Advocacy
   Advocacy for an ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE based on the limits of the earth’s resources and the duty towards future generations.

   Advocacy for the enactment and enforcement of LEGISLATIONS, particularly at the local level, that aim to preserve or restore the integrity of creation.

   Advocacy for initiatives that LIMIT the CONSUMPTION of non-renewable resources of the present generation to a level which is necessary to meet the basic needs, not superfluous wants, of society.

   Advocacy for initiatives that promote RELIANCE on RENEWABLE RESOURCES for their sustainable productivity.

5. Empowerment
   Parishes should empower local talents in the performing arts (e.g., drama, songs, dances, etc.) and the mass media (e.g., radio, TV, video, etc.) by challenging or organizing them to use their powerful means of communication for environmental awareness and ecological responsibility.

   Empower BECs to help if not monitor government and/or non-government agencies charged with the enforcement of laws for environmental protection.

   Empower poor communities that are resorting to livelihoods destructive of the environment (e.g., dynamite fishing, kaingin, etc.) by helping them in their search for alternative livelihoods.

   Support or collaborate with national or international initiatives aimed at changing the present global economic system into one that is ecologically sustainable.

(*Acknowledgement is due to the Rev. Fr. Aloysius Cartagenas for sharing his research  and sources in this particular module on the “Care for the Earth”!)
Prepared by: Fr. Jose Adonis N. Aquino