At the start of 2012 our chairperson, Sr Catherine Brennan, writes …
As we cross the threshold into 2012 we leave behind the UN International Year of Forests and move into the UN International Year of Sustainable Development for All.
Both issues are inextricably linked to climate change – the most serious issue facing our fragile planet today, as well as its people, especially the poor in the developing world.
We are heartened by the news of the Minister for the Environment’s commitment to provide a road map for the introduction of climate change legislation and welcome his pledge to introduce the Heads of the Climate Change Bill by the end of 2012.
The vast majority of people appear to believe that, in the end, jobs and economic growth are more important than the environment. When the choice is expressed so starkly it would take a brave person to say that the environment comes first and that people must suffer.
Of course this is a fallacy, but as yet environmentalists find it hard to say why. However, the most important scientific research and discoveries have never ceased to remind people that by respecting the mark of the Creator Spirit in all Creation, we achieve a better understanding of our true and profound human identity.
Respect for the human person and respect for the environment are the same thing; they grow and find their just measure if we respect the Creator Spirit and the Spirit’s Creation in the human and in the environment.
Protecting the environment as a response to an “issue” will always leave us with division. Protecting the non-human world because it makes us more fully human, and without it we are diminished spiritually, physically and mentally, is a far more powerful reason.
A new vision of well-being is on the horizon. If the forests are gone, if biodiversity is diminished, if water is polluted, if cruelty is inflicted on animals and so on then there can be no personal peace or social cohesion. If human communities are damaged because of poverty and deprivation, then they will be forced to encroach more upon natural resources. So the big vision of well-being is that it must be a personal, social and ecological whole.
We look forward to meeting with many of you at Eco-Congregation Ireland’s first ever conference in Dromantine, Newry on 14th and 15th September 2012. Further details will be published on the website very soon!
O gracious God, open our hearts and our eyes to the wonders of your presence among us. May we see the signs of your beauty within and about us and ever be in awe of the simple gifts of life.
Help us to reach beyond ourselves and to give thanks for all of your creation that shares this universe with us: peoples of every nation, animals of every species, all forms of vegetation, the planets, stars and all the elements. We pray this in union with the Incarnate Word of God in whose image all is created. Amen.