Change starts with you and I. It is our responsibility to preserve our planet’s natural resources and improve it for generations to come. How can you show your support? In a recent Sunday sermon Fr. Peter talked about the importance of saving energy and encouraged the community to turn off their electronics for just one hour for what is left of the lent season.Let’s recall that Pope Francis also encouraged the world to take action and strengthen efforts to combat climate change together. In the Laudato Si Encyclical Pope Francis called for a partnership between science and religion for the preservation of our environment. Here are some key excerpts from the encyclical:
- “Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever.”
- “The warming caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming.”
- “Must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.”
- “Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right.”
- “People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity but it has not succeeded in changing their harmful habits of consumption which, rather than decreasing, appear to be growing all the more.”
On March 25th 187 countries participated in Earth Hour 2017 by turning off their electronics. Why let the initiative stop there? Let’s take action and start with this small step and go dark for one hour.
By Ana Quevedo MSEM ‘18, Sustainability Graduate Assistant