Biodiversity and life is plummeting; The Catholic viewpoint is important and progressive. The major diminishment of life, currently underway. is a catastrophe which has been under appreciated and has apparently been overshadowed by worry about climate change. As it happens, each problem, separately, is enough to do us in; so one should not be discounted in favour of the other.
As a disclaimer, I’m not a Catholic or, usually, a supporter. This weeks “What you can do” section is about informing yourself about the Catholic Church’s progressive viewpoint. It touches on population and consumption. Renewed thinking, and action, on these important subjects is rapidly becoming a survival strategy for all of us. Delve into it, and ponder on what you can (and must) do.
From one of the links in the Read more URL comes: ” Global Footprint Network (www.footprintnetwork.org) carefully measures our consumption of all aspects of the world’s sustainable productivity, and has calculated that in about 1970 we were using about 70% of the Earth’s sustainable capacity, and now that we are using about 156%. Nevertheless there are 800 million people chronically malnourished and 100 million on the verge of starvation at any one time. How have such imbalances, both among contemporaries and between the present and future generations come about, and how are they sustained.”
And:
“But we haven’t addressed the question whether the Earth system is able to support the demands that humanity has been making on it, nor how global inequality and poverty relate to that. The survival of the natural world, and ultimately our survival, depends on our adoption of principles of social justice and sustainability. And sustainability requires care for the biodiversity that supplies the services that enable humanity to live and prosper”
There is a wonderful video titled “Biological Extinction” of a speech by Paul Ehrlich at the Papal conference. Watch it. Follow the links at read more!
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