Nature revolts against environmental injustice

The inertia of the international community, their contribution to climate degradation,
its relationship with environmental injustice and the revolt of nature:
A reflection on Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum

SUMMARY

The environmental crisis is the biggest problem facing humanity today, because it directly implies the survival of all forms of life on planet Earth. For decades, studies have shown that global warming is the most important and most urgent problem that humanity has ever faced. The floods and storms that Dubai and North America have experienced recently, just to name two examples, are signs of a revolt by nature, which has grown tired of so much abuse. Climate change and the increase in extreme weather events are among the reasons behind the global rise in hunger and malnutrition. The destruction climate change brings threatens fishing, agriculture and livestock farming, all of which gradually produce much lesser. Changes in land and crop production represent the associative mechanism through which climate change is expected to indirectly affect human well-being, in ways such as changes in food availability, planting customs, and migrations to more suitable lands. In the short term, climate extremes will cause agricultural harvest failure, with problems of food supply shortages and high price volatility. It can be anticipated that these combined effects would impact the global food supply system, food prices, food baskets and family food budgets. It is undeniable that climate change hits communities and nations that have least contributed to global warming much more severely. They are the most vulnerable and poorest on the planet. Human activities increasingly affect the Earth’s climate and temperature, burning fossil fuels and cutting down tropical forests. In this way, enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, GHG, are added to those naturally present in the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Keywords: Climate change, environment, life, land, justice and survival.

INTRODUCTION

In view of the increasingly serious situations of climate change occurring almost everywhere on the planet, Pope Francis felt obliged to update his concern, already presented in the Encyclical Laudato Si’ of 2015. The issue cannot be taken lightly. The Pope’s intention is to demand that everyone play a fundamental role in saving the planet. But alongside everyone there are those most responsible for both the degradation of the environment and its salvation, namely the heads of state and the members of the international community. Their position is crucial in the defence of our “common home”, just as their indifference to the experienced deterioration of nature. With it comes the risk of the end of life on this planet.

The Holy See published Pope Francis’ new Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum on the climate crisis on 4 October 2023, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. The reflection takes place on the basis of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, held on 1 September, which  in that year had the motto: “May justice and peace flow”. 1 September marked the beginning of the ecumenical celebration of the care of creation, which concluded on 4 October. It is not without reason that the Pope appointed the publication to the day of St. Francis, who paid great attention to creatures, even calling them brothers and sisters. The religious man, born in Italy and recognized as saint since the 13th century, also gained the status of patron saint of animals, for the way he preached love and care for all things that God created, including nature and animals.

The Pontiff states that the world “is falling apart and perhaps approaching a breaking point.” The Pope carefully states that climate change affect all of us, but especially the most vulnerable people. For him, human ambition is what puts everything to waste, a shocking example of structural sin.[1]

Part one of this article deals with the causes of environmental degradation. Part two examines environmental degradation according to its relationship with justice and human rights. Part three reflects on the consequences of this degradation on nature and human life. Part four presents some proposals to minimize the effects and ways to remedy the balance of the environment.

PART I
Causes underlying environmental degradation and the consequent climate change

1.1 Human action

Climate change is undeniable and its effects are becoming increasingly evident, “despite some attempts to minimize or ridicule them” (Laudate Deum, paragraph 6; from now on LD, followed by the paragraph number). The causes of environmental impacts explicitly relate to human action on earth, with emphasis on the development of production in economic sectors. Among the main human activities that cause global warming and consequently climate change are the burning of fossil fuels derived from petroleum, coal and natural gas, for energy generation, industrial activities and transport, conversion of land use, agriculture etc.

We could summarize the following as important causes of environmental impacts resulting from human action:

• Removal of vegetation caused by activities such as farming;
• Incorrect deposition of garbage and solid waste on the surface of the planet;
• Modification of the relief resulting from the extraction of mineral resources;
• Contamination of water sources due to various production activities;
• Expansion of urbanization and global industrialization, etc;
• Burning and deforestation of forests.

The human origin of these changes “can no longer be doubted,” Francis points out, also touching on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. He correlates the greater concentration of these gases in the atmosphere with the increase in the planet’s temperature and the consequent acidification of the seas and the melting of glaciers. “The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere and consists of the absorption of part of the infrared radiation by the gases that constitute it (nitrogen, oxygen, water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane).”[2]

The overwhelming majority of climate scholars defend this correlation, with a minimal percentage of those who try to deny this evidence. Unfortunately, “the climate crisis is not exactly an issue that interests the great economic powers, concerned with obtaining the greatest profit at the lowest cost and in the shortest possible time” (LD 13).

The Holy Father declares the urgent nature of a broader vision, given the correlation between enormous progress and unrestrained human intervention on nature, as some manifestations of this climate crisis are irreversible for a few hundred years. “All that is asked of us is a certain responsibility for the legacy that we will leave behind us, after our passage through this world” (LD 14).

1.2 Capitalist production

The capitalist mode of production establishes a destructive relationship with the environment. This, however, is not something accidental, it is essential. The sustainability discourse, for example, is ideological. Let us agree, “the process of destruction of the environment by capitalism is inevitable.”[3] The capitalist system is linked to mass production and consumption in the same proportion, thus producing profit. To obtain raw materials, it is necessary to extract several resources from nature. Constant and unbridled exploitation has left a profound devastation on the environment. In capitalism, access to natural resources passes through commercial relations, since their appropriation by capital implies the elimination of their “natural gratuity”. Therefore, “the incorporation of nature and man himself into the productive circuit is the basis for capital to expand”.[4]

The objective of capitalism is to obtain ever-greater profits resulting from the work of proletarians in the means of production – factories, commerce, and agriculture. This large-scale production, in addition to generating an excessive amount of waste and pollution, also consumes enormous amounts of energy and natural resources, which leads to an even more intense exploitation of the environment. One of the main problems caused by capitalism is global warming. The situation in which planet earth finds itself, therefore, is the result of the unbridled development of capitalism which, “through capital, establishes the commodification of minerals, vegetables, animals and the entire natural space, in which nature is just an exploitable object, ontologically separated from human beings”.[5] This notion is what is eroding the earth.

Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the so-called developed countries were protagonists of the disaster. In the name of absolute development at any price, these countries exploited natural resources unrestrainedly, plundering the peripheral countries, firstly “through the colonization of these regions already inhabited by other peoples and, in contemporary times, through the relations of production established in the context of the world market, marked by inequality”.[6] There is here, then, a paradox, where development, which according to the very etymology of the word, should represent something positive, ends up in a logic that threatens planetary life.

This process had alarming consequences, such as, for example, “the environmental crisis, the failure of the economic growth project, the persistence of hunger on the whole planet, the disappearance of traditions and cultures”.[7] The incessant process of capitalist production and consumption caused “a widespread degradation of global ecosystems and generated an ecocide of wildlife, which existed long before human beings” and that “the world is experiencing a health emergency, a climate crisis and a biological holocaust”.[8]

1.3 The power of technology

The pope talks about the “technocratic paradigm”, which “consists, in thinking ‘as if reality, goodness and truth automatically flow from technological and economic power as such’” (LD 20). The pontiff points out that “Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used” (LD 23). At the same time, he warns of the risk of concentrating this power in just a small part of humanity. He emphasizes that it is not ethically sustainable to think of the world around us as “an object of exploitation, unbridled us and unlimited ambition” (LD 28). This same notion “is imposed on the international system of human rights, which corresponds to a Eurocentric Western worldview that values individualism, the exploitation of nature and the predominance of market laws, that is, it meets the demands of the capitalist bourgeoisie rather than human demands”.[9]

“We have made impressive and awesome technological advances, and we have not realized that at the same time we have turned into highly dangerous beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own survival” (LD 28). Here it is only necessary to quote the example of the United Arab Emirates, which, using technology, even produced a so-called ‘cloud-feeding’ mechanism to induce rain in that desert country. The consequences are there for all to see: floods and storms on an apocalyptic scale. François Rabelais rightly said, “Science without conscience is the ruin of the soul”.[10]

1.4 Weak international policies

Here, we think, lies the crux of the problem, because if states took the issue of climate and climate change seriously, we might not have reached this point. The Pope denounces the weakness of international policies and calls for the promotion of multilateral agreements between states, because current and previous approaches are insufficient (LD 43). The Pontiff calls for “more effective world organizations, equipped with the power to provide for the global common good,” and a “real authority, in such a way as to “provide for” the attainment of certain essential goals” (LD 35).

Regarding COP 28,[11] Francis hopes that this Conference will lead to a decisive acceleration of the energy transition, with effective commitments that can be permanently monitored, since, for him, the transition to clean energy is currently not advancing fast enough (LD 55).

The Pope also calls for an end to the “irresponsible attitude” of those who “ridicule” the environmental issue for economic interests (LD 58). It is his desire that those taking part in COP 28 “be strategists capable of considering the common good and the future of their children, more than the short-term interests of certain countries or businesses”, showing the nobility of politics, and not its shame. And he asks the powerful: “What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?” (LD 60)

In his message for the World Day of Prayer for the care of creation, Pope Francis appealed, “We must transform the public policies that govern our societies and shape the lives of young people today and tomorrow”.[12] Urgent and fair laws are needed to save the planet, he said. Unfortunately, the Pope did not participate in COP 28 because of health difficulties, even though it was his intention to be there to present his concern to the people of law, who have “the knife and the cheese in their hand”, to define policies to save the climate and influence the other institutions spread around the world.

PART II
Relationship of climate change with justice and human rights

2.1 Injustice against the poor and vulnerable in environmental degradation

We are all being affected by climate change. However, the most vulnerable – residents of underdeveloped countries and the poorest populations – are the first to suffer and with the greatest intensity, although they have been the smallest contributors to the causes of climate change. Developed countries, which are most responsible for climate change, are those with the greatest capacity to adapt and defend themselves against the problem. The challenge of dealing with climate change highlights an important issue of equity, where responsibilities are common but differentiated and the demand that drives countries’ short, medium and long-term development strategies should not limit development aspirations for the poorest nations.

Affected by the catastrophes of climate change, many communities have to deal with its extreme consequences, such as drought or floods. This is a degrading situation, for it deprives them of the basic right to have a standard of living capable of ensuring health, well-being, food, water, clothing, housing and medical care. In addition to threatening their very survival, it violates their right to life and physical integrity.

Although we are talking about environmental disasters, these phenomena are also related to issues of justice and peace. This is because they reveal a blatant disregard for human rights, especially human dignity, since those most affected by these climate events have regularly been the most socially vulnerable, such as riverside dwellers and residents of risk areas. It is undeniable that the effects of global warming disproportionately affect countries and groups of people who are already at a disadvantage. We really see that “climate change is affecting people’s lives, the exercise of their rights and the ecosystem on which they depend, in such a way that the climate situation further aggravates already serious scenarios, due to the inequalities and disadvantages already suffered by marginalized groups, for example poverty, gender, age, disability, indigenous or minority status”.[13] Cases like this can be classified as environmental injustice or even “environmental racism”, as one author dared to call it.

Climate change is a global problem with different impacts depending on the region of the planet and requires concerted and complementary actions between local, national and international levels regarding its mitigation and adaptation. “Vulnerability to climate change depends on several variables; however, there is special concern about developing countries, where social vulnerability, poverty and inequality intensify existing climate problems”.[14]

The new study points out that tragedy like these will become increasingly frequent. With all these warnings, it is necessary to prevent populations that are often rendered “invisible” by public authorities and the model of life we ​​live, from suffering once again in history from neglect and becoming victims of environmental injustices.

The United Nations Environment Program points out that this “civilizing process” and, consequently, climate change, represent a threat to human rights, from the right to life and security, to the right to water, sanitation, food and health.[15]

The message is clear: half of the world’s population already lives at climate risk and, unfortunately, we will no longer be able to stop some of the serious impacts and effects of climate change, but we need to think about how the world, and, in particular, the populations who live in more vulnerable territories, will adapt to them. Furthermore, climate change even threatens the existence of small island states and riverine and coastal communities that are located in regions that could lose land mass and become uninhabitable areas due to the rise in sea levels. This has already occurred, but it is likely to increase rather than decrease for up to thousands of years, according to data from AR6.[16]

Holding decision makers accountable, demanding planning and mobilizing the population for climate justice are urgent steps in combating socio-environmental inequalities.

Human beings are not separate from nature; humanity is part of nature. Therefore, a paradigm shift in the interpretation of the relationship between humans and nature is essential. After all, “a basic duty regarding nature consists of reconstructing human action not as a form of destruction, but rather of environmental construction and reproduction”.[17] As Quijano says, ‘it is time, finally, to stop being what we are not”.[18] It is in light of this scenario and in compliance with the data and warnings provided by AR6, the latest report released by the IPCC, that the urgency of proactive and radical climate action is emphasized, in coherence with human rights obligations and principles. To talk about human rights and act in accordance with them, “the full assumption of commitments and duties in relation to others, ourselves and nature is required”.[19] The fight to protect and rescue the environment is also a fight for human rights.

PART III
Main environmental consequences and impacts caused by man

The environmental impacts are quite comprehensive and very evident, as a result of artificial modifications on the earth’s surface. The effects of climate change can be felt daily with increased droughts, floods, rising sea levels and other facts that point to an environmental imbalance. These are caused by, among others, the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Here follows examples of the main ones generated by human beings:[20]

1- Loss of biodiversity and soil;

2- Pollution and contamination of air, soil and water;

3- Rise in the average level of seawaters;[21]

4- Loss of ice cover at the poles;

5- Changes in the availability of water resources and a decrease in the volume of water sources;[22]

6- Desertification;

7- Increase in more frequent and more intense adverse weather phenomena.

8- Extinction of native species of animals and plants;[23]

9- Change in global and regional climate patterns;

10- Loss of quality of life in human societies;

11- Increase in the registration of various diseases and epidemics;

12- Decrease in vegetation cover and water sources;

13- Change in the production of food and raw materials.

14- Frequent periods of abnormal heat and drought – and their consequences – such as the displacement of populations. In Zimbabwe and some neighbouring countries, for example, it was necessary to declare a state of emergency, because there was almost no rain during the entire rainy year of 2023/2024 and the drought damaged all crops. The people are facing hunger.

15- Unusual acceleration of heating

The increase in the planet’s global temperature, the melting of polar glaciers, more intense storms and more frequent periods of drought. These changes directly affect people’s daily lives. The consequences of the rise in the earth’s average temperature range from rising ocean levels to the proliferation of extreme weather phenomena.[24] Global warming causes extreme natural phenomena to become increasingly frequent and violent.[25] These are difficult times for the planet’s climate.

16- Catastrophic rains, among other “groans of the earth”

There phenomena in nature, shocking any of us, can be seen almost as if nature is taking revenge. Unusual torrential rains in the UAE caused flooding on modern roads and chaos at the airport in Dubai on 18 April 18 2024, after a storm brought record rainfall. Rain is rare in the UAE and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, known for its dry desert climate. But this time, the Emirates were hit by the heaviest rains in 75 years. The United Arab Emirates and Oman were hit by record-breaking torrential rains, flooding highways and buildings, snarling traffic, closing schools and leaving thousands of people trapped in their homes. Because of this, questions arose about whether the severe weather was the result of the process of “cloud seeding”, a method frequently used by the Emirates. Chemicals are deployed in clouds to increase rainfall in places where water scarcity is a concern. As a result, nature responded with these environmental “tears”.

17- Increased erosion, hurricanes, sea level rises and forest fires, storms, cyclones, floods, among others

We recently recorded the damage caused by Hurricane Milton, which crossed Florida and left trails of catastrophic destruction with winds of around 160 km/h. We can also talk about Brazil, Indonesia or much of Asia and even Africa. Recent intense rains and floods in Mozambique and beyond is a point in case. In February 2023, Maputo experienced cyclones, particularly the Boane district, resulting in flooded and submerged houses and crop losses. Many people were left without shelter, drinking water or food. Many of these people had to take shelter in schools. Cyclone Freddy hit the country twice: first, on 24 February, it hit the southern province of Inhambane, causing extensive damage. Second, on the 11th, 12th and 13th of March it hit the city of Quelimane and the province of Zambézia, causing 143 deaths, damaging homes and institutions, including the Bishop’s residence and churches, and rendering many fields unusable for agriculture.

18- Forced population displacements due to environmental causes[26]

We must agree that humanity’s violent action against nature creates effects not only on fauna and flora, but also on the quality of human life itself. People are often forced to leave their homeland, to find shelter in other, safer spaces. Climate migration is the name given to population displacement here.[27] The climate emergency is the defining crisis of our time, and displacement is one of its most devastating consequences. Entire populations are suffering the impacts. However, vulnerable people living in more fragile countries affected by conflict are disproportionately affected. Refugees, internally displaced people and stateless people are on the frontline of the climate emergency. Many are living in hotspots without the resources to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment.

According to Warner, during an extreme climate phenomenon, the populations affected by it can react in three different ways:[28]

• Remain in the affected location without taking any action, accepting a lower quality of life;
• Remain in the affected location, adapting to new conditions and finding a way to mitigate the effects;
• Abandon the affected area, temporarily or permanently, migrating to climatically more stable locations, thus constituting a displacement of human populations due to environmental causes. This phenomenon is also known as “forced environmental migration”, a concept that has been explored in recent times.[29]

Objectives of Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum

The idea that runs through these two documents from the Holy Father is the same: to draw everyone’s attention to the urgency that is due to the care of creation, as nature is presenting sensitive cries that can endanger life on earth. The seven goals below provide guidance on urgent and immediate actions that each of us can take in caring for our common home. “We can all cooperate as God’s instruments in the care of creation, each according to our own culture, experience, involvement and talents” (LS 14). The Pope aimed in these two exhortations to highlight the following:

• Answer to the cry of the earth
• Response to the cry of the poor
• Ecological economy
• Adopting sustainable lifestyles
• Ecological education
• Ecological spirituality
• Community resilience and empowerment.

PART IV
Perspectives and solutions to save the climate

Alongside everything, the Pope calls for an ecological commitment to comprehensive care for the environment. It becomes the task of each and every one of us, as each of the attitudes has its strength in nature. Pope Francis urges an environmental pastoral ministry alongside the ecological conversion, which he talks about in Laudato Si’. May we remain alongside the victims of environmental and climate injustice by listening to “the heartbeat: ours, that of our mothers and our grandparents, the beating of the heart of creation and the heart of God” (Message of Pope Francis for Creation Day 2023).

1- Responsibility to avoid further damage

As climate change is a global issue, there is a need for an international response based on national, regional and international efforts and actions. Actions must be based on a shared vision of the objectives to be achieved in the long term and an agreement on future perspectives, which will accelerate actions in the coming decades.

Francis reinforces earth’s request for help, and explains that he understands his responsibility in drawing attention to these problems and that repeating these requests may seem exaggerated, but it is extremely necessary. “I am forced to make these specifications, which may seem obvious, because of certain ridiculous and unreasonable opinions that I encounter, even within the Catholic Church. But we cannot continue to doubt that the reason for the unusual speed of such dangerous changes lies this undeniable fact: the enormous progress linked to the unrestrained human intervention in nature”. Some damage is irreversible or may take years to be reduced again, but our actions must be urgent.[30] “A broader vision is urgently needed… all that is asked of us is a certain responsibility for the legacy that we will leave behind us, after our passage through this world.”

2- More engagement with the international community and governments

The Holy Father proposes multilateralism “from below”, and not “decided by power structures”, identifying the need for a “different framework for effective cooperation” and “a kind of greater ‘democratization’ in the global sphere” to that everyone’s rights are taken care of (LD 28).

3- Invest in renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy that comes from resources or energy sources that are naturally replenished, such as sun, wind, rain, tides and geothermal energy. Renewable energy sources are those that can renew themselves, that is, they do not run out, as they are constantly regenerating. Renewable energies do not emit greenhouse gases during energy generation processes, making them a cleaner and more viable solution to avoid environmental degradation. In this way, renewable energies are the “right bet” to enhance the environment and endogenous resources. “Renewable energies are inexhaustible, inexhaustible, by definition and are one of the best ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of renewable sources are: hydro (energy from river water), solar (energy from the sun), wind (energy from the wind), biomass (energy from organic matter), geothermal (energy from the Earth’s interior) and oceanic (energy from tides and waves)”.[31]

The importance of renewable energy is related to economic, social and environmental development. We can cite a series of justifications for adopting renewable energy: Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from burning fossil fuels. In fact, energy from renewable sources is considered the “energy of the future” that will allow future generations to use resources and these energy sources do not leave residues that negatively impact the environment when they are used, as happens with burning. coal, for example.

4- Cultural change: the commitment of every Christian and beyond…

Our common home is a gift made by God, and it is our duty to take good care of every detail of this place. The Pope recalls the reasons for this commitment that springs from the Christian faith, encouraging “brothers and sisters of other religions to do the same”.

“This is not a product of our will… because God has united us so closely to the world around us.” And he further reinforces: “There are no lasting changes without cultural changes… and there are no cultural changes without changes in people “.

In this sense, the Holy Father proposes “to transform our hearts, our lifestyles and the public policies that govern our society and shape the lives of young people today and tomorrow”. To this end, he recalled that Saint John Paul II urged “ecological conversion”, which consists of renewing “our relationship with creation, so that we no longer consider it as an object to be explored, but, on the contrary, guard it as a sacred gift of the Creator.” The correct measures to be taken essentially focus on the need to invest in renewable energy sources (wind, sun, waves) and the transition to a low-carbon economy.[32]

Unfortunately, what is evident is that the environmental issue, more than an ecological problem, is a humanitarian epistemic and cultural crisis that comes from the core of the ontological understanding of human beings regarding their relationship with nature. In Leff’s words, “it is a crisis of thought and understanding, of ontology and epistemology with which Western civilization understood being, entities and things; of the scientific and technological rationality with which nature was dominated and the modern world saved; of the relationships and interdependencies between these material and symbolic, natural and technological processes”.[33]

Finally, the Holy Father calls on people of all religious denominations to react. He also reminds Catholics that, in the light of faith, there is a responsibility to care for God’s creation and that this implies respect for the laws of nature and recognition of the beauty and richness of God’s creation.

4.1- For an ecological conversion

Francis allows himself to take inspiration from Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures to remember that the earth “can be compared sometimes to a sister, with whom we share our existence, sometimes to a mother, who welcomes us in her arms.” This earth is now mistreated and plundered and we hear the groans of the abandoned people of the world.

An “ecological conversion” is needed, a “change of course”, so that man assumes the responsibility of a commitment to care for the common home, which is “integral ecology”. A commitment to eradicate poverty and promote equal access for all to the planet’s resources. As followers of Christ on our common synodal journey, let us live, work and pray that our common home will once again be filled with life and we will engage in “reconciliation with the world in which we live” (LD 69).

5- No to disposable culture and focus on humanism

The Encyclical thus makes a detailed diagnosis of the planet’s ills: pollution, climate change, disappearance of biodiversity, ecological debt between the North and South of the world, anthropocentrism, the predominance of technocracy and finance that leads to saving the banks to the detriment of the population, private property not subordinated to the universal destination of goods. Over all of this, a throwaway, use-and-throw-away culture seems to prevail, something that leads to exploiting children, abandoning the elderly, reducing others to slavery, and engaging in the “blood diamond” trade. It’s the same logic as many mafias – writes Francisco. Humanity and humanism must be above all interests. Including care for the “common home” should be imbued with this feeling, as if it were a close and loved human being. Nature must be treated with pity and mercy.

6- New economy needed, more attentive to ethics

In view of this, we can read in the Exhortation that a “courageous cultural revolution” is necessary that keeps the value and protection of every human life at the forefront, because the defense of nature “is not compatible with the justification of abortion” and “every evil treatment of a creature is contrary to human dignity.”

The Holy Father calls for dialogue between politics and economics and at an international level he does not spare a harsh judgment on world leaders regarding the lack of political decisions at an environmental level and proposes a new economy that is more attentive to ethics. The Pope urges us to have a heart when dealing with nature: “it is necessary to recover the importance of the heart when the temptation of superficiality assails us, of living hastily without knowing exactly why, of becoming insatiable consumers and slaves in the gears of a market that is not interested in the meaning of our existence.”[34]

7- Invest in education/training for an integral and human ecology

Francis’ Exhortation emphasizes that we must invest in training for an integral ecology, to understand that the environment is a gift from God, a common inheritance that must be managed and not destroyed. According to the IPCC, one of the main actions that countries can take to combat climate change is to transform the energy sector, which, as it is based on fossil fuels such as oil and coal, is currently the main responsible for gas emissions that cause global warming. And small, everyday gestures are enough:

Need for general education for comprehensive care of the environment; It was even urgent that in Catholic schools we had specific subjects based on this document, to be taught from primary schools to universities and expressed in concrete works. For example, each year, each course that ends should leave a field planted with trees, similar to the Laudato Si’ forest in Namibe promoted by CEAST and with its extension now in Benguela and Kuito Bié. All Parishes, Dioceses and Archdioceses, Catholic schools, Institutes, Universities could have a forest entitled Laudato Si’ or Laudate Deum.

Collect waste separately, promote reforestation, do not waste water and food, turn off useless lights, reuse grass for manure instead of burning, control poaching, set aside land used for agriculture, to avoid depletion of soils; replenishing soil after the industrial extraction of minerals, treating solid waste, through recycling, wrapping up a little more warmly instead of turning on the heating. In this way, we can feel that “we have a responsibility towards others and the world and that it is worth being good and honest” – concludes the Pope.

May Saint Francis of Assisi intercede for us with the Father, so that we can obtain from the Lord the grace of ecological conversion. Amen!

Conclusion

In a world increasingly affected by injustice, not only against the weak and poor, who sacrifice their rights every day and suffer injustice on the part of those who do not care about the savage exploitation of nature, we are all called, by the Holy Father, each one in their own way and with simple gestures, to respond to this cry for help to nature. It was high time we realized that nature is showing signs that it is tired of us. Every harmful action taken by her is a debt to her future or present response. It is true that there are those most to blame for this erosion of our common home, such as the capitalist producers who mercilessly suck nature until it is exhausted, and alongside them the international community remains undaunted, as it is often directly involved or indirectly in the competition of this action. The consequences of this are endless wars in many parts of the world, which with their outbreak, weapons contaminate the air, hunger and misery in many corners of the globe, especially in Africa, deterioration of the earth’s conditions and collapse in the face of a planet without life. We are called to do our best to repopulate “our common home” and provide a healthy, humanizing and humanized environment.

Forward and good luck!

António Pelágio Cachingona

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BÍBLIA SAGRADA AFRICANA, Edições Paulinas, Luanda, Angola, 2005.

CARTA ENCÍCLICA DILEXIT NOS DO SANTO PADRE FRANCISCO sobre o amor humano e divino do coração de Jesus, Dicastero per la Comunicazione – Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Outubro de 2024.

ENCÍCLICA LAUDATO SÌ, do Papa Francisco de 15 de Maio de 2015.

ENCÍCLICA LAUDATE DEUM, do Papa Francisco de 04 de Outubro de 2023.

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INDEX

Summary

Introduction 

 PART I – CAUSES UNDERLYING ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION AND CONSEQUENT CLIMATE CHANGE

1.1 Human action
1.2 Capitalist production
1.3 The power of technology
1.4 Weak international policies

PART II – RELATIONSHIP OF CLIMATE CHANGE WITH JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2.1 Injustice against the poor and vulnerable in environmental degradation

PART III – MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES AND IMPACTS CAUSED BY MAN

1. Loss of biodiversity and soils
2. Pollution and contamination of air, soil and water
3. Rise in average sea level
4. Loss of ice cover at the poles
5. Changes in the availability of water resources and decrease in the volume of water sources
6. Desertification
7. Increase in more frequent and more intense adverse weather phenomena
8. Extinction of native species of animals and plants
9. Change in global and regional climate patterns
10. Loss of quality of life in human societies
11. Increase in the registration of various diseases and epidemics
12. Decrease in vegetation cover and water sources
13. Change in the production of food and raw materials
14. Frequent periods of abnormal heat and drought – and their consequences – such as the displacement of populations
15. Unusual acceleration of heating
16. Catastrophic rains, among other “groans of the earth”
17. Increased erosion, hurricanes, sea level rises and forest fires, storms, cyclones, floods, among others
18. Forced population displacements due to environmental causes

Objectives of Laudato Si/Laudate Deum

PART IV – PERSPECTIVES AND SOLUTIONS TO SAVE THE CLIMATE

1- Responsibility to avoid further damage

2- Engage the International Community and Governments more

3- Invest in renewable energy

4- Cultural change: The commitment of every Christian and beyond…

5- For an ecological conversion

6- No disposable culture

7- New economy needed, more attentive to ethics

8- Invest in education/training for an integral and human ecology

Conclusion 

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