Acaylar, Nicco 1 –Estrellado

Arellano, Noreen Christian Ethics

Molina,
Navarro, Czarina

A Summary of
Laudato Si
An “urgent challenge to protect our common home … to bring the whole human family together to seek
a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change”.

The word 'change' is something that our country clamors for. For the
Philippines where poverty is so blatant, it is a word which denotes the
meaning of hope. However, while we see it as a political move towards
progress, we fail to notice how the change in our environment is leading us
towards the opposite. Pope Francis, in hope of entering into dialogue with all
people, talks about our relationship with the environment, our
interdependence on Mother Earth. But this relationship with the Earth as
our sister which we should care for is often brushed off for the benefit of
ourselves. Instead of being good stewards of God's creation, man takes
dominion of the earth as if he is its master and it is his servant. Our
common home is changing but not for the benefit of all. What is happening
now in our common home poses a threat to all, especially to the poor who
are less equipped to fend for themselves. In Pope Francis's Laudato Si, the
urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring
the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral
development, for we know that things can change.

In Laudato Si, Pope Francis identifies pressing modern ecological

challenges: Pollution and Climate Change; The Issue of Water; The Loss of
Biodiversity; Decline in the Quality of Human Life and the Breakdown of
Society; and Global Inequality. Behind all of this are people and our failure
to give significance to the earth which sustains us and the overwhelming
indifference towards our fellow human beings.
On Rapidification
One of the biggest challenge today is what Pope Francis called
"rapidification." Before, people lived in a much slower pace. Today, our lives
are so fast-paced. It is almost as if time is something we always have to
chase. According to Pope Francis, this accelerated, intensified speed run in
counter with the naturally slow pace of biological evolution. With this kind
of speed, changes come quickly too. But the problem is that the goals of
rapidification is not necessarily geared towards the common good. It is not
to sustain human development. It is true that different fields of career
demand higher productivity from their employees. While this not a bad
thing, the end at which this aim is towards profit-making. Today's world is
so competitive that people often lose sight of the more important things.
Competitiveness highlights the achievements of the individual and it is that
which people aim for. As the world becomes more evolved, change does not
really play out for the common good. Rather than propel us to growth, it just
causes people anxiety. It affects the quality of life of many. The more we give
in to the the trend of rapidification, the more harm we cause to ourselves.

Change in lifestyle plays a role in the rapidification..(la pa

komaisipomegad)

On Air Pollution
Another problem that we have to deal with is the problem of pollution.
We deal with pollution in our everyday life that sometimes we hardly notice
it. Air pollution, for example, is so widespread. Developed and developing
countries alike face this problem. It is a global concern and amidst the
enactment of national policies or local ordinances, it still seems like we
would be facing this problem for years to come as a lot of us fails to exert
effort in addressing this matter. With pollution so widespread, the risk for
our health heightens. It produces a broad spectrum of health hazards and it
is the poor who endures the most out of it. Developing countries, for
example, suffers the most of this problem for years. This is not to say that
developed countries do not but only that they have the means to remedy it
with their advance medical technology. Meanwhile, in countries like the
Philippines, the presence of pollution cannot be denied in our major cities
where deaths often occur in slum areas. Lung problems usually arises.
Unfortunately, with the lack of financial assistance from the government,
the poor cannot counter the problem.

On a large scale, air pollution can be abated through our

government’s effort in intensively enforcing air pollution-control policies on
air quality such as the Clean Air Act. Operations of coal-fired power plants,
a significant source of air pollution, shall be regulated. Smoke belchers shall
likewise be controlled.

In our own ways, we can address the issue of air pollution

bycollectively reducing the use of our motor vehicles and limiting the trips
that we take whenever we can. Taking public transportation and carpooling
helps reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Having fewer vehicles on
the road means that there will be less carbon emissions and pollution that
will get into the air. Another good measure in addressing air pollution would
be planting trees. Planting trees can offset the carbon dioxide and other
gases in the air. It improves the quality of air and also makes our
surroundings cooler.

On Waste Problem
There is also the problem of waste. We often hear the elderly lament
about the loss of the beautiful landscapes. Today, those landscapes may be
nothing but a pile of rubbish. Factories produced industrial waste and
chemical products which can lead to bioaccumulation. It harms everyone.
What more is that the poor usually suffers most from this. However, to
blame everything to the factories and industrial corporations would be to
negate our own responsibility. It is undeniable that the volume of waste a
typical person generates every day is alarming. Instead of recycling, people
tend to just throw them away without thinking of its other possible uses.
Homes and businesses was beginning to look like a huge pile of filth as
hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-
biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses,
from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and
industrial sources. There is also the fact that developed countries just ship
their waste in the developing countries like the Philippines, as if the soil of
our nation is a trash bin. Take for example, Smokey Mountain in Payatas.
Anyone can see the danger is poses to the health of the people living in the
area. The waste and pollution present there is enough to send outsiders
running and yet, many of our poor countrymen settle in the area. Poverty is
already a problem so grave that it renders people without a choice to choose
a better place for themselves. The fact that we do not care to lessen our
waste through recycling and adds to the waste which would be dumped
there increases to the health risks already present in the area.

As simple as it is, we can help minimize the country’s waste problems

by consistently observing the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R’s) practice in our
own households. Reducingentails cutting back on amount of wastethat we
produce by expending only what is essential. Reusing involvescoming up
with new ways to utilizewaste so that we do not have to dispose of it.
Recycling is repurposingwaste to remake new goods that can be used again.

Apart from the 3R’s, we can also employ waste segregation. Waste
segregation helps in recycling and reporcessing waste and therefore reduces
further consumption of of new materials. Segregated waste like plastic and
paper is considered to be a commodity which is still marketable.

On Climate Change
The issue of climate change is something we cannot escape and we
can no longer ignore. The effects of it are clearly felt: from the abnormal
weather pattern to the rise in sea level due to the ice caps melting in the
North pole. Pope Francis emphasizes that “the climate is a common good,
belonging to all and meant for all.” However, this notion had been set aside
in favor of people’s own interests. The pope recognizes that “a number of
scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due
to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane,
nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity.”
Compared to generations before, our lives are undeniably more advanced
due to technological and scientific achievements. However, we are also more
prone to health problems as a result. Climate change is not just the problem
of one nation. It is the problem of all of humanity. It is a global problem with
grave implications: environmental, social, economic, and political. The poor
who are the least responsible for causing the problem are the ones who are
most vulnerable to its harmful effect. The need to develop efficient and
effective policies is urgent, so that in the years to come, the emission of
carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced.
Pope Francis provided as an example, substituting for fossil fuels and
developing sources of renewable energy.

Being that Climate Change is a wide-reaching phenomenon, it takes

collective action to address such issue. One radical measure that can be
done about climate change is to raise awareness in order to help individuals,
societies, and governments make informed decisions about climate change.
By voicing out our concerns, we send a message that we are concerned
about our environment. We can encourage our policymakers to enact and
enforce more comprehensive laws that will limit or regulate carbon
emissions.

As for individual actions, we can start off by simply conserving energy

in our own homes. Turning off appliances when not in use. This way, we

On Water Shortage

There is also the issue on water. Our natural resources are already so
depleted. The present level of consumption in developed countries and
wealthier sectors of society, where the habit of wasting and discarding has
reached unprecedented levels which cannot be sustained any longer. The
exploitation of our planet had already reached an unacceptable level and it
is the poor who suffers the most. Fresh drinking water is indispensable for
human life and for the support of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Sources of fresh water are necessary for health care, agriculture and
industry. It is of primary importance that this issue be addressed. Where
before, water sources are constant and plenty, today the scarcity of it can be
felt in a lot of places like Africa. There now exists a problem on water
shortage. Africa, for example, is especially affected as large sectors of the
population have no access to safe drinking water. Droughts are also
normally experience. These impede agricultural production. While some
countries have areas rich in water, others endure drastic scarcity.

The quality of water available to the poor is one particularly serious

problem. Many deaths result from unsafe water. Water-related diseases,
including those caused by microorganisms and chemical substances may
also spread and affect a whole population. According to studies, dysentery
and cholera, linked to inadequate hygiene and water supplies, are a
significant cause of suffering and of infant mortality. Underground water
sources in many places are threatened by the pollution produced in certain
mining, farming and industrial activities, especially in countries lacking
adequate regulation or controls. It is not only a question of industrial waste.
Detergents and chemical products, commonly used in many places of the
world, continue to pour into our rivers, lakes and seas.

It goes without saying that one solution to water shortage is by

conserving water. We can conserve water by doing very simple things like
turning off the faucet while not in use; taking shorter showers; making sure
that our pipes and faucets are not leaking, etc.

The second chapter, “The Gospel of Creation”, deals with the

conviction of believers. Some people firmly reject the idea of a Creator.
Nevertheless, science and religion, with their distinctive approaches in
understanding reality, can enter into an intense dialogue fruitful for both.
We must respect various cultural riches of different people, their art and
poetry, their interior life and poetry. It is good for humanity when we
believers better recognize the ecological commitments which stem from our
conviction. There are biblical narratives offered involving relationship of
human beings with the world such as in the book of Genesis where God
created humanity. They suggest that life is grounded in three fundamental
and closely intertwined relationship: relationship with God;relationship with
our neighbor; and relationship with the Earth itself.
The harmony between Creator, humanity and creation as a whole was
disrupted by or presuming to take the place of God and refusing to
acknowledge our creaturely limitation. The rupture is SIN. People have
dominion over the earth, to till and keep it, to administer and not to destroy
it. We should harmonize in order to heal the rupture.
In our relationship with God, we should be mindful that we are not
God. We should not usurp God’s power by taking advantage of our free will.
Today’s situation manifest in all its destructive power in wars, the various
forms of violence and abuse, the abandonment of most vulnerable and
attacks on nature. In the story of Cain and Abel where envy led Cain to
commit the ultimate injustice against his brother, which in turn ruptured
the relationship between Cain and God, and between Cain and earth where
he was banished. We must care for these relationships, for when these are
neglected and when justice no longer dwells in the land, the Bible tells us
that life itself is endangered. The wickedness of man should not prevail. If
only people have faith, would once again find consolation and hope in a
growing trust in the all-powerful God. If we believe and love our neighbors,
there should be no war in between and among countries. In Psalms 33:6,
“by the word of the Lord the heavens were made”. This tells us that the
world came about as a result of a decision, not from chaos or chance and
this exalts in all the more.

Our relationship with nature is also significant. When we forget God,

we end up worshipping earthly powers or ourselves usurping the place of
God ,even claiming an unlimited right to trample His creation underfoot. We
must not exploit nature in such a way that could damage the environment.
We are given the opportunity to till and preserve it, to administer it and to
develop its potential. An example is a factory excreting various destructive
chemicals or any experiment which are scientifically plausible but
uncertain. These experiments may damage our environment. We must take
caution or do something to avoid or diminish it. We must not view nature
solely as a source of profit and gain for this has serious consequence in our
society.

As to the concept of Universal Communion, The created things of this

world are not free of ownership: “For they are Yours, O Lord, who love the
living”. Whether believer or not, we agreed today that the earth is essentially
a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone. God gave
the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance for all its members,
without excluding or favoring everyone.

The third chapter, “The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis”,

examines the twin notions of what it calls the “technocratic paradigm” and a
“modern anthropocentrism” borne out of a view that sees nature as a mere
given, devoid of any spiritual or transcendental value.

An example is technoscience. It can produce important means of

improving the quality of human life. Hence, the biotechnology, information
technology, knowledge of our DNA, and many other abilities which we have
acquired, has given us tremendous power. More precisely, they have given
those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use
them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire
world.

Men and women have constantly intervened in nature, but for a long
time this meant being in tune with and respecting the possibilities offered by
the things themselves. It was a matter of receiving what nature itself
allowed, as if from its own hand. Now, by contrast, we are the ones to lay
our hands on things, attempting to extract everything possible from them
while frequently ignoring or forgetting the reality in front of us.

These notions have led to the misplaced ideas that the earth’s
resources are infinite and that economic growth and technology alone can
solve global hunger and poverty. In reality, however, a purely materialistic
view of reality has not only resulted in disregard for the environment, but
also undermined the worth of a human life, especially those forms viewed as
having little or no utility – human embryos, the poor, or people with
disabilities.

Modernity has been marked by an excessive anthropocentrism which

today, under another guise, continues to stand in the way of shared
understanding and of any effort to strengthen social bonds. The time has
come to pay renewed attention to reality and the limits it imposes; this in
turn is the condition for a more sound and fruitful development of
individuals and society.

On the other aspect, human beings are not completely autonomous.

Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the
unconscious, of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence. We have
certain superficial mechanisms, but we cannot claim to have a sound ethics,
a culture and spirituality genuinely capable of setting limits and teaching
clear-minded self-restraint.

At the heart of consumerist and profit-driven economic ideologies is a

wrong-footed idea of dominion. The result is exploitation, and a throwaway
attitude towards nature and human life itself. The encyclical calls for a bold
cultural revolution in our attitude to development and progress. It puts it
rather bluntly: “Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but
we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to
appropriate the positive and sustainable progress which has been
made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away
by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur.”

The fifth chapter, “Lines of Approach and Action”, sets out various
international collective actions needed. It highlights the imperative to switch
from fossil fuels to renewables, with the use of government subsidies where
appropriate. It identifies the need for international agreements and
legislation not only in relation to climate change but also biodiversity and
the oceans. Carbon credits are criticized as “an expedient which permits
maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.”
 The international community has still not reached adequate
agreements about the responsibility for paying the costs of this energy
transition. In recent decades, environmental issues have given rise to
considerable public debate and have elicited a variety of committed and
generous civic responses.

We are grateful for the efforts of the international community. The

environmental questions now have increasingly found a place on public
agendas and encouraged more far-sighted approaches.

For poor countries, the priorities must be to eliminate extreme poverty

and to promote the social development of their people. At the same time,
they need to acknowledge the scandalous level of consumption in some
privileged sectors of their population and to combat corruption more
effectively.

With regards to oceans, the growing problem of marine waste and the
protection of the open seas represent particular challenges. What is needed,
in effect, is an agreement on systems of governance for the whole range of
so-called “global commons”.

In global warming, a more responsible overall approach is needed to

deal with both problems: the reduction of pollution and the development of
poorer countries and regions.

Local dialogue is also necessary in addressing environmental chaos.

In some places, cooperatives are being developed to exploit renewable
sources of energy which ensure local self-sufficiency and even the sale of
surplus energy. Further, continuity is essential, because policies related to
climate change and environmental protection cannot be altered with every
change of government. Results take time and demand immediate outlays
which may not produce tangible effects within any one government’s term.

Transparency is also an important ingredient to attain our long term

goals. It should be part of the process from the beginning, and be carried
out in a way which is interdisciplinary, transparent and free of all economic
or political pressure. It should be linked to a study of working conditions
and possible effects on people’s physical and mental health, on the local
economy and on public safety. Today, in view of the common good, there is
urgent need for politics and economics to enter into a frank dialogue in the
service of life, especially human life.

It is also helpful that in dialogue, religions will correlate with science.

Dialogue among the various sciences is likewise needed, since each can tend
to become enclosed in its own language, while specialization leads to a
certain isolation and the absolutization of its own field of knowledge. This
prevents us from confronting environmental problems effectively.

The sixth chapter, “Ecological Education and Spirituality”, shifts

attention to the individual believer, families and communities, and invites
them to make a difference in small but tangible ways. Consumer choices,
the cultivation of ecological virtues such as reducing wastefulness, and
environmental education for the young are explained as practical steps
leading to a deeper, spiritual “ecological conversion” through which the
follower of Christ recognizes the true worth of all created entities.

Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards

the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning. It needs
educators capable of developing an ethics of ecology, and helping people,
through effective pedagogy, to grow in solidarity, responsibility and
compassionate care.

Conversion takes part in achieving our goal. These include the

awareness that each creature reflects something of God and has a message
to convey to us, and the security that Christ has taken unto himself this
material world and now, risen, is intimately present to each being,
surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light.

The Father is the ultimate source of everything, the loving and self-
communicating foundation of all that exists. The Sacraments are a
privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of
mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to
embrace the world on a different plane.

The statement “God created the world, writing into it an order and a
dynamism that human beings have no right to ignore” stands in the
hallowed natural law tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas that every creature
has in its nature an end, a telos, which humans should respect and honor.
The intrinsic value of non-humans is noted when the encyclical states that
the “ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us” but rather in
the Risen Christ who embraces all things.