Laudato Si’ and the Environment

Pope Francis’ Green Encyclical

Robert McKim

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429959776
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

This volume is a response to Pope Francis' environmental encyclical Laudato Si'. Published in 2015, the encyclical urges us to face up to the crisis of climate change and to take better care of the Earth, our common home, while also attending to the plight of the poor.

In this book the Pope's invitation to all people to begin a new dialogue about these matters is considered from a variety of perspectives by an international and multidisciplinary team of leading scholars. There is discussion of the implications of Laudato Si' for immigration, population control, eating animals, and property ownership. Additionally, indigenous religious perspectives, development and environmental protection, and the implementation of the ideas of the encyclical within the Church are explored. Some chapters deal with scriptural or philosophical aspects of the encyclical. Others focus on central concepts, such as interconnectedness, the role of practice, and what Pope Francis calls the "technocratic paradigm."

This book expertly illuminates the relationship between Laudato Si' and environmental concerns. It will be of deep interest to anyone studying religion and the environment, environmental ethics, Catholic theology, or environmental thought.

Part 1
Introduction

1 The challenge and the opportunity

Some perspectives on Laudato Si’

Robert McKim

The challenge and the opportunity

The challenge

The challenge presented by the ways in which we human beings are harming the earth is plain for all to see. We are destroying ecological systems and wiping out numerous forms of life. We are adding carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere, and thereby changing the climate. The consequences will include higher temperatures, rising sea levels, the swamping of coastal areas, a major global loss of biodiversity, and more besides.

The scope and consequences of this crisis are difficult to exaggerate. Consider, for instance, the shocking fact that about 50% of all wild animals on earth have been wiped out in the last 40 years (World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report, September 2014). Reduced populations of wild animals might recover. But we are also eliminating forms of life, a process that will not be reversed. The fact that one species is in the process of wiping out in the blink of an eye a significant portion, maybe as much as half, of all other forms of life on earth is beyond tragic.

Consider the plight of our closest biological relatives, the non-human primates. A recent comprehensive review finds that “about 60 percent of primate species are now threatened with extinction and about 75 percent have declining populations.” (https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/453054#image-1. For the full study, see Estrada et al., 2017.) Paul Garber, a co-author of this study, recently observed that for apes, monkeys, tarsiers, lemurs, and lorises inhabiting ever-shrinking forests, and with their habitat disrupted or destroyed across the planet, “[this] truly is the eleventh hour” (https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/453054#image-1). The culprit is the expanding human presence. Agriculture, hunting, the illegal pet trade, illegal trade in animal parts, and logging are all contributing factors.

We urgently need to reduce the human impact on the earth. This requires polluting less, consuming less, protecting biodiversity, arresting the major global loss of habitat, and slowing down and then reversing humanly induced changes in the earth’s climate.

The task we confront—and here I ever so slightly abuse a motif from Aldo Leopold—is learning to live on this planet without ruining it. This challenge is plain for all to see and it confronts all human institutions. It also provides an opportunity for the religions of the world.

The opportunity

How might and how should the religions of the world respond to this unprecedented challenge? What should they be accomplishing? What standards should they hold themselves to? In probing these questions, I will consider a number of areas of inquiry. Part of my purpose, of course, is to provide a framework within which what Pope Francis has accomplished in Laudato Si’ can be considered. But I also want to make some broader observations about religion in general, especially about what it would take for the religions to rise to the occasion and to meet this challenge. Pope Francis says that we currently lack the requisite culture and leadership to do so (53).¹ I want to probe some aspects of what it would take for a religion to fill this cultural gap, and to provide the leadership that is needed.

I will discuss five ways in which the religions can be relevant and, we might decide, should be relevant to addressing this challenge. This adds up to a five-part framework within which the relevant resources and the relevant accomplishments of the religions in this area can be considered. In probing these areas, many of my observations are based on what impressive religious communities are already achieving.

Someone might wonder why we should turn to the religions for help with meeting this challenge. The question might even be formulated as an objection: to do so—the objection might go—is to burden religion excessively, to expect it to play a role to which it is not suited.

The answer to this question (or objection), however, is straightforward. The religions exercise considerable influence in the lives of many people. They do not hesitate to try to provide guidance in many other areas of life. Why not in the case of this contemporary crisis? Why shouldn’t we turn to them for help in this case? Rita Gross has it right in these remarks in her widely cited essay on Buddhist environmental ethics: “[We] know that all living religions have gone through the major changes required to remain relevant in altered circumstances. There is no reason that the same thing cannot happen in response to the ecological crisis” (Gross 1997: 334). Moreover, the religions have some relevant resources. And some of the relevant accomplishments of some of them, especially at the local level, have already been impressive.

A thorough exploration of the potential of religion in this regard would require us to ponder what might be the role of religion in the lives of human beings in the future; and who is to say what that will be? However, the predictions of those who have thought that religion would disappear from human affairs have so far proven utterly mistaken though, to be sure, they might yet be proven right if we humans have a long future. In any case, the religions are important now and they aspire to providing guidance and leadership now. And there is a great deal to be said about the guidance and leadership they could provide.

Providing guidance and providing inspiration

The first of the five areas of inquiry I will consider is the extent to which the relevant teachings of a religious tradition are environmentally constructive. Here, Pope Francis has much to say to us. As discussed in many of the chapters that follow, Pope Francis writes about the value and significance of each creature, about reverence for life in all of its forms, about the value of other species, and about protecting ecosystems. He says that we have an obligation to be good stewards of the earth; that we should care about the survival and flourishing of other species; that it is not our place to wipe out other forms of life and that we have no right to do so; and that we should take a considerate and merciful attitude toward all beings that can suffer. He says that we should live simply, reduce our impact, and avoid wastefulness. He calls for an ecological conversion, which works best when implemented communally. This ecological conversion has many dimensions, including this one: “simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack” (222). (Additional aspects of this ecological conversion are discussed in Zainal Bagir Abidin’s chapter.)

Of course, the category of environmentally constructive religious teachings—that is, environmentally constructive ideas that are available in any religion whatsoever—is a very broad one. It includes teachings that may be difficult to reconcile with monotheism. Perhaps an example of such a teaching is the idea that other animals are our kin. (Interestingly, this is an idea that Pope Francis comes close to endorsing.) It includes too ideas that are not compatible with monotheism such as the idea that whatever sacredness there may be is to be found in nature.

But let’s face it: all is not sweetness and light when it comes to the environmental implications of religious teachings. The teachings of a religious tradition can also include elements that are not environmentally constructive and even some that are environmentally obstructive. Ideas such as the following at least run the risk of being obstructive:

• the idea that “the end is nigh” and hence the world and everything in it are not to be taken too seriously or—worse—that the destruction of the world is to be welcomed because this would usher in a new age of some sort;
• the idea that once you have taken the step of having faith about, say, loss of biodiversity, this matter is out of your hands so that having faith is itself an adequate response to the loss of biodiversity;
• the idea that any environmental harm that occurs is in accordance with the will of God, perhaps because everything that happens is in accordance with the will of God, and hence not something about which we should be unduly concerned;
• the idea that the more people there are, or the more of one’s co-religionists there are, the better; and
• the idea that the most developed human beings have transcended all concern for earthly things and are wholly concerned with an afterlife or liberation from rebirth or the like.

Needless to say, these are complicated matters. For instance, some ideas that have some potential for being obstructive are harmless when taken in context. An example of this sort in Laudato Si’ is provided by the idea that the earth is a gift to human beings. Pope Francis variously refers to the earth as “given to us,” “a gift we have freely received,” “the patrimony of all humanity,” “a gift to everyone,” and “a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone” (see e.g., 67, 71, 93, 95, 159). Part of his point in making such remarks is to emphasize that the poor and disempowered have a place at the table and that the earth is not just for the rich and powerful, a point that echoes much traditional Catholic teaching. However, the idea that the earth is a gift to human beings could be environmentally obstructive. The thought would be that being ours, we humans can do what we please with the world around us. On the other hand, Laudato Si’ as a whole obviously is opposed to such thinking. For one thing, it also says that the world is “entrusted to us” (244; also 78), which is to say that human beings have a responsibility to look after it. In the very sentence in which we read that the natural environment is “the patrimony of all humanity,” we also read that it is “the responsibility of everyone” (95). And, as mentioned, there are repeated observations to the effect that God cares about all creatures and that we should protect the earth. Eric T. Freyfogle nicely sums up the situation when he writes in his chapter in this volume that, according to Laudato Si’, “[the] Earth has been given to us collectively, in trust and with strings attached” (Freyfogle, this volume: 23). Consequently, the potentially harmful effect of the idea that the earth is a gift to human beings need not be a concern—at least when it is considered in the context of Laudato Si’ as a whole—though perhaps it might usefully have been replaced by the idea that the world is a gift not only to human beings but also to all other forms of life on earth, those that have existed, those that now exist, and those that will exist in the future.

In any case, we have some positive and constructive teachings and some negative and obstructive teachings. And the examples mentioned are all drawn from the extant religions. The situation is that many of the currently existing religions seem to have among their teachings both potentially constructive and potentially obstructive elements. In the case of any particular religion, we can therefore imagine setting about the difficult task of trying to assemble all its relevant teachings—for all I have done is provide a few examples—and asking what these add up to overall. Members of a tradition might pursue this inquiry in the case of their own tradition.

My main point so far though is that the first (and most obvious) way in which a religion can be environmentally relevant is in terms of its teachings, and the simple and crucial question is whether those teachings provide adequate guidance in this regard. Although there certainly are aspects of what Pope Francis is saying that may reasonably be questioned and challenged on various grounds—see, for example, the chapters in this volume by Paddy Woodworth, Cristina Traina, Darrel Moellendorf, Herman Daly, and David Clough—it seems to me that Laudato Si’ comes through with flying colors in terms of what its teachings add up to environmentally.

A second respect in which religion can be relevant is in terms of providing encouragement or, more broadly, serving as a source of inspiration, hope, enthusiasm, fortitude, strength of purpose, encouragement, and the like, thereby combatting indifference or pessimism or despair or demoralization or laziness. Pope Francis addresses this possibility in Laudato Si’ (216). Indeed, he contends that a commitment to protecting the world “cannot be sustained by doctrine alone, without a spirituality capable of inspiring us, without ‘an interior impulse which encourages, motivates, nourishes and gives meaning to our individual and communal activity’” (216). Addressing his fellow Christians, in particular, he proposes that “[the] rich heritage of Christian spirituality … can motivate [Christians] to a more passionate concern for the protection of our world” (216).

The accomplishments of religious traditions

As we have seen, we can look to the religions for teachings that provide good environmental guidance. And we can ask whether a religion has resources that provide inspiration or encouragement or strength of purpose, helping people to avoid indifference and despair. These areas of inquiry—relevant teachings and sources of encouragement—have to do with relevant resources that religions have or could have. An account of its relevant resources can tell us something about what a religion could accomplish.

Next, I want to focus on a rather different topic, namely what is actually being accomplished. This area of inquiry is very important. It is one thing for a religious tradition to have great resources—to have, say, admirable relevant teachings or a robust capacity to provide inspiration. But it is quite another for it to implement the teachings and actually to inspire.

First, I will take a “macro-level” approach to this issue, focusing on the accomplishments of entire religious traditions. So we need to consider, for example:

• the extent to which a religious tradition actually implements whatever constructive teachings it may possess and
• the extent to which sources of inspiration that are available within a tradition actually inspire its members.

To these we can add such elements as these:

• the extent to which good environmental citizenship is a priority for the tradition: perhaps it is considered important for, or even partly definitive of, membership in the religion;
• the extent to which a religious tradition leads the way, providing a model for others; and
• the extent to which future leaders in the tradition are being trained for leadership in this area.

I want to highlight in particular the question of whether a religion recognizes the nature and extent of the environmental crisis, sets out to inculcate an appreciation of its nature in its adherents, and encourages them to respond appropriately.

The accomplishments of religious communities

Next, I temporarily shift the focus away from entire religious traditions—whether we are thinking of their teachings or their inspirational value or their accomplishments—and in the direction of a more micro-level issue, namely the performance of particular religious communities. So here the focus is on individual churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, chapels, meeting houses, gurdwaras, and so on, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• Part 1 Introduction
• Part 2 Implementation
• Part 3 Scriptural, theological and philosophical aspects
• Part 4 Central concepts
• Index