As Laudato Sì week comes to an end, with a wish for hope for the earth and humanity, Italy too is shaken by climate change
HOPE FOR THE EARTH
HOPE FOR HUMANITY
In Laudato Si’ Week 2023 (the week dedicated to Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’), the sisters of the International Union of Superiors General (Uisg) present nine recommendations to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, with a focus on vulnerable people.
- Economic action: support a new impetus for value-driven collective action to build the financial infrastructure needed for a sustainable development economy.
- Educational action: support institutions and initiatives that impart knowledge, raise public awareness and engage local actors in a sustainable manner.
- Legislative and legal action: encourage governments and international organisations to put environmental sustainability issues on the agenda by implementing concrete measures to ensure inclusion.
- Environmental and social action: emphasise the interconnectedness of environmental and social action as the only way to achieve social justice.
- Religious commitment: harnessing the roots and reach of religious commitment to ensure the success of environmental initiatives.
- Partnerships, institutionalisation and accreditation: institutionalise the strengthening of women’s and faith-based tools and expand secular-religious partnerships with accredited national and international bodies;
- Integrative dialogue: promote dialogue as an integrative mechanism that can amplify voices at the margins and ensure leadership in global decision-making for local communities facing environmental challenges.
- Media and Art: Channel the roles of media and art in public education, changing the narrative on environmental degradation and focusing global attention on local issues.
- Scientific research: using the potential of research and education to help both leaders and local communities make informed decisions and plan concrete actions.
SOWING HOPE FOR THE PLANET
“As Catholic sisters, we approach the implementation of the outcomes of COP27 and COP15 in this way: as a holistic challenge to strengthen our care for Creation. We need to encourage global leaders to think outside the box when it comes to financial commitments and lifestyle changes, to seek radical solutions to radical challenges,” says Sister Maamalifar M. Poreku, UISG environmental campaign coordinator (Source: Avvenire).
How can we not think of the droughts and floods that have devastated Italy in recent months and in Emilia Romagna just these days?
Time is running out and humanity cannot afford to lose any more of it.
According to what the World Meteorological Organisation said a few days ago, global temperatures in the next five years are likely to exceed, at least temporarily, the 1.5°C overheating threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
To defend the Planet, let us make our own the nine recommendations of the UISG sisters, in continuity with the Campaign launched in 201by the Justice and Peace Commission Italy Malta #gratiagreta – Let us make Peace with the Earth and with each other.
LET’S TAKE UP GRETA’S CHALLENGE ON CLIMATE AND THE FUTURE
Download the docufilm “The Letter” inspired by Laudato Sì, which traces Pope Francis’ meetings with several leaders committed to the care of the common home.