Some Thoughts on Going Green this year

KILMORE CARE OF CREATION

Inspired by LAUDATO SI’ Encyclical Letter written by POPE FRANCIS

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

Going Green Thoughts

In Laudato Si’ Pope Francis addresses the issue of a Throwaway Culture.

‘Human beings too are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture’. (43)

Did you get caught up in compulsive buying this Christmas or during the past year? Do you need all you purchased? Could someone else make good use of some of those purchases?

‘Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending’. (203)

‘When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears’.(204)

Have you thrown away ‘unwanted’ Christmas gifts this January?

After Christmas and/or as part of a Spring Clean have you thought about donating what you don’t use to others?

‘…….our industrial system, at the end of its cycle of production and consumption, has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them. A serious consideration of this issue would be one way of counteracting the throwaway culture which affects the entire planet, but it must be said that only limited progress has been made in this regard’. (22)

Could we ‘donate’ some of our free time this year to helping others and improving the environment?

‘Everything is connected. Concern for the environment thus needs to be joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society’. (91)

 ‘We are always capable of going out of ourselves towards the other. Unless we do this, other creatures will not be recognized for their true worth; we are unconcerned about caring for things for the sake of others; we fail to set limits on ourselves in order to avoid the suffering of others or the deterioration of our surroundings. Disinterested concern for others, and the rejection of every form of self-centeredness and self-absorption, are essential if we truly wish to care for our brothers and sisters and for the natural environment. These attitudes also attune us to the moral imperative of assessing the impact of our every action and personal decision on the world around us. If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop a different lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society’. (208)