Ecological Imagination
A deliberate effort is needed to bring ecology to front importance on church agendas. Strong voices often inhibit the debate with a desperate pessimism about creation and no hope for the future. Some hold that we are being subjected to a lot of nonsense, or that we cannot make a difference, or that there is no way forward. Nevertheless, for us, ecological questions evoke vigorous responses from a faith and moral perspective.
We acknowledge richness within church social teaching which provides an ethical basis to respond. Here we view climate change in the context of the protection of the common good, which in turn must include protecting habitats, ecosystems and the biosphere. The task ahead is to forge an environmental contract, a shared understanding of the rights and responsibilities of people in relation to the natural environment.
Our mission concern is about what sort of world, environmentally, culturally and spiritually, future generations will inherit from us. It is not just a scientific and economic issue. Nor is it just for politicians and power brokers. It is also an issue for the world’s faith communities who hold a moral duty to protect future generations. They share too a responsibility to those in the poorest countries who will experience the most acute suffering from the effects of environmental degradation.
As a species we have arrived at a moment of decision. Some contend that this is the time to invoke moral imagination. It is a simple question of whether economic profit, or the integral functioning of the planet, will be the normative value guiding the human community into the future.
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