Stewards of God's Creation

Tweet

Almost 20 years ago, the bishops of the Philippines issued a plaintive plea to Filipinos in its Pastoral Letter, "What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?" At that time the alarm over the thinning ozone layer was being raised all over the world and the foretaste of the crisis that has now been termed global warming was being manisfested by changing weather patterns. In our country, the dire effects of environmental degradation were seen in devastating floods, landslides, and dying of rivers, and the pollution of the air in urban places. We recognized the causes of the problem-denudation of our forests, unabated mining, disastrous fishing methods, and increasing emissions of pollutants into our atmosphere. We know what has happened to our beautiful land. The question now before us is, "Can we still save our beautiful land?"We can and we must. We must start with ourselves and our families. As a people and as a country, we are in a position to do our part in addressing and climate chage. On the individual level, we need to inculcate energy efficiency and energy conservation measures in our daily lives as well as in our work places and communities; simple matters such as using less electricity and gasoline; planting trees, segregating garbage, and turning away from highly consumerist and wasteful life style. On the national level, let us all call on government to encourage and prioritize the use of renewable sources of energy which the Philippines is abundantly blessed with. As stewards of God's creastion, we have a responsibility to uphold its integrity, raise our voices against its abuse, and act together to promote its protection. Let anyone be part of the solution and not of the problem. Let us all together save and love our beautiful land, our beautiful world. Excerpts from "Can We Still Save Our Beautiful Land?" by Gaudencio Cardinal B. Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, published on September 11, 2007.