April 22 – Earth Day: Invest in Our Planet
Earth Day is celebrated every April 22 to raise public awareness about global ecological issues. This day came into existence in 1970 in the United States when Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch ecologist, organized a nationwide demonstration to unite the grassroots environmental movements to put ecological issues on the national political agenda. This year, Earth Day is celebrated under the theme, ‘Invest in Our Planet’. During the United Nations climate change conference (COP26) in Scotland in November 2021, world leaders agreed to continue investing in our planet by cutting the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), reducing the use of coal and by pledging to significantly increase money to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change and make the switch to clean energy possible. They equally agreed to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies that artificially lower the price of coal, oil, or natural gas, stop deforestation, cut 30% of methane emissions by 2030, back renewable energy, and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries.
The devastating impact of the climate change leaves no one indifferent. The rising sea level, coral bleaching, heat waves, flooding, frequent and intense drought, storms, melting glaciers, warming oceans and habitat loss are clear signs of the disaster that our planet earth is going through. Similarly, the adverse consequences of pollution, burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, overuse of resources and depleting habitat space on the air, land, water, flora, and fauna and on our livelihoods is also evident of the ongoing environmental degradation.
Investing in our planet need not remain only at the political level. It should also involve changing lifestyles and engaging in concrete actions such as stopping reliance on fossil fuel technologies and redirecting attention to creating economic systems that repair the planet, protect the species living on it, and provide opportunities for all. Given that the planet earth is our common home, we should not think twice about caring for it. Any effort to sustain the earth’s natural resources and minimize the environmental degradation and pollution is praiseworthy because conserving the soil, air, and water, makes our planet earth a good shelter for all living organisms including humans.
Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si’ on care for our common home” is a wake-up call to everyone to invest in our planet and bring the whole human family together to seek its sustainable and integral development. He is convinced that developing a social conscience, engaging in the process of ecological conversion and adopting integral ecology lifestyles can respond to the cry of the earth and the poor. He believes that new lifestyles cannot be limited only to the use of renewable energy, recycling, or taking public transport. It must be comprehensive and holistic. It is for this reason that the Laudato Si Action Platform acknowledges the Earth as God’s creation and promotes a contemplative view of the natural world by bringing together the physical, educational, economical, political, moral, and spiritual dimensions of the planet.
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Brother Francis Lukong – Secretariat of Solidarity