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| Pope Urges Pro-Environment Lifestyle Change |
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| Tuesday, 05 January 2010 04:58 |
 If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation. This is the title as well as theme of Pope Benedict XVI’s World Day of Peace message, which he delivered at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve. Expressing his deep personal concern over the deteriorating condition of the global ecology, the Pope called for a comprehensive change in lifestyles away from materialism and consumerism to one that requires a more modest, moderate and responsible use of Earth’s natural resources. “It is becoming more and more evident that the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our life-style and the prevailing models of consumption and production, which are often unsustainable from a social, environmental and even economic point of view,” the Pope said. “We are all responsible for the protection and care of the environment. This responsibility knows no boundaries. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity it is important for everyone to be committed at his or her proper level, working to overcome the prevalence of particular interests. A special role in raising awareness and information belongs to the different groups present in civil society and to the non-governmental organizations which work with determination and generosity for the spread of ecological responsibility, responsibility which should be ever more deeply anchored in respect for ‘human ecology’,” he said in Vatican’s traditional January 1 message. Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) president Fr. Angel Calvo, CMF in response to the Holy Pontiff’s message has urged all sectors in the region to take up pro-active, well-planned and long-term actions to preserve and improve the local environment and health of natural resources. Fr. Calvo noted that the local economy remains highly agricultural and majority of the population depends on agricultural production for their economic well-being. Agriculture, he said, is in turn highly dependent upon the ecology, including marine resources, such that rural poverty is directly associated with a depleted local environment. “Sad to say, it is all too evident that large numbers of people in different countries and areas of our planet are experiencing increased hardship because of the negligence or refusal of many others to exercise responsible stewardship over the environment,” the Pope said. In calling for lifestyle change, the Pope said that “Humanity needs a profound cultural renewal; it needs to rediscover those values which can serve as the solid basis for building a brighter future for all. Our present crises – be they economic, food-related, environmental or social – are ultimately also moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are traveling together. Specifically, they call for a lifestyle marked by sobriety and solidarity, with new rules and forms of engagement.” |