Earth Day is celebrated this year on April 22nd. We recall the words of it’s founder, Gaylord Nelson, “The ultimate test of our conscience may be our willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” It has been one year since Pope Francis challenged all our consciences with his encyclical, “Laudato Si.” The pope focused on the morality of climate change and the necessity of protecting the world’s poor. It was the first encyclical to address environmental damage.
What have you done this past year for the good of the environment? Pope Francis challenged us to consider crucial lifestyle changes as needed to protect our planet. Being a “throwaway culture” victimizes the poor and creates an abundance of unnecessary waste. We are to live simpler lives instead of striving for a life of consumption.
There are many small things we can all do to help our Earth like taking public transportation, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, recycling, and boycotting harmful products. We can also take heed of Gandi’s words of wisdom, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every person’s need, but not every person’s greed.”
