At the International meeting of our Congregational Care of Earth Committee in Caritas in August 2018 we spent the week deepening our understanding of who we are in the evolving, expanding universe. We reflected on how Earth, our common home, cares for us through its living systems (Sun, Air, Soil, Water, Companionship of all). Seeing how Earth nourishes and sustains us, we realised our role is to work in partnership with planet Earth.
Care for Earth, our common home, is not just another issue among many. With Earth as our context, we come to understand our ‘Common Call’ as inclusive of the whole community of life and to realise that every issue needs to be seen through CREATION-CENTRED EYES. (Communiqué 2018).
All life on this small planet is interdependent and interconnected: air, water, land and energy sources provided the necessary environment to sustain human life. We can learn to move into a new way of being earth’s community in this time and earth–place, living out God’s mission, being the change we wish to see.
Today we understand that the future of humanity very much depends on our planet and the future of the planet very much depends on humanity. The human being is the steward and guardian of the creation thus we are obliged to protect the environment and not to destroy the earth. During our meeting we considered these statistics (Source: esechat.com Irish Times 26th May 2018)
LIFE ON EARTH:
- 86% on Land,
- 1% in Oceans,
- 13% deep Sub-surface Bacteria
Made up of:
- Humans = 0.01%
- Plants = 82%
- Bacteria = 13%
- Everything else =5%
LOST SINCE THE RISE OF HUMAN CIVILISATION:
- 83% Wild Mammals
- 80% Marine Mammals
- 50% Plants
- 15% Fish
Sr. Helen Eluagu, RSC.
