Available on YouTube, Emmy-winner Nicholas Brown's doco is about the Pope's 2015 encyclical (letter) Laudato Sì' and how ordinary people can make his vision a reality.

Francis addressed the encyclical to "all people of good will", urging an interconnected vision for humanity and the planet.

Brown, who has directed many environment-focused documentaries, hopes the movie will encourage people.

We need to "abandon illusions of otherness and come together" to protect the environment, he says.

The Letter premiered on Tuesday - St Francis of Assisi's feast day. The pope's namesake was known for his commitment to peace, to the impoverished and to the environment.

The premiere also coincided with the day the Paris Climate Agreement accords came into effect at the Vatican.

The 80-minute feature focuses on how people at the grassroots level - rather than governments - can bring about change.

In the doco, a diverse group of climate activists, Indigenous people, scientists and faithful meet with Francis (see image) to discuss the environment.

One activist is Chief Cacique Odair "Dadá" of the Borari people. He was captured and tortured by mercenaries after he used GPS technology to expose the illegal activity of loggers who were destroying his Brazilian Amazon rainforest home.

Under the leadership of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has led Brazil since 2018, the country has been rapidly deforested. Elections in the country are currently deciding who will lead the country in the future.

"I am here in the name of the forest, in the name of the Indigenous population," said Dadá at the Vatican press conference for the premiere.

He advocated for "a new kind of politics" that protects the environment and those most affected by its destruction.

"Today we suffer the destruction of the forest firsthand," he said. "I hope that all presidents in all countries will come together to save and protect the forest."

"Voices from the peripheries are usually ignored in global summits and environmental decision-making, typically dominated by powerful corporate interests," says Cardinal Michael Czerny.

The Cardinal, who heads the Vatican Department for Promoting Integral Human Development, had grim words to say at the premiere.

Listing the "new normal" of heatwaves, hurricanes, droughts and floods that occur all over the planet, Czerny said the doco provides "a pathway" for encounter and dialogue among people.

"The film and the personal stories powerfully show that the ecological crisis has arrived and is happening now.

"The time is over for speculation, for scepticism and denial, for irresponsible populism that protects the environment and those most affected by its destruction."

The documentary's essence is to bring the Pope's letter to new audiences, says Laudato Sì' Movement president Lorna Gold. The Movement includes a network of over 900 Catholic organisations acting and lobbying for the environment.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chair Hoesung Lee was also at the premiere.

Faith and science must come together to find solutions, as "the stakes have never been higher," he says.

Source

• Religion News Service

We have to modify our lifestyles. The earth is suffering. Excessive consumption of the earth's resources has to stop. Or at the very least, change. Modify, says Pope Francis.

A major new international report shows 2021 record-breaking greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite that, international travel has been taking off.

Air New Zealand expects to be back to 90 percent of all its flights by 2025.

The world is set to reach pre-pandemic levels of air travel by 2024.

One way we in New Zealand can help is to re-think the way we travel. Our climate experts suggest canceling or cutting down on our trans-Tasman getaways especially. Have fewer, stay longer perhaps.

Transport and freight are major carbon contributors. Governments need to "do the heavy lifting to bring about change and decarbonise societies" climate experts say.

In his message for last Thursday's World Day of Prayer for Creation, Francis said the climate crisis is a call for everyone, especially Christians. We must "repent and modify our lifestyles and destructive systems".

Our common home's state of decay merits the same attention as other global challenges, he said.

Living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue. "It is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience."

The earth has fallen "prey to our consumerist excesses" and an attitude where people are at the centre of the universe is evident.

This has led to the extinction of many species and the loss of biodiversity. It greatly impacts the lives of the poor and vulnerable indigenous populations. Their ancestral lands are being invaded and devastated on all sides, Francis said.

Younger generations feel "menaced by shortsighted and selfish actions". They are "anxiously asking us adults to do everything possible to prevent, or at least limit, the collapse of our planet's ecosystems".

Francis hopes 21st century people will be remembered for generously shouldering their responsibilities.

Limiting global warming is a "call for responsible cooperation between all nations" to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Francis hopes new agreements will "halt the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of species". He is hopeful these will come about when world leaders meet at this year's COP27 and COP15 summits on climate change and biodiversity.

We need to modify "models of consumption and production, as well as lifestyles". Then we must transform them into something respectful of creation and integral human development, he says.

This requires "a covenant between human beings and the environment".

For believers, the environment is "a mirror reflecting the creative love of God, from whom we come and toward whom we are journeying."

Justice, especially for workers most affected by climate change, must be met as well, Francis says.

To prevent "the further collapse of biodiversity" he says the mining, oil, forestry, real estate and agribusiness industries must "stop destroying forests, wetlands and mountains, stop polluting rivers and seas, stop poisoning food and people".

Source

• Catholic News Service
• 1News

A request to do this came from bishops at the recent Synod for the Amazon.

In its final document, the synod defined ecological sin as a sin against God and future generations. It "manifests itself in acts and habits of pollution and destruction of the harmony of the environment."

Protecting the environment is one of Francis's particular priorities. His encyclical Laudato Si' (2015) is about this.

"We have to introduce, we are thinking about it, in the catechism of the Catholic Church, the sin against ecology, the sin against our common home, because it's a duty," he says.

According to the Rome Statute the International Criminal Court adopted in 1998, there are four core international crimes.

They are: crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Francis wants the international community to recognise ecocide as a "fifth category of crime against peace."

This includes "the massive contamination of air, land and water resources, the large-scale destruction of flora and fauna, and any action capable of producing an ecological disaster or destroying an ecosystem."

Speaking to last week's 20th world congress of the International Association of Penal Law, held in Rome, Francis said the culture of waste is only part of the problem.

Combined with other widespread phenomena in western societies, it is showing the "serious tendency to degenerate into a culture of hatred."

"It is no coincidence that in these times, emblems and actions typical of Nazism reappear, which, with its persecutions against Jews, gypsies and people of homosexual orientation, represents the negative model par excellence of a culture of waste and hatred," Francis told conference participants.

"On this occasion, and through you, I would like to appeal to all the leaders and representatives in this sector to help with efforts ... to ensure the adequate legal protection of our common home."

He also criticized the "market idolatry" that makes individual people defenseless before the interests of the "divinized market".

This market has become the absolute ruler, with some economic sectors exercising more power than the state itself, he said.

"The principle of profit maximization, isolated from any other consideration, leads to a model of exclusion which violently attacks those who now suffer its social and economic costs, while future generations are condemned to pay the environmental costs."

Source

• America Magazine
• The Wall Street Journal
• Crux Now
• Image: treehugger.com

Climate change activists are putting pressure on the All Blacks to cancel the sponsorship deal with the insurance company.

This followed a tip-off from an AIG staff member which revealed that AIG is insuring the on-ground works at the Adani Carmichael mine site, in northern Queensland, and providing Directors and Officers insurance.

14 other insurance companies have ruled out insuring the project after coming under pressure from activist groups Insure Our Future, Market Forces and SumOfUs.

If built, Adani's Carmichael project would open up one of the largest untapped coal reserves in the world.

It has the capacity to produce up to 60 million tonnes of thermal coal every year (on par with the biggest mine in the US).

But at this stage, it's only planning to produce around 27.5 million tonnes.

To put that into perspective, BMA's Blackwater mine in Queensland produces around 13 million tonnes of coal, while BHP's Mount Arthur mine in NSW produces 15 million tonnes.

act.360 reports that if it is built, the mine will pump out 57 years worth of New Zealand's entire annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Anti-coal campaigners SumOfUs and 350.org have launched petitions calling on Rugby New Zealand to "distance themselves from this toxic project and suspend their sponsorship with AIG immediately".

A post on act.360 claims AIG is in damage control.

"It's hoping that another win for the All Blacks will help smooth over the bad PR they've been receiving for accepting sponsorship from AIG."

Adani Australia is an energy and infrastructure company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of India's Adani Group.

A petition calling on AIG to rule out any future dealings with Adani now sits at 135,000 signatures and was delivered to AIG offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane earlier this month under a heavy police presence.

Click here if you wish to join the act.360's protest

Source

• act.350.org
• afr.comact.350.org/…/tell-all-blacks-dump-aig-until-aig-dumps-adani
• au.finance.yahoo.com
• scoop.co.nz
• Image: verdict.co.uk

The Executive Committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (CEPAC), which covers Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, met in Auckland last week.

In a statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting the Bishops said, "the place of the sea in the lives of the peoples we serve was a central focus of our meeting."

The statement said:

"Our common ocean is teeming with life and goodness. For many of our peoples the sea is their treasured source of nutrition, sustenance and livelihood.

"In solidarity with them, Psalm 107 resonates in our hearts: 'those that do business in the great waters, they behold the world of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.'

"We are acutely aware of the impact of climate change on island nations and some of our number have been visiting communities and recording the destruction of shorelines affecting them.

"On a happier note we are heartened to learn of the systematic and coordinated opposition to seabed mining which turns the ocean floor into a stage of exploitative destruction of ocean habitats.

"Our interest in the'Blue Economy' is to uphold a model of development that respects the fundamental importance of sustainability that looks way beyond any perceived short term economic windfall.

"Members of Parliament and local Governors and other civic authorities have a particular duty to promote long term economic and social development and to be vigilant in guarding against any attempts by international businesses to exploit our common resource.

"We applaud government, community and private initiatives to develop water ecotourism and sustainable sea fishing.

"We are not 'anti-development'. We look to the common good and thus advocate for an integrated approach to development where local customary practices are respected and communities are assisted to grow employment opportunities."

Read the bishops' statement

Source

• NZCBC
• Image: deepseaminingoutofourdepth.org

This is perhaps the first time a leader of an Abrahamic religion has spoken so much about environmental issues.

The supreme leader of the Catholic Church has issued a letter for the World Day of Prayer for The Care of Creation in which he has urged all Christians to redouble their efforts towards environment protection.

While traditional notions of charity and mercy translate as feeding the hungry, visiting the sick or sheltering the homeless, the Pope has surprised the world again by adding an all new dimension to these good works- nature.

The Pope points out the environment is one of the most troubled and distressed aspects of the world which needs to be taken care of by all people, as it is the common home for all.

The Pope even went to the extent of proposing that caring for the environment should be added to the traditional seven acts of mercy that Christians are enjoined by the Church to perform, which happens to be one of the most unconventional and unusual proposals to have been made by a religious leader.

However, this proposal only emphasizes the importance that the Bishop of Rome places on environment protection.

This also happens to echo his last year's ecologically themed encyclical, in which he observes that the world has been turned into a pile of filth due to a corrupt system where the wealthy exploit the poor.

The Pope has earlier described the earth of today as "a polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth" caused by the sinful destruction of nature by man.

Source

• World Religion News
• Image: Blogspot.com