Today's society is constantly evolving and advancing technologically. As time goes on, the members of a community seem to shift their attention to their own personal desires, such as through materialism. Humans, as a result, are the leading cause for the horrid downfall of the environment. As technology and finances flourish throughout the world today, the basic respect for the world God created has suffered. Pope Francis decided to take a stand for this earthly issue by addressing the need to save the environment in his first encyclical, Laudato Si. If we gather as a community, we can work to tackle the environmental issues taking over the world today.
Pope Francis condemns humans as being the leading cause of the environments' troubles, such as: pesticides contaminating the farmers' soil, air pollution poisoning cities, lack of clean water, and species dying out. But, as Pope Francis explains, despite humans ruining the earth, sin has ruined humans. In other words, we have internal 'bad' or selfish feelings due to the influence of sin. With these feelings, the earth suffers as an external result of our disrespect. Thus, the ecological crisis calls us to reflect upon ourselves and change. Although born with Original Sin, we must live our lives as Jesus would. As Catholics, we must work to ensure all members of a community obtain the innate dignity we are rightfully given. With a theme of respect present among a society, the community can gather to work to create a harmonious relationship with the world. As a lazy teenager, I often do not recycle and leave the lights on around my house. I can have an internal conversion to remind myself that God created this beautiful world for each and every one of us, thus it is my responsibility to take care of it. I must overcome my laziness and work to promote success for my habitat by recycling and turning off the lights around my house. By recycling, I am enabling less trash to be present; and by taking off the lights, I am conserving vital energy. The world can be on the road to recovery through these simple changes.
