Resources for the Season of Creation

- General
- Biodiversity
- Carbon
- Footprint
- Diet
- Energy
- Peace
- Slavery
- Waste

General

For 2022

Video message from the Vatican for this Season of Creation (2.46 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwjKAOQ0_is&t=6s

Message from Pope Francis for the Season of Creation 2022
https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/45137

'Listen to the Voice of Creation'
https://www.laudatosi.org/ecumenical/season-of-creation/season-of-creation-2022/

'Jubilee for the Earth' -a podcast mini-series about biodiversity and our sacred story produced by the Missionary Society of St. Columban https://columbanjpe.org/jubileepodcast

Other general resources

https://seasonofcreation.org/

https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/

https://laudatosimovement.org/

https://www.laudatosi.org/

https://cafod.org.uk/content/download/56736/778178/version/1/file/Joyful Mysteries for Care of Creation.pdf

https://www.cbcew.org.uk/environment-case-study-2/

Biodiversity

"[Global] warming has effects on the carbon cycle. It creates a vicious circle which aggravates the situation even more, affecting the availability of essential resources like drinking water, energy and agricultural production in warmer regions, and leading to the extinction of part of the planet's biodiversity." [LS24]

"In Christ, God calls us to participate in renewing the whole inhabited Earth, safeguarding a place for every creature, and reform just relationships among all creation." [Season of Creation Guide 2021]

Take time to reflect in nature. Everything in God's creation is interconnected; maybe start with contemplation of a single leaf or flower. http://www.ecologicalexamen.org/ https://seasonofcreation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-SOC-Earth-Examen.pdf

Whether it's a garden or a window box, can you leave wild plants to flower to feed the insects? https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may

Whether it's a garden or a window box, can you leave fallen leaves and dead plants to provide shelter for insects in the cold weather? https://kidsgardening.org/gardening-basics-create-overwintering-habitat-with-an-untidy-garden/

What is the impact of climate change on biodiversity? - short presentation for children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KBg9daqK0s

Catholic ecology looks at biodiversity https://catholicecology.net/blog/data-series-3-biodiversity-lost

The link between biodiversity and human flourishing https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/when-biodiversity-flourishes-human-life-flourishes-vatican-official-says

Carbon Footprint

There are many different ways of looking at and calculating this - be wary! They can be a useful tool to indicate ways we can make effective changes. These are just a few examples:

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

https://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/charter/individual/

https://www.footprintcalculator.org

Diet

Climate problems are linked to growing soy; 77% of that grown is used as feed for animals farmed for human consumption.

Reducing our consumption of meat and fish is a significant way to make a difference.

https://animalequality.org.uk/blog/2021/08/20/soy-and-deforestation/

Climate change food calculator: What's your diet's carbon footprint?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714

Plant-based diet can fight climate change - UN
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49238749

Energy

Why should our Catholic community divest from fossil fuels? https://laudatosimovement.org/news/catholic-argument-for-fossil-fuel-divestment/

The Church going carbon neutral - https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/news/bishop-john-arnold-spearheads-catholic-efforts-to-go-carbon-neutral

If not already on renewable energy - electricity and gas - could you switch? e.g. https://selectra.co.uk/energy/guides/renewable-energy/best-green-energy-supplier

Peace

Redirecting government spending to climate change rather than the military:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02460-9

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/08/climate-change-crisis-military-spending-arms-sales

https://theecologist.org/2018/nov/15/climate-change-capitalism-and-military

Environmental resistance relying on nonviolence:

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2016/09/guatemalan-indigenous-defend-forests/

https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/forests_practice/deforestation_causes2/illegal_logging/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/14/brazil-amazon-indigenous-defenders-deforestation-illegal-loggers/

https://cdkn.org/2016/12/politics-crime-logging/?loclang=en_gb

http://www.piplinks.org/brave-non-violence-subaanen-people.html

Poor and marginalised people

These suffer the most from climate change. This is especially so for those living in areas of violent conflict.

https://www.icrc.org/en/what-we-do/climate-change-conflict

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/conflicts-affected-by-climate-change/

https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/07/climate-change-risks-new-violent-conflict-how-respond

Slavery

"The culture of relativism is the same disorder which drive one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects, imposing forced labour on them or enslaving them" [LS123]

The effects of the climate crisis are pushing the vulnerable into great risk of slavery.

https://www.antislavery.org/climate-change-modern-slavery/

Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects on account of their dependence on natural resources for their traditional livelihoods and habitats.

https://www.antislavery.org/indigenous-peoples-and-climate-change-multiple-crises-drive-modern-slavery/

Waste

“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” [LS217].

""use and throw away" logic generates so much waste, because of the disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary" [LS123]

29th September - International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste http://www.fao.org/international-day-awareness-food-loss-waste/en/