What Catholic Environmental EthicsSays About OurDebt to the Future

Keith DouglassWarner OFM

What Catholic Environmental EthicsSays About OurDebt to the Future• Inter-generational duties• Sustainability• Technology & capitalism

What Catholic Environmental EthicsSays About OurDebt to the Future• Nature/society relations• Moral agency• Living & non-living as

morally significant

What CatholicEnvironmental EthicsSays About OurDebt to the Future• Remarkable vigor• New domain of ethical

concern• Distinct contributions

Our Debt to the Future

1. Sustainability– a simplistic definition: something that can be carried forward through time.

2. Something “unsustainable” is easy to identify -- how to progress toward sustainability is harder

Origins of “sustainability”:Brundtland Commission 1987

Sustainability per Brundtland:

“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Social equity indicators

Economic indicators

Ecological indicators

Sustainability’sVennDiagram

Sustainability has no inherent meaning

Critical queries:1. What is to be sustained?2. For whom?3. For how long?

The tendency for all human institutions to define “sustainability” to meet their own needs

We can’t go on this wayGross Domestic Product (vs. Genuine Progress Indicator)

Technology & capitalism

We are impoverishing the future

Inter-generational justice

What (applied) environmental ethics says ….…to leaders of conscience, competence &

compassion

What Catholic Environmental Ethics?1. Papal documents2. National bishops documents3. Regional pastoral letters4. Praxis informed by faith

Pope Paul VI:1. A widening gap rich/poor2. Hunger, deprivation and arms race

spending are unjust3. Authentic development = new word

for peace4. Addressed UN Conference on the

Human Environment (Stockholm 1972)

Pope John Paul II

Named St. Francis the Patron Saint of Ecology 1979

1990: The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility

1. The ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone.

2. The ecological crisis is a moral issue.3. All Catholics have a serious obligation to

care for all of creation. 4. Respect for life and the dignity of the

human person extends to the rest of creation.

Main themes of “The Ecological Crisis”

1. Indiscriminate application of science & technology

2. Lack of respect for life evinced by pollution

3. Dominancy of economic interests over working people

4. Reckless exploitation of resources5. Uncontrolled destruction of animal &

plant life6. Genetic manipulation

Pope John Paul II1. 30 major teachings on the environment2. Promoted “ecological vocation”3. Environment and development linkedSpoken out against:• Air pollution• Deforestation• Species loss• Environmental

injustice

National bishops conferences

By 1996, major addresses by national bishops of:

• US• Australia• Dominican Republic• Guatemala• Northern Italy• Canada

US Bishops: 1991

1. Linking economic and environmental justice

2. More than anti- “toxic racism”3. Special concern for the poor4. Humanistic: Environmental

Justice 5. Little reference to biodiversity

crisis, or global climate change

Now a standard component

1. Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good (2001)

2. For I was Hungry And You Gave Me Food: Catholic Reflections on Food, Farmers, and Farmworkers (2003)

Regional pastoral letters

1.2. Appalachia3. New England4. New Mexico

PraxisBishop Stephen Blaire has launched an

Environmental Justice education project in the Diocese of Stockton

Praxis

Some synthetic themes

1. Theo-centric, and humanistic2. Emphasizing continuity with tradition

a. Scriptureb. Catholic social teachingc. “Authentic development”

Exegeting Genesis1. Our “Ecological Vocation” 2. Stewardship through time

Duties

1. Stewardship is a collective, global responsibility

2. International coordination points to need for UN, UNDP

Duties II

3. Authentic development must be sustainable

4. Sustainable development as inter-generational responsibility

Values

1. Common good2. Prudence = precaution?3. Care for poor and marginalized:

Vulnerable humans cannot be sacrificed for protection of environmental resources

Strengths

1. Offers a moral vision of stewardship. Who else is speaking for global commons?

2. “Naturalizes” care for the environment3. Criticizes consumer culture of global

north4. Emphasizes duties of justice to current

and future generations.

Weaknesses1. Does not problematize the relationship

between capitalism and technology 2. Does not seriously address the issue of

collective environmental impact of human population growth

3. Does not recognize the collapse of biological diversity as a salient ethical concern

4. Overly optimistic for reforming structural sin?

Good planets are hard to find…

The Faith, Ethics & Vocation Project

@ The Environmental Studies InstituteSanta Clara University

Environmental Ethics curriculum development

ES courses that meetReligious Studies

Requirement

EnvironmentalVocation

internshipMarkkulaCenter for Applied Ethics

ArrupeCenter for

Community-Based

Learning

Center for Science, Technology & Society

Bannan Institute for Jesuit Education

The Faith, Ethics & Vocation Project @ SCU’s ESI