Everyone has a Crucial Role to Play to Care for our Wounded Common Home

 

by Valerian Kkonde

ACCPU

 

Catholic individuals and institutions worldwide come together to help bring Laudato Si’ to life and save God’s creation. Every human being is invited to get involved.

 According to the UN, Climate Change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

 Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures.

 The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport systems, buildings, homes, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.

 The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.

 There is no doubt that this precarious state of affairs prompted Pope Francis, in May 2015, to give to the world the Encyclical Laudato Si’.

 

Firewood is the most common source of energy in Uganda, leading to unprecedented deforestation. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

Laudato Si’ is an urgent appeal for change in our way of exploiting the environment in the name of economic development. Pope Francis stresses the intimate link between the ecological crisis and the marginalisation of the poorest and most vulnerable. He makes it clear that the “necessary change does not only concern political leaders, but everyone according to where God put him or her and with what talents he or she is gifted.” 

 Pope Francis invites everybody to participate in that conversation about how to shape the future of our planet, which he fondly refers to as our Common Home.

 Unfortunately, all this destruction is taking place amidst global frameworks and agreements to help avert the catastrophe. While greed, selfishness and authoritarianism play a major part in exacerbating the crisis, indifference cannot be overlooked.

Climate change continues to become severe as people keep looking to institutions and other popular personalities for solutions; yet the solution lies with ordinary individuals, me and you. It is worth noting that response to the ecological crisis cannot be separated from questions of justice, peace, and human dignity.

The family is the first institution where taking care for others with love and responsibility is nurtured and imparted; the family is the foundation of society which respects and upholds the sacredness of human dignity and nature. It is here that the response to the ecological crisis must begin. It must start with sorting the garbage that is generated here. If in our families we live as civilised and responsible people, we shall not litter rubbish and that is the great example that our children will emulate wherever they are.

It is from the family that we have to embark on the journey of reducing our over reliance on the single-use plastics which are a menace to the environment. To date Uganda continues to give all sorts of excuses to continue producing plastics. All these are lame excuses aimed at covering up their avarice for accumulating profits. If Rwanda has successfully managed to show zero-tolerance for the plastics, why not Uganda!

Sorting garbage is the starting point for responsible garbage management. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ ACCPU

Uganda’s biggest challenge with plastics stems from the fact that the powerful people in government are either the owners of these factories or they are associated with them, and they conduct themselves like they are above the law. Their intent on accumulating obscene wealth is so high that they produce plastic bags which are of very low quality; they tear at the slightest contact with other items so that people keep buying as many as possible.

The smartest way to tackle this menace is to reject these environment-devastating products and take to using environment friendly items. The power to influence legislation that deters exploitation of nature and humanity is for sure beyond reach of the ordinary person; and while your voice may not be as audible as it ought to be, your action to reduce, and finally stop, your reliance on single-use plastics is surely worth more than a thousand words. It is time to use this soft power to make decisions that promote the common good.

The acts one can easily dismiss as small and insignificant are the ones that have a lot of impact but are unfortunately missing in the struggle to care more, and better, for our common home. They require us to get out of our comfort zones and get started to renew our relationship with nature and humanity itself.

“Human beings cannot be expected to feel responsibility for the world unless, at the same time, their unique capacities of knowledge, will, freedom and responsibility are recognised and valued.”- Laudato Si’ 118

No step is too small to make a positive impact. This will be an indication that we are giving the climate crisis the attention it deserves. It is a way of exerting pressure in order to bring about political action.

There is another activity that people need to embrace. This is the rejection of plastic bottles, where possible.  For the sake of future generations, and to adopt a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, it is time to stop drinking sodas in plastic bottles and resort to taking sodas in glass bottles only.  

There is no doubt that society should pressure government to enact and enforce better environmental policies and to protect the environment. But while we pursue this, it is worth embarking on a personal conversion to shape the future of our common home.

Clean energy is the way to go if we are to contribute meaningfully to the reduction of the heating of our common home. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis outlines several ways to address the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. These include a drastic reduction in carbon emissions and those of other greenhouse gases, the development of renewable energy sources and related storage capacity, and a transition to energy efficient methods of production and transportation (LS 26). For example, a switch from coal and oil to solar and wind power would embody these recommendations. The increased protection of tropical forests is also discussed (LS 38-39).

Everyone has a crucial role to play to care for our wounded common home. For those who can afford to buy personal cars, this is the time to consider going for electric vehicles. Those using public means of transport should also take to giving priority to electric vehicles as their number one choice. In Uganda, electric cars and passenger motorcycles, popularly referred to as boda-boda, are becoming more and more available on the market. The environmental and ecological crisis needs to arouse in us the urgency to adopt a new lifestyle that pushes us to reject choices that make life more precarious for us all.

Every time one uses a vehicle that burns oil, the contribution to carbon emissions is obvious. The extreme weather events that we are witnessing are a result of these emissions. In that regard, the decision to use electric boda-boda is a great welcome act that immensely limits the heating of our already wounded common home.

Trees are a multipurpose gift to our common home. They absorb the carbon emissions from the atmosphere, offer shelter and medicine, and also provide food among other benefits. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU  

 As cooking is a daily activity the world over, deciding to use clean energy to prepare our meals is another lifestyle that must be embraced. In Uganda, the availability of thermo electricity is one of the blessings bestowed upon our mother land but the affordability of electricity is ever getting out of reach for majority Ugandans. If at all it is ever available. The result is the systematic destruction of forests which turns into a triple tragedy: the trees that would have acted as carbon sinks are removed, the smoke from the burning wood is released into the atmosphere further contributing to the heating of our common home. The inhaled smoke also causes health complications including those associated with breathing and sight.

The now trendy loss of forest cover means that thousands of species of animals and plants become extinct. Even the water becomes contaminated. As a result, the dignity of the people deteriorates due to the damaged nature and quality of life.

The so called developed countries, which are the major culprits when it comes to exacerbating the climate and ecological crisis, drag their feet whenever climate justice is mentioned. The United States of America leads this pack. Institutions like the World Bank have also reneged on their promise to assist developing countries, which bear most the brunt of this crisis.

At the COP29 summit in 2024, the richer countries committed to giving the developing countries at least US $ 300bn every year by 2035 to enable them adopt to climate change. In 2023 they had as well promised to transition away from fossil fuels but this is yet to materialise. The US $ 300bn that was promised is far below what is expected of them compared to the damage caused.

L. Victoria admired from Ggaba. To appreciate nature we are invited to slow down, contemplate God’s gift of creation, and allow wonder to lead us toward gratitude, conversion, and care. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

But this cannot be used as the excuse for not protecting the wetlands and supporting eco-friendly businesses in our vicinity. The struggle to reverse the climate and ecological crisis starts with establishing a one on one relationship with creation. Pope Francis’ warning that “if we destroy nature it will also destroy us” should compel us to act, and urgently. It is worth starting with identifying creatures in our environment and list the good things that God does through them.

On a local level, many people engage in art and craft businesses. Majority of these use natural materials and they are environmentally friendly. Think about the bags, baskets and mats. The danger begins with looking at these items as traditional and out of fashion. What follows is the disrespect and manipulation of nature, often times being the result of falling captive to foreign influence. Our local and natural beauty is often neglected and we fall for foreign and artificial attitudes as well as ways of life.

A small gesture of appreciating these natural items will arouse the need to preserve them, and the natural environment will be protected as a result.

Trade between countries continues to boom but to the detriment of many developing countries like Uganda. In the name of free market economy, all sorts of merchandise are imported into the country to the detriment of our beautiful plant and animal life. For an agricultural country like Uganda which makes millions of dollars every year in exporting roses to the world, buying plastic flowers is something that would not even be thought of. But this is the sad reality.

Even taxes on second hand clothes have been increased, with the addition of the environmental tax, but we import plastic flowers and other piles of garbage! This has the semblance of exploitative way of thinking which undermines our ability and willingness to solve the problem of environmental exploitation and degradation.

Plastic waste is littered everywhere. These fragment into microplastics which then wreak havoc on marine ecosystems and on human health. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/ACCPU

Think about the natural species we destroy and then we import in plastic! Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but this cannot be so; this is outright madness and self-destruction.

Everyone benefits from a good climate, just as everyone suffers when the climate falls into serious disrepair. In order to respond to the cry of our wounded common home and the cry of the poor, we have to urgently leave our comfort zones and embrace actions that help us participate, right from an individual level, in addressing the climate and ecological crisis.

The climate and ecological crisis is the result of our human activities. It thus follows that human activity, especially from the individual level, is the best way to go if we are to address this enormous challenge before us. It is not too late. Things can change for the better. Let us get started in simplicity and wonderful harmony with God, with others and with nature to truly be stewards of God’s creation.