“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” - Genesis 1:31
The world wasn’t always the damaged planet that it’s been normalised as in the 21st century, it was once a beautiful paradise created by God for humankind. It was us, society and our exploitation of our home that has biodiversity on its knees, crying for help.
Pope Francis wrote this in his letter titled Laudato Sí in May 2015: “The human family has received from the creator a common gift: Nature.”
Without nature, animals and natural resources, humans would struggle to exist, yet we continue to scar our landscapes, exploiting those natural resources and uprooting habitats, leaving ecosystems out of balance. Pope Francis has also said that, “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God… we have no such right.”
We humans often forget that all wildlife are God’s creatures, to be treated with the utmost respect and care that we would treat a fellow human with. On the sixth day of creation God created humans and animals alike but our human mindset is often selfish, destroying habitats and overhunting solely for our own benefit.
Biodiversity is all of the different kinds of life found existing together in one area, a variety of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms like bacteria that make up the world we live in.
The whole idea of biodiversity is that all species work together in ecosystems to maintain a balance in the natural world. However biodiversity has been in rapid decline which has had a knock-on effect on our ecosystems and their functionality. This loss of biodiversity means that God’s creatures experience habitat loss, there is increased air pollution, increased global warming and species are overhunted and begin to die out.
The Fifth Commandment - “thou shalt not kill” - can be taken into context here with the issue of overhunting and overfishing. This unnecessary bloodshed means species are depleted in numbers and gaps form in our ecosystems creating a whole host of other problems.
Our generation has never known a world without the looming shadow of global warming, but we’re the generation that is inheriting the earth in its current state.
We humans often forget that all wildlife are God’s creatures, to be treated with the utmost respect and care that we would treat a fellow human with
Pope Francis said: “Together, we pledge our commitment to raising awareness about the stewardship of creation.” Humans can’t continue like this. That is the simple truth. We can’t continue to deforest the world at the rate we have. In the last 12,000 years 46% of the world’s trees have been cleared. We can’t continue to destroy God’s creatures and habitats; at least 15,000 are facing extinction. We can’t continue to harm these creatures and ourselves by allowing 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic to float around in our oceans.
As Pope Francis said, we are all stewards of the earth, “We are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family.” Humans have allowed biodiversity to wither so much that only half of it is left in the world, we have so far failed in our mission to be stewards of our common home.
We initially think of biodiversity as something that only affects the natural world and the animals in it but we couldn’t be more wrong. Columban Fr Seán McDonagh said: “Destruction of biodiversity is not just about what is happening to other creatures, humanity relies on biodiversity for its health, food and wellbeing.”
Biodiversity supports all life on earth including humans and is instrumental in processes that help to produce food, control pests and disease, develop medicines and purify water and air, all essential factors of human survival. So really, by continuing to damage biodiversity we are self-sabotaging.
Being a steward of the earth can take many forms from recycling to litter picking in your area to planting flowers and plants to encourage pollination and new habitats.
There are many organisations that strive to be stewards of the earth, caring for the natural world. One of these is an Irish organisation, Eco-Unesco.
Eco-Unesco is Ireland’s environmental education and youth organisation, which works to conserve the local environment and empower young people to do the same. They aim to raise environmental awareness among young people through practical projects, workshops and training in schools, youth clubs and communities across the country.
They also run a competition annually called the ‘young environmentalist awards’. This programme is designed to honour the work of young people aged 12-18 years old who conserve and enhance our beautiful environment through local initiatives and projects making a difference to their own lives and the lives of other people both on a local and global scale.
Being a steward of the earth can take many forms from recycling to litter picking in your area to planting flowers and plants to encourage pollination and new habitats
I was part of a team that took part in and won this competition which we entered as part of Eco Club in our school. Our project, titled ‘Cooling the Callan’, was aimed at reintegrating biodiversity into the Callan River neighbouring our school in Armagh. To do that we took action and planted 40 trees of varying species along the banks of the Callan River to cool the water with the shade of the trees and to create habitats for wildlife that may settle there. We went on to win our category and become overall winners for the competition in 2022.
I think the initiative embodies the theme of ‘biodiversity matters’; the trees we planted will grow and flourish in the next few years to shade the river’s waters, provide shelter for various species and purify the air we breathe.
“Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment,” says Pope Francis, urging us all to take action to conserve biodiversity and do all we can to save the only planet we have.
The word ‘Catholic’ itself means ‘all embracing’, so as Catholics we should embrace all species, embrace the beauty of the natural world and embrace the challenge of protecting our common home.
