Human Rights Online Philippines

Group Hails Efforts to Bring Laudato Si to Life

15 May 2020, Quezon City. The EcoWaste Coalition has lauded the continuing efforts to bring Laudato Si, the groundbreaking encyclical letter of Pope Francis on “Care for Our Common Home,” to life amid the climate and coronavirus crisis.

In a press statement, the advocacy group for a zero waste and toxics-free society expressed its solidarity with the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM-Pilipinas) in celebrating the Laudato Si Week from May 16 to 24, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the said encyclical letter on the 24th, with the theme “Everything Is Connected.”

Pope Francis in a video message had earlier invited the church to celebrate Laudato Si Week while repeating his urgent call for a concerted response to the ecological crisis. “The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor cannot continue,” he said as he urged everyone to “take care of creation.”

“Laudato Si is a compelling instrument that citizens can rely on for inspiration and guidance as we muster our strength to break away from throw-away culture and toxic production that is turning our planet, to quote Pope Francis, ‘to look more and more like an immense pile of filth’,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.

“Amid the global climate and health emergency and the quest for a green post-COVID era, we urge everyone to participate in various efforts aimed at strengthening policies and practices to protect human health and the environment and ensure the quality of life and dignity for all,” she said.

The climate and health emergency, the EcoWaste Coalition said, provides a unique opportunity for the entire society to redesign wasteful and polluting systems toward achieving a just, sustainable and toxic-free future.

In his encyclical letter, Pope Francis noted that “we have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them.”

Among the many ills facing the Earth, he called attention to the fact that “each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources.”

Laudato Si Week is sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and facilitated by GCCM and Renova+ in collaboration with a legion of Catholic partners.

Reference:

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-03/pope-francis-laudato-si-week.html

EcoWaste Coalition
78-A Masigla Extension, Barangay Central, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines
Phone: +632-82944807 E-Mail: info@ecowastecoalition.org
Website: http://www.ecowastecoalition.org, http://ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com

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