My Short Tour of Pope Francis' Encyclical on the Environment.

Pope Francis' latest encyclical, Laudato Si' (Care for Our Common home) is his teaching document on how we are to interact with the earth. In it, he defines the roles of the key players in our earth: Humankind, the built environment, technology, creatures and critters and nature. It makes for a fascinating read - that I only finally finished the other day.

The media wants to love Pope Francis and I see why but in many ways they miss much of his message (not just on the Environment).

I have always been a great lover of spaces on earth where the built environment intersects with nature. The Wild has its own allure but what does it for me are places we have interacted with the nature in a special way (farms, structures, homes, etc). I have included some pictures from Yukon, but also from my travels over the past 15 years. 

Here are some of my favourite passages from Pope Francis' text.

The woodland behind Yukon College

"But humanity has changed profoundly, and the accumulation of constant novelties exalts a superficiality which pulls us in one direction. …Let us refuse to resign ourselves to this, and continue to wonder about the purpose and meaning of everything. Otherwise we would simply legitimate the present situation and need new forms of escapism to help us endure the emptiness " (113).

"There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself. There can be no ecology without an adequate anthropology… A misguided anthropocentrism need not necessarily yield to “biocentrism”, for that would entail adding yet another imbalance, failing to solve present problems and adding new ones" (118).

At a National Trust Home in England. This is a walled garden.

The yard in a hostel I stayed at in Scotland in 2000

"Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than romantic individualism dressed up in ecological garb, locking us into a stifling immanence" (119).

Skellig Michael. If you want to go to a place in Ireland that will blow your mind. This is it.

Dunluce Castle ruins on the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

A get-away in Atlin, BC.

"We make every effort to adapt to our environment, but when it is disorderly, chaotic or saturated with noise and ugliness, such overstimulation makes it difficult to find ourselves integrated and happy… For example, in some places, where the façades of buildings are derelict, people show great care for the interior of their homes, or find contentment in the kindness and friendliness of others. A wholesome social life can light up a seemingly undesirable environment… In this way, any place can turn from being a hell on earth into the setting for a dignified life…." (147.148.149)

Ian gets up early for another day on the hunt.

"The extreme poverty experienced in areas lacking harmony, open spaces or potential for integration, can lead to incidents of brutality and to exploitation by criminal organizations. In the unstable neighbourhoods of mega-cities, the daily experience of overcrowding and social anonymity can create a sense of uprootedness which spawns antisocial behaviour and violence. Nonetheless, I wish to insist that love always proves more powerful. Many people in these conditions are able to weave bonds of belonging and togetherness which convert overcrowding into an experience of community in which the walls of the ego are torn down and the barriers of selfishness overcome. This experience of a communitarian salvation often generates creative ideas for the improvement of a building or a neighbourhood" (117).

Wells, England. Where Ian went to school. Sigh.

"Men and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification" (162).

A ruined monastery somewhere in England.

"A strategy for real change calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, for it is not enough to include a few superficial ecological considerations while failing to question the logic which underlies present-day culture" (197).

The land of Beatrix Potter. Lake Country.

"If a mistaken understanding of our own principles has at times led us to justify mistreating nature, to exercise tyranny over creation, to engage in war, injustice and acts of violence, we believers should acknowledge that by so doing we were not faithful to the treasures of wisdom which we have been called to protect and preserve" (200). 

Yukon Grain Farm.

Common land for walkers to pass through countryside through "private property" in England.

"It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack…

Such sobriety, when lived freely and consciously, is liberating. It is not a lesser life or one lived with less intensity. On the contrary, it is a way of living life to the full. In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look-out for what they do not have. They experience what it means to appreciate each person and each thing, learning familiarity with the simplest things and how to enjoy them…. 

Even living on little, they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer" (222-223).

Pretty sure this is Sienna, Italy.