There is no question that the environment is continuing to decay, and the rate of decay is slowly increasing. Global warming, better known as climate change, because it doesn’t sound bad, is increasing due to the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The atmospheric temperature is increasing thus causing more droughts, many of which lead to major fires. The atmospheric temperature increase also increases the moisture content of the atmosphere. This results in major rainstorms that lead to flooding and mudslides. Melting glaciers and icecaps result in rising sea levels.
We also have an increase in the consumption of natural and renewable resources which include their use in agricultural fields, forests, water, soil and managing of waste. Globally we are consuming the equivalent of 1.8 earths. If the world consumed the natural resources at the same rate as the United States, we would need five earths.
Another major global environmental issue is the depletion of available freshwater. The quantity of freshwater on the earth today is the same as it was available 2,000 years ago. The major problem has been the increasing demand primarily in agriculture which consumes about 70% of the freshwater while industrial production consumes 20% and human consumption is 10%. The big increase in the installation of AI data centers will deplete available freshwater even more.
As the global population continues to increase, this will have a major impact on climate change, the earth’s natural resources, and freshwater demand. So, what can be done to mitigate this deterioration?
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has been making recommendations for almost 30 years on reducing carbon emissions. But the major emitters have not been adhering to what needs to be done. Greenwatch, the German non-profit, non-governmental organization, analyses the performance of the world’s 64 biggest emitters of GHG based on 14 indicators. The two biggest emitters, China and the U.S., are ranked 52 and 54 based on performance to reduce emissions. It doesn’t seem like we can depend on the country governments to reduce emissions, particularly when you have a president that claims climate change is a big hoax.
Perhaps all the major corporations should be following ESG in their operations to be sustainable. When ESG became a new norm for sustainability, companies that adopted this practice outperformed non-ESG companies. This encouraged the non-ESG companies to claim to be operating sustainably for investment purposes, a great idea by these companies but it led to greenwashing. Most large corporations still follow Milton Friedman’s doctrine that the social responsibility of companies is to meet the needs of the shareholders, which is increasing profits.
If we can’t depend on the governments or the corporations, then it appears that we, the people, must do ourselves whatever we can to improve the environment. I believe this is the best approach to solve our environmental problems, but it can’t be done on an individual basis. There must be organizations that manage the movement of environmental improvements. The most logical organizations to lead the people are the various religions. The Roman Catholics have already moved in this direction with Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si which was presented in 2015. The Roman Catholic churches then adopted their Laudato Si Action Plan which consists of seven specific goals. Pope Leo XIV has continued this movement and even celebrated the first-ever liturgy under a new Vatican-approved Mass for the Care of Creation.
The Eastern Orthodox religion, the second largest Christian church, has been led for over three decades by His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, who is also known as the Green Patriarch because of his commitment to care for creation. In fact, Patriarch Bartholomew recommended to Pope Francis in 2014 that he should put the environment on his agenda which led to Laudato Si in 2015. Patriarch Bartholomew should work with the other Eastern Orthodox patriarchs to develop programs for improving the environment. This means the various archbishops should take the responsibility of encouraging all their bishops and clergy to take the lead to implement programs for all the parishes. One of the first action items should be the formation of a care for creation ministry.
Spiritual leaders of all the other Christian churches as well as leaders of all the other religions should place the protection of our environment near the top of their agenda. They should then convince their clergy to adopt environmental programs for their respective churches as well as programs that the parish members can adopt at home.
Since we can’t depend on our political leaders nor our corporate leaders because they have other objectives at the top of their agenda, we must do whatever we can for the environmental future. Just remember that we didn’t inherit the environment from our ancestors, we are borrowing it from our children. So, let’s all move to improve it.