Question: Stephan John

How important is Social Concern with respect to Ecological issues?

Answer: Saji Mathew Kanayankal CST

Though the questions concerning the ecological crisis are not very old, in recent years with the intensification of the crisis, the concern of ecology became more popular. In the beginning, it was a kind of scientific discourse or academic exercise and later on some political parties have taken it as a part of their political agenda. But now as the climate change affects all, it became an important question on the existence of every living being.

The present discussions on ecology has begun with the publication of the book, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson in 1963 where she pointed out the dangers to human and to wild life from toxic pesticide residues and warned on the effects of the use of the pesticides on animals, ecosystem and human health. Within a short time, the concern of ecology became the part of different peace movements, civil rights movements, women liberation movements, tribal welfare movements etc., and most of them have seen it as a part of natural science. With the incorporation of certain philosophical insights, it became the concern of justice and different value theories were formulated. Different disciplines like sociology, politics, history, law, economics etc also contributed from their part to the concerns of environmental degradation. In most of these analysis they failed to relate the ecological issues with the fundamental human existence. The term of ‘human ecology’ gets its relevance in this context.

THE COMPREHENSIVENESS OF HUMAN ECOLOGY
The term, ‘human ecology’ is a dense phrase where the ecological issues are connected with the very fundamental life issues of human community. By using this expression, Pope Francis underlines the connection between the deterioration of nature and the culture that shapes human coexistence. In other words, the existence and life system of the earth cannot be separated from the different views on human life. Without respecting the fellow human beings one may not be able to respect the other creatures on the earth. When there is ‘respect’ to the ‘human ecology’ other ecological systems are also respected and benefited.

In fact, the term ‘human ecology’ is not an original use of Pope Francis. The concept was developed by some sociologists of the last century and in the encyclical Centesimus Annus St Pope John II used the term in order to explain the multifaceted cultural crisis of contemporary humanity. In the Encyclical he said that though people are worried about preserving natural habitat, they make little effort to safeguard the moral conditions of ‘authentic human ecology.’ St Pope John Paul II has rightly pointed out the dubious nature of the ecologists, who, while worrying about the degradation of ecological system, have not at all worried about the moral degradation of humanity. He writes, “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given to him, but man too is God’s gift to man. A person must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed” (Centesimus Annus, 38). In his view, without countervailing cultural values that teach individuals to use their freedom for the common good of the society, the materialistic gains would lead to hedonism, individualism and consumerism. Later on, while writing on the ‘ecology of man,’ Pope Benedict XVI asked to respect the ‘nature of human being’ and not to be manipulated at will. “Just as human virtues are interrelated, such that the weakening of one places others at risk, so the ecological system is based on respect for a plan that affects both the health of society and its good relationship with nature” (Caritas in Veritate, 51). In short, in viewing the disintegration of the environment, one should not ignore the different factors that affect it. The idea of human ecology in Laudato Si is to be understood in this broader background.

THE LIMITATIONS OF BEING HUMAN
While using the term human ecology, Pope Francis wanted to bring out the intrinsic relationship between human beings and natural system and thus to underline the interconnectedness between the moral life and the existence of nature. It implicitly assumes the existence of a ‘moral law’ written the heart of every human being. According to the traditional catholic teaching the nurturing and protection of moral law will lead to the happiness and goodness of the entire creation. It is to be noted that with the influence of the philosophy of individual autonomy, many of the traditional institutions of our society like motherhood, fatherhood, marriage, religion, and other mediating structures are in trouble. Along with it, the intrusion of culture of neoliberalism, its consumerist traits, self-absorption and greed for profit, deteriorated the entire cultural frame and moral uprightness of the present generation.

The different hypothesis of postmodernism that project the autonomous individual person as an independent being, fragments him/her from the rest of nature. With the help of nanotechnology and cyber technology, people dream of the emergence of the post-humans who are liberated from the constraints of the present human existence. But, human being is much more fragile than the idea of self-defining and self-sufficient being of the post modernity. Even though we speak of the enhancement of human person towards the trans-humans or post-humans, it is impossible to overcome the human limitations. From the very moment of existence, each of us is embodied and our existence depends on many other factors that we do not presume in our daily life. Though a person is embodied with different possibilities, s/he is also limited because of his/her creatureliness. Being created, human beings are placed within an ecosystem, and are intimately related with the environment that ‘conditions’ them. Though human beings are born individually, they are also significantly influenced by community and cultural heritage, as well as laws of genetics and science. In the existence, human beings depend upon both antecedent factors (genetic, historical and biological) as well as contemporary sources (environmental and cultural). In short, the human being depends on sustaining powers and events that stands beyond his/her control. Apart from these multifaceted realities one cannot truly understand the authentic human existence. This invites us to see the reality that a human person is a created being, and yet, by his/her choices creates him/herself; that s/he is deeply influenced by and, in turn, influences others; that s/he is conditioned by the environment in which s/he finds him/herself and yet is capable of transcending it. In this vision, humans can never make an independent existence separated from rest of the earth and history. Vulnerability and dependence are the most basic and enduring facts of human existence and human identity.

THE INTEGRAL VISION OF HUMAN ECOLOGY
For Pope Francis, human ecology is a term that blends than separates environmental and social concerns. While viewing human person in his/her totality, it is necessary to articulate all the concrete connections and differences in which the human condition dwells and involves. Apart from the temporal and spatial relatedness, human person is connected with the environment spiritually and morally. In Laudato Si he writes; “Human ecology implies [a] profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment” (Laudato Si, 155). In simple terms, we are bound to understand and respect the ‘nature’ that human being possess and flourish it. He writes, “Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology” (Laudato Si, 155). This idea is further explained by Pope Francis while addressing the 24th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life in June 2018. He says, “the acceptance of our body as a gift from God is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy an absolute power over creation.”

While agreeing that there is threat to the natural environment, we have to accept the threat to the moral environment as well. Ignoring the threat to the moral environment and working for the protection of the right of nature will not help us to acclaim a sound moral order. In the same General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy, Pope Francis requested us to consider the ethical and spiritual quality of life in all its phases. He asks; “When we deliver children to deprivation, the poor to hunger, the persecuted to war, the old to abandonment, do not we ourselves, instead, do the “dirty” work of death?” Apart from the humanization of human community, the protection of the environment will be a vain effort. Therefore Pope urges us not to forget the high ideals of human dignity and morale while working for the protection of the environment.