Series: To Protect Creation, Change Your Lifestyle!

At the beginning of the 21st century’s second decade, environmental issues are, more than ever, a vital question of debate, for the survival of the whole humanity and, particularly, for the defense of the poorest of the poor. This challenge is not being adequately addressed by the official social teaching of the Church, even if there are enough warnings about the unsustainable consumerism that dominates the western society and, as it spreads as a model to the rest of the world, becomes also a real threat to life on earth. In a way, this is the result of an ingrained homocentric vision of creation, which turns ecology into a Catholic’s forgotten cause.

In the globalized consumerist culture, people find meaning and contentment in what they consume, an orientation that has had huge implications for society and the planet. The big environmental issues of today, like biodiversity loss or climate change, cannot be fully solved without a more sustainable behavior.