Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si, is an urgent call for politicians, policy makers, and all citizens of planet earth to make care for the environment central in our decision making. He appeals for recognition of the “seamless garment of life” which connects the smallest micro-organism in the biosphere to the life of humans and demands that we extend the notion of rights to all living creatures. Linking environmental degradation to war and poverty, he maintains that only a radical shift in our relationship with the earth will allow future generations to survive and flourish.
Keynote John L. Allen, Jr., Associate Editor of the Boston Globe and foremost commentator on the Catholic Church, speaks to the issue in Part I of this Symposium on Integral Ecology. Part II, a panel of environmental professors and activists including Jon Erickson, Professor at the Rubenstein School of Environment at UVM, Sister Gail Worcelo of Green Mountain Monastery, and Clive Gray, retired Third World Development economist, formerly of the Harvard Institute for International Development, can be viewed here.
