Care for Our Ocean Home

In Laudato Si, Pope Francis urgently appeals “for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.” (n. 14)

The Pacific Islands is the term used to describe over 10,000 islands spread throughout most of the Pacific Ocean. It is comprised of three ethno-geographic groups of islands: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. As the region is made up of many low-lying Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Pacific Nations are unfairly suffering the effects of climate change. Climate change and the ocean are intrinsically linked as rising sea levels are one of the major consequences of global warming.

In responding to the devastating impact of climate change, it is crucial to listen to the voices of Pacific Island peoples in the context in which they live. Sr Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Under-Secretary General of the Secretariat of the Synod, states: “Our journey towards a synodal Church involves deeply listening to not only the cry of the earth, and the cry of the people but also the cry of the ocean. We need to discern the work of the Spirit and how it is calling us to respond to this urgent crisis.”

What is the nature of this new dialogue with Pacific Island peoples? How do we speak of God and creation to people who are experiencing traumatic events such as loss of home, livelihood, culture, and traditions? How do we ensure that Pacific voices and values are properly reflected in the outcomes developed in responding to the challenge of climate change?

In 2020, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development released Aqua fons vitae: Orientations on water, a reflection on water management rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. The Dicastery describes water as a “symbol of the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth” and discusses three aspects of water management: 1) water for human use; 2) water as a resource used in human activities such as agriculture and industry; 3) water as a surface, referring particularly to seas and oceans, but also rivers and lakes. As Aqua fons vitae states: “According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, water is a common good, the adequate management of which contributes to the realisation of the common good of the entire human family.” (n. 20) The Dicastery calls on all people “in our different capacities as religious leaders, policy-makers and legislators, economic actors and businessmen, rural subsistent farmers and industrial farmers etc., to jointly show responsibility and exercise care for our common home.” (n. 13)

Kathleen P. Rushton in her journal article "Pacific Island Peoples: Resilience and Climate Change" describes how many commentators have been critical of the discourse that has developed within the scientific and wider community concerning Pacific peoples (p.1). Discussion has focussed on vulnerability, smallness and isolation of Pacific peoples and has presented no other option than to flee as refugees (p. 1). Critics such as Jon Barrett and John Campbell argue that this view oversimplifies the issues and overlooks the actualities of the lives and livelihoods of the people and their resilience. It also ignores the role adaptation can play and undermines the pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world (p. 1).

350 Pacific is an example of an organisation that has emerged in response to the challenges of climate change that articulates a uniquely Pacific voice that is resilient, assertive, and innovative. Adopting the imagery of a warrior, 350 Pacific leader Itinterunga Bainteit describes what it means to be a Pacific Climate Warrior: “It means critically challenging the faults of Western-centric development systems that continue to harm the environment [and] show[ing] strength by taking solidarity action for a common purpose to leave the planet earth better than when we found it. It also means courageously speaking up, mobilising and scaling up our efforts as a community to ensure that all human rights and dignity of vulnerable and marginalised communities are honoured and defended.”

350 Pacific also sees faith-based communities as playing an important role in response to climate change. Koreti Tiumalu, the Pacific Coordinator from the organisation says this: “We cannot build a Pacific Climate Movement without engaging our faith communities. Faith is pivotal to our people, and like the ocean, it connects us. In the face of the climate crisis, we need prayer to carry our people and faith to build resilience".

While adaptation and accommodation are necessary responses to rising sea levels, equally important is mitigating the emission of greenhouse gases. This is something the whole world is responsible for, especially the developed world, and is something that can also be carried out on an individual level.

Jacqui Remond, co-founder of the Laudato Si Movement in Australia and former director of Catholic Earthcare, offers practical suggestions for what we can do at the individual and local level: “So, going back to the basics of understanding the water cycle and how in our local ecosystems of Church we're engaging with water at schools and parishes; putting in simple filtration systems and making sure that we're reducing our impact on the pollution of water through the products we buy; changing from a consumer mentality, and carrying our own water bottle, are simple ways that we can enact and show the witness of our love for water and our Creator God . . . “.

The Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea have published a guide to Environmental Sustainability called Simple Daily Gestures. Aimed at members of religious congregations, this guide sets out ways to care for the environment in our everyday lives. With an interactive checklist, this is a practical way to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases and care for our ocean home.

Abridged from Just Now, Vol. 12, March 2023