The reality of increasing environmental disturbances across the globe is inescapable: pollution, heat waves, drier droughts and desertification, excessive rains, more frequent and severe storms. Fr. General Arturo Sosa and Pope Francis have implored us to respond to these environmental catastrophes, recognizing that these are issues of social justice. However, the overwhelming nature of these interrelated crises often leaves us feeling alone and overwhelmed, and we sometimes doubt the strength of the global response to climate change.
Over the next 12 months we will publish a collection of Stories from the Field, highlighting the ways the apostolic body is responding with hope to the climate crises. These efforts range from worker protections for ragpickers in India to research on the social license for mining in Brazil, and from environmental education in the United States to policy advocacy in Zambia. We hope these stories will inspire creative action and foster a closer Ignatian family.
These stories are the result of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat’s survey on Universal Apostolic Preference #4, which had over 1400 respondents. Our review of the findings revealed a wide variety of ecological initiatives of which many have compounding impacts. Despite significant obstacles, we are moving forward with hope and innovation. Collaborative efforts, such as the Jesuits for Climate Justice COP 30 Campaign, are important in ensuring that our many local initiatives have a global impact on the superstructures that aggravate climate disasters.
The writing team was composed of interns Andrew Conover, Paige Buckley, and Benedict Reilly, supervised and edited by Fr. Eric Velandria, SJ. Translation was done by Fr. Bernard Goubin for French and Fr. Jose Maria Bernal for Spanish. If you have stories that you want featured, we invite you to reach out to the SJES team at sjes-res@sjcuria.org.
