Ending Poverty and Caring for Earth

Addressing Poverty  

A preferential option for the poor has been a long-standing teaching of the Catholic Church in response to Jesus Christ’s mission proclaimed on the Sabboth in the synagogue of Nazareth. Few people would question the Catholic Church’s strong commitment to serving people in poverty and working to transform the structures that keep people in poverty. The Church’s response can be seen in various organizations. In 1970 the USCCB established the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to address the plight of people in poverty and to help them make their own decisions. Globally, the Church works through Catholic Relief Services to confront poverty. Caritas is another coalition of organizations inspired by the Catholic Faith to reach out to address global poverty. Many local congregations have their own ways of responding to the needs of families who are suffering the effects of poverty. 

Addressing Care for Creation  

The Catholic Church sees creation as God’s gift for which humankind has a responsibility of stewardship or care. 

“The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. . . Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in himself and in relation to others. It would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other. Charity in Truth (Caritas in Veritate. . . ), #48, 51.” 

Care for creation must interface with care for those in poverty. Pope Francis, in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, asserts that the poor are hurt the most by climate change: 

Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters, and their access to social services and protection is very limited. […] 

There has been a tragic rise in the number of migrants seeking to flee from the growing poverty caused by environmental degradation. They are not recognized by international conventions as refugees; they bear the loss of the lives they have left behind, without enjoying any legal protection whatsoever. Sadly, there is widespread indifference to such suffering, which is even now taking place throughout our world. (25) 

 

World organizations also perceive the interface between poverty and climate change. As many as 836 million people live in poverty today. A Newsweek article last November stated that climate change could push 100 million more people into poverty by 2030 according to the World Bank. 



Implications for the Catholic Church

At every level within the Church – international, national, diocesan, parochial – every effort must be made to interface care for the poor with care for Earth.  Women religious have been leading the way. They have long served those on the margins and are also now giving witness to care for Earth through a variety of environmental practices. Their prophetic stance within the heart of the Church will hopefully take hold so that the face of the Earth is renewed and that fewer people will be trapped in poverty. 

Resources:  
Laudato Si’ Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis. The Vatican, May 24, 2015. 

Catholic Teachings and Tradition Around Poverty. Link accessed on June 3, 2016. 
Care for Creation. Link accessed on June 3, 2016. 
LCWR/CMSM Joint Resolution on Climate Change (2008) 
LCWR Resolution on Transition to Renewable Energy Sources (2014) 
See what climate change means for the world’s poor. National Geographic article by Gabe Bullard. Link accessed on June 3, 2016 
Climate change complicates efforts to end poverty. World Bank news report. Accessed on June 3, 2016. 
Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. 
Hallegatte, Stephane, Mook Bangalore, Laura Bonzanigo,Marianne Fay, Tamaro Kane, Ulf Narloch, Julie Rozenberg, David Treguer, and Adrien Vogt-Schilb. 2016. Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. Climate Change and Development Series. Washington, DC: © 2016 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0673-5. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Accessed on June 3, 2016.

The report shows us that the best way forward is to design and implement solutions to end extreme poverty and stabilize climate change as an integrated strategy. Such concerted action, implemented quickly and inclusively, can help ensure that millions of people are not pushed back into poverty by the multifaceted impacts of climate change.

Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  Accessed on June 3, 2016. (Though this report focuses on the Millennium Development Goals its thesis has relevance for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals, the first of which is Ending Poverty.)