“The way out of the climate crisis is educational,” says Father Roberto Jaramillo, SJ, in an interview at COP30
In an interview granted to the program Missão COP30, of Rádio Amar e Servir, Father Roberto Jaramillo, SJ, from the Secretariat of Social Justice and Ecology of the Society of Jesus, made a direct and in-depth analysis of the challenges of the current climate crisis. From the COP30 pavilion in Belém, the Jesuit pointed out three central axes to transform reality: qualified listening, effective collaboration and re-education of humanity.
Listen to transform: "We need to doubt our prejudices"
Father Roberto began his participation by reinforcing the importance of listening as a political, spiritual and epistemological tool. According to him, truly listening means recognizing the plurality of knowledge - scientific, traditional and community - and allowing them to question our worldviews.
"I'm talking about a qualified listening, marked by empathy and the desire to integrate the other, but also about an epistemological listening. We need to doubt the prejudices and hyper-Western traditions we carry."
The Jesuit highlighted that, given the climatic complexity, there is no room for closed or unilateral responses. Humanity, he says, needs to relearn to listen.
"Fail lack of collaboration": criticism of the excess of individual protagonism
When commenting on the dynamics of COP30 negotiations and parallel events, Father Roberto pointed out a recurring challenge: the dispersion of efforts due to lack of real cooperation between organizations, movements and governments.
"I feel this here at COP: there is a lack of collaboration. There is a lot of protagonism. My logo, my name, my project. And the real impacts are dispersed."
He argued that emblematic initiatives, such as the movement for the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Fossil Fuels, need more union and less institutional vanity:
"It is an immense, global effort, and deserves to be supported collectively. We need to build up around projects that can really generate impacts."
Education as the key to change: "The world is playing its future in education"
The central point of the Jesuit's speech was the conviction that no response to the climate crisis will be effective without a profound educational transformation - not only in the formal system, but in social culture.
"The world is playing its future in education. Not only in schools. We, the adults, also need to re-educate ourselves to relate in a new way to each other and to creation."
According to him, the mission of the Society of Jesus is committed precisely to this effort of integral re-education, which involves spirituality, ecological citizenship and community practices.
Changes "from bottom to top"
In his final speech, Father Roberto reinforced that, although pressure on governments and negotiators is fundamental, true transformation is born from organized society.
"Change is born from the bottom up. We demand from the rulers because it is their responsibility, but true transformation is born from the people."
He cited examples: mothers who teach their children to take care of nature, rural schools that grow their own food, communities that clean rivers and resist environmental injustices. For the Jesuit, practices like these form the basis of global climate change.
A vision beyond the Amazon
Despite recognizing the unique role of the Amazon in COP30, Father Roberto recalled that environmental impacts need to be analyzed from a global perspective.
"The Amazon is a blessing from God, but we need to think about the entire Common House. The COP in the Amazon cannot be the COP in the Amazon. It's a hope for the whole world, especially for those who suffer the most."
He mentioned experiences in places like Malawi, Zambia, East Timor and Madagascar, where communities live in extreme situations of poverty and climate insecurity.
A call to active hope
Throughout the interview, the Jesuit reinforced the importance of maintaining hope - not as passive expectation, but as a verb of action.
"We are pilgrims of hope. And hope is built by walking."
Source: Radio Amar e Servir
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