Paul Desmarais, S.J.079-2003/3

I protest against the questions being addressed to Jesuit "environmentalists/scientists." This implies that environmental issues might be the prerogative or sole interest of scientists. I say that environmental issues are everyone's responsibility, especially every Jesuit's. Scientists can help to perpetuate the problem or they can offer alternatives. But it seems to me that the basic issue of the environment resides in our theological vision.

We publish this article written by Brother Paul Desmarais, founder of KASIS Agroecological Training Center (Zambia), for Promotio Iustitiae No 79 in 2003. Already in 2003, he was aware that social justice had to include environmental justice and, most especially, concern for the rights of rural women. Caring for the people of the countryside and the planet was the same thing. He embraced organic farming with determination; it was his life's mission. She anticipated what, years later, Pope Francis proclaimed in Laudato Si and the Society of Jesus accepted as the fourth Apostolic Preference. In this article, his words about the danger of GMOs and the threats to the environment and people are still relevant today.