Reflection

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.

By emphasizing scientific responses, the questions are posed in a dualistic way. What is required is a reorientation of our thinking about ourselves in relation to the planet Earth. Do we see ourselves as one species evolving in unison with all other species on the earth? If not, we will perpetuate the problems besetting the worldC wars, inequalities, poverty, hunger, poisoned air, soil and waterC thanks to the whole military/industrial complex with all its terrible consequences. But if we see ourselves more integrally related with the earth....

Who is God for us?

Many scientific endeavours and achievements are oriented by the notions that people have of God, man and the world. If God is seen as purely transcendental and concerned primarily with eternal redemption, then the world is in great danger of being seen as simply at our disposal, to do with whatever serves our journey towards heaven.

If on the other hand the emphasis is on God as immanent, intimately involved in ongoing creation, then we ourselves, with God, are concerned with all of creation. How in this light would we view water, food, housing, clothing, transport? Would such basic necessities be carefully developed within the capacity of the bio-region to sustain them into the future? Or would we continue to exhaust natural resources at the expense of future generations?

The basic issue is more fundamental than responsible judgements simply within the scientific method. It relates to our basic way of thinkingC our theologyC which leads to the scientific method, to our life style, to all the professions and to education. Several criteria will have to be examined in this fundamental approach to human existence on planet Earth.

Criteria for our Judgements

One criterion in making a responsible judgement on an issue is the ability of the earth system to sustain itself for the survival of future generations. Men and women live in inter-connectedness with other parts of the earth. If the soil, air and water are so polluted that other species die, there is a chance that future human generations will also prove unable to survive. We have classic examples in Chernobyl, Bhopal, DDT, and acid rain.

Another criterion to consider when examining environmental issues involves human rights, both individual and collective. The United Nations Declaration defines human rights as the minimal concrete conditions for participation in community with dignity. Certainly one of the most important "minimal concrete conditions" is a healthy environment for this generation and for future ones. Respect for environment, which includes respect for all other species, is therefore an absolute necessity for fully respecting human rights.

Deeper Social Analysis

Beyond these criteria, a completely new rethinking of our relationship with the environment is required. Over the last twenty years we have been trained to look at the root causes of problems. Paulo Freire urged us to become critically conscious about all of social reality. But even if the poor had a critical consciousness regarding the reasons for their poverty, they could still share the same mindset or worldview as the privileged. As a result the environment would probably continue to suffer, because the poor could also subscribe to unrestrained growth and unsustainable development.

A truly adequate social analysis of today's reality needs to include consideration of environmental factors. Beyond the uncritical consciousness that places man at the centre of everything, we must form a society that has a different vision regarding the professions and the financial world. This criterion, proposed by Fr. Thomas Berry, CP, would have us first consider what effects any decision could have upon the earth. Employing this criterion necessitates a major change in world economics, agriculture and, in fact, all our undertakings.

Wider Moral Responsibility

We need to widen the scope of moral judgment beyond inter-personal and group behaviour to include our relationship with the earth community. Decisions and actions we take now will have repercussions for future generations, assuming that we have not totally annihilated the earth's life system. For example, in Zambia it is estimated that in twenty years most of our forests will have been cut for fuelwood, timber, and agriculture. Hence the lack of respect for the earth today constitutes an injustice towards generations to come.

First World countries are depleting natural resources at a galloping rate and committing an injustice against not only the present generation but all future ones, against not only their own but all people of the world, especially the poor. Businesses, especially transnational corporations (TNCs), should be held morally accountable for their actions as they affect people and the earth. It takes time for the earth's life system to renew and heal itself of pollutants.

Role of the Church

A newly appreciated spirituality emphasizes God's continual creation, with ourselves as co-creators in the evolutionary process. As an agronomist in Zambia, my work encourages "Low External Input Agriculture"C organic farming, conservation practices, agro-forestry, oxenization, alternative energies, appropriate technology, co-operatives, and new models of education. I urge the Church to offer a viable model of rural development growing from greater sensitivity to and harmony with the Creator's activities.

At present Zambia is under pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to follow a Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). SAP promotes a liberalized economy based on the free market. The assumption of this liberal view is that the decisions individuals make in their self-interest will be for the common good. In order for these self-interested decisions to flourish, the marketplace should be as free as possible, and it is also important for individual rights to be protected. Hence the conclusion: privatization means prosperity for all.

The Church has criticized SAP for its insensitivity to the vulnerable, the majority poor of this country. But besides attacking SAP for its harsh effects upon the poor, the Church must also note the consequences the economic reforms are having on the environment. For the neo-liberal SAP is not an environmentally-friendly economic model.

Farm and Land Policies

What does this mean for agricultural policies and our efforts to feed Zambia's people? If farm policies simply reflect the neo-liberal economic view, then a real danger exists that TNCs and the rich will buy up land for the production and export of commodities. The neo-liberal argument claims that this approach is for the common good, that all will prosper. What really happens is that many poor people are displaced from the land, work for a pittance and go hungry, while the environment is degraded. Agribusiness' primary concern is making profit, not doing justice to the poor and least of all to the earth community.

Biblical justice, by contrast, concerns human relationships and the common good, respect and the full well-being of persons in community. Small-scale farms show more sensitivity to the environment and less concern for immediate profit-making than TNCs and agro-businesses. Such farms are more efficient than large corporate ones, promote decentralized decision-making, enhance rural communities, employ more people, and can be more sustainable and earth-friendly. Policies promoting small farms should be favoured.

The Zambian Parliament has recently been debating changes in the land-tenure system. Some parties favour a freehold system (completely private property owned in perpetuity) rather than a leasehold (property held for 99 years). Land is a gift of GodC are we independent owners of the land or responsible stewards? What is our responsibility to future generations when deciding how to use a piece of land? In justice, consideration ought to be given to the effect of land tenure on the environment and on future generations.

Implications for Jesuits

I was surprised and disturbed at our Provincial Congregation. Some delegates, when discussing a postulate on Jesuit commitment to environmental issues, argued that we should not become involved in such issues because we already have more than enough in our faith and justice works to keep ourselves occupied. I don't see environmental ethics simply as a separate issue, but rather permeating all our thinking. It must suffuse all our works, the same as justice is part and parcel of our faith. Environmental awareness is a refinement of the faith that does justice.

In my own development as a Jesuit agronomist, the integration of concerns for justice and the earth affected my faith. Previous studies in conventional agriculture taught me that, to farm properly, one had to clear the fields of trees. In directing an agricultural training centre for young Zambian farmers, I became sensitive to community participation in development and began to understand the need for agro-forestry. Four years ago, I was not aware of creation spirituality and the deeper dimensions of environmental issues. After some studies in environment ethics, I now find that creation spirituality provides a broad-based and much deeper orientation and a different perspective on my apostolate. At Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre, we are growing vegetables organically, have a strong agro-forestry programme, are involved in oxenization and blacksmithing, and do research on solar power and appropriate technologies.

All these concerns at Kasisi may appear very technological. But for me they are basically theologicalC rooted in my faith, influenced by creation spirituality. As a Jesuit, I believe that this orientation should guide all our apostolates, pastoral and educational, developmental and spiritual. Then we will have the correct approach, all of us being environmentalists.