This year Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Waterbury, Ct, grades Pre-K 3 to 8, will be working hard at learning Laudato Si and putting its principles into practice. Every child from grades 1-8 has a notebook where they will write their activities and thoughts about caring for our common home. Every two weeks they engage in a new practice. This first week they are studying and learning about “A Place Called Home, Pope Francis’ theme for the Month of Creation.
No two days are the same. “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift,” as Eleanor Roosevelt said. Two days ago, as I do almost once a month, I went to the municipal garbage dump of Santa Barbara. It is worth mentioning that we pay for garbage collection, but we do not have this service.
Since my first visit to the garbage dump, I am always deeply shocked to see how people live off garbage, but this day was different... I cannot describe the impact it had on me. You may be wondering why, if it is the same place, what was different? The difference is perhaps that the first time I went my eyes did not see this reality as painfully as I experienced it this time. Maybe because that first time it was men doing the work. I say it honestly: when I remember this moment the image comes to me immediately, and my heart is still broken... and crying.
I am writing to invite you to sign the “Healthy Planet, Healthy People” Petition initiated by GCCM. By this, four requests are presented to the leaders who will attend the international environmental meetings this fall.
This petition pertains to the COP15 on Biodiversity (October 2021). It will bring together the signatory countries of the Convention on Biodiversity. This includes all countries where we operate except for the United States. The petition also concerns the COP26 which will bring together all the signatory countries of the Paris Agreement. All the countries where the CND operates have signed it.