Saturday, June 5 is World Environment Day, a day first celebrated in 1973, and intended by the UN to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

            The pictures of flamingoes and geese with tarred feathers, the satellite photos showing the extent of the pollution spreading through the Gulf of Mexico, the BP camera one mile down showing the oil continuing to vomit forth, the fishing boats docked and fishermen out of jobs–these images make this World Environment Day troubling, eerie, foreboding and challenging to say the least. What do we have to celebrate? 

            How far we are from the viewpoint and words of Pope Benedict: “The environment must be seen as God’s gift to all people, and the use we make of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity, especially the poor and future generations.”

Peter Schineller, S.J.

 

Peter Schineller, S.J., is a former associate editor of America.