What is the purpose of having a vision or goal? It’s to give us something to aim for. A team, club, business, or nation is more successful if it is aligned on a common goal. This is a fact of our social nature. Of course, we live in a world where there are many competing visions of the future, frequently in direct conflict with each other. Laudato Si’ is grounded in a positive vision for a healthier world. Let’s explore what that vision looks like.
Our society is woefully short on vision related to ecology. We hear goals such as eliminating fossil fuels, or maintaining an average temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, but those are technical measures. They don’t describe what the world should be like. We could eliminate fossil fuel usage by destroying civilization, but that is obviously not a world we want. The typical goals we hear in secular discussions about ecology tend to be somewhat narrowly focused and incomplete.
Laudato Si’ describes its vision of the future in terms of an integral ecology. The document breaks down its vision into these topics:
Environmental, economic, and social ecology
Cultural ecology
Ecology of daily life
The principle of the common good
Justice between generations
Laudato Si’s vision of the future is expansive. It isn’t just saving the rain forests and the polar bears; it encompasses the entire natural world, including human society. Human beings exist as a part of nature and are inseparable from it. Human culture, in all its diversity, is respected and preserved. The common good figures prominently: people, corporations, and governments make decisions that protect the environment for all, especially the poor. Our decisions must also respect future generations and preserve a healthy environment for them.
What does this vision look like in practice?
People have access to nature, especially the poor. Everyone has green spaces full of beauty nearby for their enjoyment.
Everyone has clean air to breathe, clean water to use, and healthy food to eat.
People have housing that is safe, natural, and meets their needs to raise a family.
Our energy and industrial systems are sustainable and do not pollute the environment. Sustainability means that the environment remains clean and healthy into the future, rather than being in constant decline from our abuse.
Our economic systems provide dignified work for all, with a living wage that can support a family.
People can maintain their cultures, with respect for those with different cultures.
Together, this approach minimizes crime, forced migration, famine, and war.
Does this sound utopian or naïve? This vision is right and noble. This is the vision that Laudato Si’ presents, and it is as audacious as it is compelling. We recognize, as Laudato Si’ does, that these goals are difficult to achieve, but difficulty should not stop us from trying. The purpose of a vision is to create unity for our shared actions.
As Catholics, we do not expect this world to ever be perfect. We may share a bold vision, but we recognize that it may never be fully achieved. This may seem strange – why have a vision if we will never achieve it? Because we believe that God honors and supports our intentions and efforts. God is actively engaged in our struggle. It’s more important to have the right goals than to succeed in accomplishing them. We understand that the world is broken by sin but redeemed by God. Our efforts join God’s work of salvation. God has revealed to us that this world will pass away and be replaced by a new Heaven and a new Earth, when the Kingdom of God is fully established at the end of time. We don’t expect this world to be perfected in its current state, so utopian visions for a perfect world are not a part of Catholic thought. We do the best we can in this broken world and expect the promised Kingdom in its fullness. Expecting to perfect this world without God is an act of hubris. A bit of theology here, but it’s vital to understanding the vision of Laudato Si’.
Most of Laudato Si’ addresses the difficulties of progressing toward this vision. The Church is well acquainted with the challenges of human development. Forces are at work in the world that are opposed to this vision. There are some who do not care if the poor have their basic needs met. Powerful interests exist that benefit from pollution and environmental destruction. What Laudato Si’ encourages is a growing movement of people that can lead the world toward a healthier, more noble vision.