Signs of the times for the stewards of creation 
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay Cullen
I have much sympathy and understanding with people who are illiterate. There are social economic, family and personal difficulties that have left them unable to read and write. About 40 percent of the children that the Preda charity rescues from the streets and prison are illiterate. They are very vulnerable people.
In the developing world like the Philippines, millions of children are illiterate because they have been driven into poverty because of disastrous climatic change. Typhoons brought floods and landslides; volcanic eruptions destroy their life on the land. Mining, logging, and other man made disasters are another cause of waste and abuse of natural resources. The rich make the just distribution of wealth to the poor an empty dream. As many as 1.2 million Filipino children have to work and never go to school.
They cannot read danger signs and many are electrocuted, drowned or die from poison. The stewards of creation and those with the power to protect and preserve our planet and all living things have no excuse when they fail to act. We have to stop waste, reduced consumption and pressure political and community leaders to act now on the signs of the times.
In the Gospel narrative, Jesus of Nazareth challenges the rulers of his day to read the political and economic signs of the times. When you see the clouds in east you know one thing, when you see them in the west you know another, he said. A wise person knows and acts on the signs of climate change we ought to do likewise.
Today, many political leaders, economists and big business tycoons refuse to accept the dangerous signs of the climatic change caused man made global warming. We experience extremes of cold and heat, storms and droughts, floods and other catastrophes. But worst is still to come, the scientists tell us. They see both the tip of the iceberg and the huge body of the glacier and both are melting at an alarming rate.
We are living such an extravagant life style that western people consume three times as much resource as poor people and burn fossil fuels in ever increasing amounts. The oil is now close to the point of exhaustion. Forests are cut and burnt to clear like the land, rubbish dumps smolder polluting the air and environment, the earth is burning and our species, the one with the brains and intelligence is doing it. The planet cannot sustain our wild and wasteful ways.
Our industry and life style is pouring massive amounts of carbon dioxide, sulphur and other gases into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and trapping the earth’s heat. This is causing the planet to heat up and is melting the ice caps, it is called the greenhouse effect.
The melting ice of the Siberian permafrost will release million more tons of methane gasses from the bogs and marshes and added to our wasteful ways the temperature will raise still more. The point of no return is fast approaching. Then we can never get the climate genie back in to the bottle.
The melting of the polar ice cap and huge areas of Antarctica ice sheet will cause sea levels to rise dramatically in the coming years. Storm surges of the sea will choke estuaries devastating flooding of vast area of farm land will be inevitable. If you have property in low lying coastal areas or inland by rivers say good bye to it now because your grandchildren will inherit a salty marsh or a sea view. Bangladesh will practically disappear and be uninhabitable the low lying islands in the south pacific will disappear. A one meter rise in sea levels is inevitable scientists say.
The captains of commerce and their political puppets are either scientifically illiterate or refuse to read the signs of the times. Neo-conservative led governments refuse to put a cap on the emissions of gasses that industry produces as the Kyoto protocol demands. The irresponsible politicians prolong their political life with help of donations from big business tycoons. In turn environmental protection laws are repealed or allowed to be ignored and industry can pollute with impunity and destroy the environment.
It is up to each of us to recycle, end waste and prevent environmental damage. We must pressure politicians to be true stewards of creation and to save our planet. [End]
