Ecological Degradation

1
Ecological Degradation

• Our World at Risk

2
Ethical Questions

• How do we create a proper balance between human
  needs and care for the planet?
• How do we create structures that ensure a healthy
  future for all living beings?
• How do we honor our responsibilities to care for
  the poor and care for the planet?
• How do we create structures that share benefits
  and burdens equitably?

3
Ecological DegradationA Global Snapshot

• Biodiversity Loss Species Extinction

• 27,000 species are currently lost each year. At
  this rate 22 of all species will be extinct in
  15 years.
• 50 of our food comes from 3 plants, wheat, corn,
  and rice
• In a world created by
• natural selection,
• homogeneity means
• vulnerability

Red Colobus Monkey- Extinct
4
Ecological DegradationA Global Snapshot
Global Warming Higher temperatures threaten
dangerous consequences drought, disease, floods
and lost ecosystems. Melting ice caps rising
sea levels flooding

• In the U.S. the 10 warmest summers
• in the last 100 years have all been in
• the last 15 years
• One Cause- CO2 (the SUV!)
• Nine Bay Area Counties   
  1955                2005
• Population                            3
  million        7 million
• Cars                            
  1.7 million     5 million
• Vehicle Miles Traveled- daily 35 million   140
  million

5
Ecological DegradationA Global Snapshot

• Resource Depletion
• 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean
  drinking water
• Less than 1 of the worlds water can be used for
  drinking
• Global oil supplies will likely be depleted by
  2050

Golf course near Phoenix, AZ
The Colorado River (impounded by 10 major dams in
the U.S.) no longer reaches the sea.
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Ecological DegradationA Global Snapshot

• Toxic Contamination
• Toxic waste, from consumer products, industrial
  pollution, tailpipe exhaust, agricultural runoff
  and poor sewage treatment continue to put
  dangerous levels of contaminants into our air and
  water, leaving a long-term scar on the planet.
  These toxins cause a range of health problems
  from asthma attacks to cancer to developmental
  disorders.

7
Ecological DegradationA Global Snapshot

• Habitat Destruction
• Every second the planet loses two football fields
  of rainforest (thats 100 acres a minute!)
• Habitat Destruction leads to species extinction,
  climate change and resource depletion
• Habitat Loss
• African Nations 68
• Asian Nations 69
• Mexico 66

Slash Burn farming in Brazil (above) Beach
front Condos in Hawaii (below)
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Burdens and Benefits

• Why is ecological degradation a social justice
  issue?
• Disproportionately affects the poor and powerless
• First World consumption drives resource depletion
  industrial contamination in the developing
  world
• Who benefits from the way we treat the earth?
• Who carries the burden for the ecological cost?

9
Catholic Social Teaching Ecology

• Important concepts from CST
• Stewardship Care for creation
• Solidarity We are called to live simply so that
  others may simply live
• Human Dignity Ecological destruction
  disproportionately affects the worlds poor and
  powerless, and forces many into lives of despair
• Faced with the widespread destruction of the
  environment, people
• everywhere are coming to understand that we
  cannot continue to use
• the goods of the earth as we have in the past. -
  Pope John Paul II

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Cycles of Poverty/ Despair/ Violence

• Economic need drives many to work without
  awareness of the ecological damage of their
  actions
• Depleted ecosystems lead to economic depression
• Economic depression leads to despair, disease and
  death
• Despair, disease and death lead to desperate
  actions

11
Ethical Questions

• How do we create a proper balance between human
  needs and care for the planet?
• How do we create structures that ensure a healthy
  future for all living beings?
• How do we honor our responsibilities to care for
  the poor and care for the planet?
• How do we create structures that share benefits
  and burdens equitably?

12
Ecological Degradation

• Who benefits?
• Who carries the burden?