We just do not know whether the increase in global temperatures will be pulled back from the all-important 2 degree Celsius beyond which climate change may go out of control; or whether technology will deliver on the hopes vested in it to reduce emissions. We do not know whether the poor will gain equal rights to emit carbon without recourse to war, or the emerging global carbon market will lock them out of prosperity for good. We do know, however, that now-inevitable rises in sea level and temperature will cause widespread suffering, perhaps even our own.

But there is something about the Spirit which enables us to entertain a menacing future with honest detachment. There is a conundrum here. Despite the gravity of our predicament, the Spirit calls us to remain faithful to the moment, where God truly dwells. We will live for the future by learning to live today not only by the fruits of creation, but also by the fruits of the Spirit. END

"

That our Western Civilisation should be the principal cause of such extensive damage to the planet is so difficult a truth for us to absorb, that our society in general is presently in a state of shock and denial, of disbelief that such can possibly be the real situation. We are unable to move from a conviction that as humans we are the glory and the crown of the Earth community to a realisation that we are the most destructive and the most dangerous component of that community. Such denial is the first attitude of person grasped by any form of addiction. Our western addiction to commercial-industrial progress as our basic referent for reality and value is becoming an all-pervasive attitude throughout the various peoples and cultures of the Earth. Efforts to present the full reality of the situation are being met generally with intense opposition, an opposition due in large measure to the

subservience of our religious, educational and professional establishments to our industrial culture. These major determinants of our cultural forms are manifesting minimal concern for the catastrophic situation that is before us."

From The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, 1992, pp 254-255.

Reflection by Frank Regan

The Christian tradition has not come down to us with a strong ecological accent. It is only in the last two decades or so that we have tried to retrieve what before was lost or forgotten. I do not know if there is still time to reverse the prevalent trend. Ecological phenomena tend to be inertial and thus difficult to reverse. On the short term we must challenge our leaders regarding care for our planet and its precious cargo of life. The economic paradigm now in place is pulling us down a sinkhole. It creates huge wealth for a billionaire few and early death or prolonged misery for millions. Political engagement is a demand of Christian fidelity. As Eucharistic Christians we must keep the Memory alive, the memory of a God who immersed Godself in our human ecology. As Teilhard de Chardin said many years ago, since the Incarnation not one atom of creation has remained unaffected. All is precious, all charged with God’s grandeur (Hopkins). Our hope is not by definition optimism, rather realism. Nor is our God some sort of "deus ex machina" who will save us in the nick of time. Within each of us dwells the Spirit of God, a Spirit of Life. We need to struggle politically and prayerfully that the Spirit of Life prevails.