WYD 2013: Youth custodians of creation

“The human-scale future we want”

Since the dawn of civilization, man has modified the environment, trying to make the most of the

gifts of Creation. But starting from the 18th century, with the advent of the

industrial revolution, a new era began in which the

chemical composition of the atmosphere was progressively modified by emissions

caused by the use of fossil fuels.

The scientific community, on the basis of objective data, has repeatedly

reported the risks that such behavior can entail, particularly with

regard to climate change. And today the appeals of scholars can no longer

be ignored.

 

The data of the problem.

The release of greenhouse gases into the

atmosphere causes an increase in temperature with an unprecedented rate of increase. Even in the

past, the Earth has undergone significant temperature increases due to natural causes. But in the next hundred years

we risk having the same increase in temperature that in other geological eras

has occurred over the course of twenty thousand years, with a process two hundred times faster.

The quantity of these gases present in the atmosphere today is already greater than in the

last three million years. Melting glaciers, rising and acidifying

oceans, deforestation, drought and extreme climate events are putting

vast areas of the planet at risk, especially the poorest, and could cause

devastating damage especially to those 600 million inhabitants who live just one meter

above sea level. The basis of these phenomena is the increase in

demand for energy to cope with the development of emerging economies and the

diminished availability of fresh water.

The right to growth of over two-thirds of the world's population that is asking to

escape poverty must find an answer in clean technologies for access to

energy and water. At the beginning of the third millennium there is the possibility of endorsing

this right using the discoveries that science and technology have made

available to us.

 

An ethical problem.

Instead, we have the well-founded impression that as our

knowledge expands, the ability to distinguish between what is good and

what is bad is increasingly reduced. In other words, we risk becoming technological giants, but

moral dwarfs. And instead, the ecological problem, as the Popes of the last

decades have stated, is first and foremost an ethical problem.

 

This is why, on the occasion of the World Youth Day in Rio de

Janeiro, faithful to the teaching of the Church, we want to address this Message to our

peers throughout the world and to every man of good will. We do so

in the awareness that, if on the one hand the scientific data ring an

alarm bell that it would be irresponsible to underestimate, on the

other hand it is good to underline that a trend does not mean destiny. We still have time to

reverse it. And the first thing to do is to rediscover the truth of nature as a

creation that refers to a Creator and that the Creator himself has entrusted to man

as its custodian.

This is precisely the invitation that Pope Francis, since the first days of his pontificate,

has addressed to everyone. An invitation that appears to be in continuity with the teaching developed by

his predecessors on the subject of safeguarding Creation. Therefore, as we

are preparing to live this new appointment with the Successor of Peter on Brazilian soil as young people, we want to make that invitation our own and propose it again to the world.

Between young people and ecology, after all, there has always been a natural union. As

Benedict XVI recognized, it was young people who first understood

that ‘in our relationship with nature there is something wrong; that

nature has its own dignity and that we must follow its advice’.

Blessed John Paul II, who promoted the World Youth Days, had previously

reminded us that alongside the commonly understood one, there

is also a human ecology. And Francis, since choosing his name as Pontiff,

has brought to the forefront the Saint who before anyone else

taught us to call natural elements such as water and the sun brothers and sisters and has

invited us to respect all of God’s creatures and the environment in which they live and in

which we ourselves live with them.

 

Our requests, our commitments.

The data we have briefly recalled require responsible,

farsighted and timely decisions. We and our parents are the first generations to

be aware of what is at stake and of the negative consequences that

could arise if the necessary measures were not adopted.

 

We ask.

To the leaders of the world and to international organizations

not to take away our future and our hope, remaining prisoners of short-term

interests that generate oppositions and crossed vetoes and therefore lead to a

dangerous immobility;

- to place concrete actions are underway to avoid reaching a point of no return

beyond which the Earth could become inhospitable for humanity;

– to limit as much as possible the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,

with the use of non-polluting alternative sources already available;

– to promote research, development and access for all to additional clean

energy sources; – to experiment with and disseminate models and lifestyles for the sustainable use of

natural and energy resources;

– to not consider the funds used in these directions as a cost, but on the

contrary as an investment in favor of future generations;

– to protect biodiversity and the planet's reserves of clean fresh water.

We ask the mass media around the world

– to ensure that the necessary measures are actually adopted;

– to not lend themselves to speculation and disinformation campaigns orchestrated by those

who act only in the name of their own profit;

– to disseminate scientific data and the ethical aspects of the

problem among world public opinion, thus contributing to the formation of a truly ecological conscience.

 

For our part, we commit ourselves to:

respect the truth of the human being, the pinnacle of Creation, in harmony with nature,

following the example of Saint Francis;

rediscover the vocation of custodians of Creation to safeguard others, as

Pope Francis taught us;

underline the ethical dimension of the choices that preside over the

custody of Creation, as Benedict XVI emphasized;

promote a correct human ecology, as Blessed John

Paul II affirmed;

change our lifestyles to safeguard Creation and pass it on to future

generations;

promote the effective and supportive use of available resources;

press with all available means so that governments and

international institutions adopt the necessary measures and above all finance research into

new non-polluting energy sources;

to spread this culture and this vocation among our peers and among all

men and women of good will, so that everyone can experience the beauty

of feeling like custodians of Creation.