We celebrate this week the fifteenth anniversary of the second encyclical (letter) of Pope Francis subtitled ON CARE OF OUR COMMON HOME.

 

In his 184 pages he critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action."

 

So often we may feel helpless in attempting to save our planet when up against such powerful corporations such as Nestle. Although only 4% of our world's water supply is fresh, that corporation continues to drain millions of gallons of fresh water from our lakes for their own profit.

 

And how long will the majority of our population continue to ignore the necessity of recycling our precious resources? Plastics, manufactured from our limited oil supply, and paper, produced from our decreasing number of trees, are wasted and trashed without thought.

 

While 2/3 of our world goes hungry and many die of starvation, we waste tons and tons of food in this country daily.

 

This pandemic we are now experiencing has had positive effects in some ways, one of which is the fact that we have fewer cars on the road consuming gasoline and emitting carbon monoxide, resulting in cleaner air than we've breathed in many years.

 

May God continue to bless those striving daily to save our precious planet despite the constant forces against them.