Reflection of Asia Pacific Council 2017 

“Laudato Si” in Action:
 Addressing the Ecological Crisis in Asia Pacific”
Capacity building of Asia Pacific Students to be critical and analytical educators and advocates of environmental justice

By Anna Rony

The goal of each goal is to reach Peace! 
Pax means Peace! And we know Peace begins with a Smile!

Yes, we love to be Peacemakers!

Thanks To the entire team of IMCS AP 2017 for the wonderful opportunity to connect the Asian Youth together in a Platform for solidarity and Intellectual Growth!

Among the many commitments that we took on lifestyle changes, personally we choose to be peacemakers as much as possible. Big problems are consequences of small actions. Global warming and food insecurity are big problems but are as a result of the small activities we perform every day. Conversely, the big solutions are also rooted in SMALL ACTIONS! So Let’s be part of it as change makers! 

It was great to be part of the study session of Pax Romana IMCS 2017 in Bangalore on “Laudato Si In action “.Being part of the Asian Youth Academy and Asian Theology Forum for past 3 years, has greatly enlarged my collaboration with Asian Youth across the globe on being sensible and committed to socially relevant issues. It was a great platform given by Pax Romana to help me learn and connect to have a human experience which was more over a shared experience of friendship and love.

The theme of the study session“Laudato Si in Action “was very relevant and progressive in its approach. The organisers of the study session helped the Asian Youth to understand the real need for change makers in diverse fields to address the issues of climate change through excellent group works, exposure visits and interactive sessions.

Hailing from a family farming community, I feel farming is a way of life in harmony with nature for a sustainable life for one and all. Small scale food production in our villages are great storehouse of traditional diverse nutritious food, seed preservation, indigenous  knowledge and an important space for human relationship with one another. It was also a great time of friendship in sharing mangoes and pineapples from my farm to the friends in the IMCS AP 2017 .We want a liberating education accessible to all people to develop local democracy which I feel is the best place for dialogue and coordination between the economy and society. All young people have talent, capacity for initiative, positive energy for the future, thirst for learning and understanding and a propensity for innovation. So youth have to be considered as an important stakeholder in the construction of a better world for nurturing and caring for our Common Home.  Since everything is interconnected in this Universe, it’s also our very responsibility to seriously “ACT UPON” the issues of Climate Change “NOW” than to wait for our government policies to get an approval.

 “As for food, If we want  to be responsible to ourselves and the planet, then the best, most of us can do, most of the time is to shorten the chain from the farm to our table, get as close to the producer as possible whenever we can. We have forgotten that food comes from the land.If we do not learn it again, we die “. – Joan Dye Gussow

Small scale farmers already feed the majority of the world with less than a quarter of all farmland.Without the traditional knowledge of farmers, there is little hope to address climate change on the agriculture farm in a meaningful way.

fishing in the farm

During the eco spirituality session, we could understand that “The environmental crisis is fundamentally a spiritual crisis.” Thomas Berry (Cultural historian). From the words of Abdennour Bidar, “ The future of  humanity will move on tomorrow not only by the resolution of the financial and economic crisis, but in a more essential way by the resolution of the unprecedented spiritual crisis the whole of our humanity is going through.”

Improving the lives of slum dwellers and addressing climate change is, for Pope Francis, one and the same thing. Both require tackling the structural, root causes of inequality, injustice, poverty and environmental degradation.  From the book of Sirach (14 : 16-21) “Give and Receive, indulge yourself, because in hades one cannot look for luxury. All living beings become old like a garment for the  age old law is, ‘Everyone must die.’Like foliage growing on a bushy tree, some leaves falling, others growing, so are the generations of flesh and blood: one dies, another is born.Every achievement rots away and perishes, and with it goes its author.Blessed is anyone who meditates on wisdom, and reasons with intelligence, who studies her ways in his heart, and ponders her secrets.”

So lets look at the Trees, the manifestation of Nature around us  and Learn especially “Values” from the Roots and “Changes” from the Leaves.

” You and me are not alone, trust in the three fingers that grasp ‘U’  and ‘Me’ as  ‘We ‘ in their fold .”