As the Old Dies, the New Struggles to Be Born

Leonardo Boff

05/09/2010

Opinión

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Among the many present problems, the three most challenging are: the grave world social crisis, climate change, and the unsustainability of the Earth-system.The world social crisis derives directly from capitalism, the mode of production still prevalent around the world. Its dynamics create an exaggerated concentration of wealth in only a few hands, at the expense of a terrifying pillage of nature and the impoverishment of the vast majorities of peoples. That is clear, and the painful cries of starving humans and of those deemed «burned oil» cannot be silenced.This system must be denounced as inhumane, cruel, pitiless and hostile to life. It has a suicidal tendency and, if not overcome, could drag the life-system into a cul-de-sac, or even lead to the extinction of the human species.

The second grave problem is climate change, that is seen in extreme events: great freezes on the one hand, and long summers on the other. These changes exemplify an irreversible fact: the Earth has lost her equilibrium and is searching for a point of stability, that will be reached through a rise in the temperature. The Earth system can accommodate a rise of up to two degrees centigrade. But if we allow the climate to warm by 4 degrees centigrade (as some serious research centers warn), life as we know it will no longer be possible. There would be a sinister landscape: a devastated Earth covered with corpses.

Never has humanity as a whole confronted such a choice: either change radically, or accept our destruction and the devastation of the diversity of life. The Earth will continue, with microorganisms, but without us.

It is important to understand that the problem is not with the Earth, but in our relation to her; aggressive and lacking cooperation with her rhythms and dynamics. Perhaps in her search for a new point of equilibrium, she will be forced to reduce the biosphere, which would mean the elimination of many living beings, not excluding human beings.

The third problem is the unsustainability of the Earth-system. We now know empirically that the Earth is a living super-organism that subtly and intelligently harmonizes all the necessary elements of life in order to continuously produce and reproduce lives, and to guarantee everything that they need to subsist.

But the excessive exploitation of her natural resources, many renewable and others not, has impeded her ability to reproduce and regulate her own internal mechanisms. Humanity now consumes about 30% more than the Earth can produce. Thus, it is no longer sustainable. There are increasing losses of soil, air, waters, jungles, living species, and of human fertility itself. When will these losses cease? And if they do not stop, what will our future be?

This requires a change in our civilization paradigm. Basically, this means a new start, a new synergetic relationship and mutual belonging between the Earth and humanity, the living of values linked to spiritual capital, such as caring, respect, collaboration, solidarity, compassion, peaceful coexistence and openness to the transcendental dimensions related to our ultimate destiny, ours and that of the whole universe.

Without spirituality, this is, without a radical experience of Being and without immersion in the Source originator of all beings, from which a new horizon of hope is born, we certainly will not have a happy journey.

We are faced with a problem: the old is still around and the new is having difficulty being born, to paraphrase Antonio Gramsci.

We live in urgent times. The urgencies make us think, and the dangers force us to build life-saving Noah's arcs. We are not satisfied with the Earth's present situation. But we still believe that it is within our reach to build a world of «good living,» in harmony with all beings and with all energies of nature, primarily, in cooperation with all human beings and with profound reverence for Mother Earth.

- Leonardo Boff, Theologian, Earthcharter Commission.

(Translation from the Spanish done at Refugio del Rio Grande, Texas, EE.UU.)

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/143879