Pope Francis wrote: Eight years have passed since I published the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, when I wanted to share with all of you, my brothers and sisters of our suffering planet, my heartfelt concerns about the care of our common home. Yet, with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc.
What if the suffering of our Planet Desert is the same
As the suffering of your body, my body, and the body politic?
What if those pains in your back, in the knees of those waiting in line,
In the throats of whales and the last wriggles of lizard tails?
What if the collapse of our grandmother’s lungs is rooted
In the same drivers as the collapse of our atmosphere?
What would it take for you or me or million other people
To out to volunteer the rest of our days as planetary paramedics
On an emergency medical team that is much more needed
Than our next cut of hair, cup of coffee or Crispy Cream Donut?
What if it takes six billion of us each doing little modest things
Each day to move your grandmother and our earth back to health?
No ifs, ands or buts, we are one body.
