Transcript Creation Unit 090115

www.cafod.org.uk
Creation and
Stewardship
A unit for Post-16
Core RE.
For GCSE-specific
resources on Creation and
Stewardship, please visit:
cafod.org.uk/gcse
…with a particular emphasis on
developing countries
Section One
Introduction – Creation: gift and responsibility
Section Two
Climate Change – causes, effects, responses
and case studies
Section Three Scripture, Catholic Social Teaching …and action!
Section Four
Evaluation and assignments
Unit: Creation and Stewardship
By the end of this unit you will:

have considered your own views on creation and its
stewardship

be familiar with scripture and Catholic Social Teaching
about stewardship of creation

understand what leading scientists in the IPCC say
about climate change, and have considered
alternative views

be able to give examples of how climate change affects
people in developing countries (LEDCs)

have taken action to make a difference.
Treat the earth well – it is not inherited
from your parents, it is borrowed from
your children.
Kenyan proverb
Section One Creation: gift and responsibility
Look at this
photo in
silence for
one minute.
What
thoughts
does it
bring to
your mind?
What does Creation mean to you?
Here are some people’s reactions:
Our planet is AMAZING
TOO
There are
many of us for the
planet to sustain
It’s POLLUTION
that bothers me
CREATION?
Not interested – I’m more
of a city person!
WE
have to look
after creation – it’s our
responsibility
I’m worried about
BIODIVERSITY
and how our actions are
wiping out species
Living simply
is the answer
Recycling is the ANSWER!
NUCLEAR power is the answer!
What does Creation mean to you?
Scientists will come up with a
CLEVER
WE MUST PERSUADE PEOPLE
SOLUTION to reduce their carbon emissions
to climate change
What do
Other countries have a right to industrial development;
WE’VE NO RIGHT
YOU
to tell them to stop emitting carbon
We can’t force people to reduce
their carbon footprint –
CREATION is ours
IT’S THEIR CHOICE
to use any way we want
think
Climate change?
RUBBISH!
This is just a temperature cycle
It’s TOO BIG TO THINK ABOUT
What difference can I make?
What does Creation mean to you?
What is ‘stewardship’?
Take a moment to think. Write down your own definition.
Compare it with this dictionary definition:
“
the conducting, supervising, or managing of
something ; especially : the careful and
responsible management of something
entrusted to one's care
”
What do you think stewardship of creation should include?
Defining ‘stewardship’
What is ‘stewardship’?
Genesis 1:28 says
“
…fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of…
all the living creatures that move on Earth.
”
Some modern theologians say that the term ‘stewardship’,
developed from this language, can give the impression that it is
acceptable to exploit the Earth for humanity’s benefit.
What are your own views?
Defining ‘stewardship’
Brainstorm one way that you believe
creation is not being well stewarded.
Think about both causes and effects.
Use a Problem Tree to stimulate your
thinking.
Loss of
work
Illness
Dirty air
Pollution
Write:
• the issue on the trunk
• immediate causes on shallow roots
• deeper causes on deeper roots
• effects on the branches.
Poverty
and
hunger
Chemicals
emitted into
air/ flow into
rivers
Problem Tree
water
Crop pesticides
flowing into
streams
Unregulated
industrialisation
For example, if your concern
were pollution, your tree might
include labels like these…
Undrinkable
Poverty
Irresponsibility
Heavy use of
non-organic
fertilisers
Lack of
education
Putting profit before people
The Church calls us to put the needs of the poor first:
“
The Gospel instructs us in the preferential
respect due to the poor and the special situation they
have in society: the more fortunate should renounce
some of their rights so as to place their goods more
generously at the service of others.
Octogesima Adveniens (A Call to Action), Pope Paul VI, 1971
”
Look at your Problem Tree again.
Have you considered how your chosen issue affects the poor?
Are there roots or branches that could be added to your tree?
New jobs
in green
economy
Can you produce a
Solution Tree for
the same issue?
More
people
able to
work
Healthier
population
Clean
water
No
pollution
Changed
practices in
homes, towns,
farms
Keep your Problem and Solution
Trees. We will return to them
later in this unit.
Solution Tree
Clean
streets
Councils, companies
etc plan cleaner
ways of working
Clean
air
Cleaner
practices in
industry
Anti-pollution
laws in place
Rising demand for greener
fertilisers, detergents, etc
Social pressure for change
• Describe how the picture makes you
feel.
• What do you imagine to be the story
of this picture?
The picture shows the effects of
drought in Kenya, where villagers say
that drought now occurs more often
and more severely.
What is your own experience of the
awesome beauty and power of the
created world?
Thank you, God,
for the gift of creation and all its beauty.
Teach us how to be good stewards
of creation, so that everyone
can enjoy its benefits. Amen
Pause for reflection
Section Two
Climate change – causes, effects,
responses and case studies
Heat from the sun
shines onto the Earth.
It passes through a
blanket of gases in
our atmosphere.
Some of the heat energy is
reflected back into space.
Some of the heat
energy gets absorbed
by the blanket of
‘greenhouse’ gases.
Human activities are creating
more greenhouse gases
including carbon dioxide, CO2.
As we burn more fossil
fuels, for example, the
blanket of greenhouse
gases becomes thicker.
More greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere mean that more
heat energy is absorbed.
This increase in the
temperature of the
earth, or ‘global
warming’, is what
causes climate change.
Do you think climate change has affected the UK?
If so, how?
It is not possible to say definitely that any one weather
event is due to climate change. However, the IPCC
says that climate change will lead to less predictable
and more intense weather events.
Watch a clip about flooding in the Somerset Levels, at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25879909
Do you have personal experience of extreme
weather events like storms, floods or droughts?
How might the experiences of the people in the film have
differed if they had been living in an LEDC?
Climate change in the UK?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), made up of leading scientists, says that:
• Warming of the climate system is unequivocal. The atmosphere and
ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished,
and sea level has risen
• Carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by 40 percent since
pre-industrial times, primarily from fossil fuel emissions
• Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the
Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850
• Climate change will impact on food production and economic growth,
making poverty reduction more difficult.
(For sources, see notes field of this slide)
Human influence on climate
Visit: The Guardian interactive map and
investigate which countries are most and
least responsible for climate change.
Carbon-emitting world map
left unchecked, climate change will increase the
“ Iflikelihood
of severe, pervasive and irreversible
impacts for people and ecosystems. However,
options are available to adapt to climate change
and stringent mitigation activities can ensure that
the impacts of climate change remain within a
manageable range, creating a brighter and more
sustainable future.
”
Press release from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2 Nov 2014
Among all the concerns on stewardship of creation, should
climate change be our top priority? Why/ why not?
Research supporting and opposing views on climate change.
Conduct a debate, with half of your class arguing for and
half against the motion: “Addressing climate change should
be humanity’s top priority.”
“
“
“ ““
The rains come at the
Non-indigenous people have
wrong times now – like it rained in
been destroying
nature
for
We
believe
that
if money
Our
ancestors
had
January for four days. It’s no use to
because
do
value
our
forest
isthey
lost
all not
life
is
alsoor
lost.
In
Mayan
culture,
the
Earth
is
it right
–
when
they
cut
down
a
farmers if the rains come at our
respect
the
environment...
I had
never
heard
about
climate
mother,
we
are
her
children.
now
tree
they
had
to
ask
the
earth...
unexpected times. Many had noBut
seeds
I are
want
to say
non-indigenous
change,
but
if itto
continues
we Earth
could and
we
destroying
our
Mother
leftTrinidad
or were
scared
to plant
them.
Sánchez, executive
director, COMAL,
Honduras
peoples
that
you
needeffects.
to listen
lose
this
forest.
this
has
global
Farmers are confused. Who knows
and
from
us
Ke Kachok,learn
Kroeng group
leader, Cambodia
Virgilio Ramirez, Director of Radio Balam Estero, Guatemala
how many days these wrong-time
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami,
rains
will last?
President of Hutukara Yanomami Association, Brazil
”
”
””
”
Charles Wangeneye,
Director of Caring for Environment for Development (CED), Kitui, Kenya
What can indigenous people and farmers in developing countries
teach us about climate change and caring for the Earth?
What do people in less economically
developed countries say?
Focussing on one region can give
a deeper insight into how climate
change affects people in LEDCs.
CAFOD has been working with
partners in Latin America since
the 1960s.
In recent years this work has
been greatly affected by climate
change.
We will look at examples of this in
Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.
Find out more about
CAFOD’s work
PERU
BOLIVIA
BRAZIL
CAFOD in Latin America
The Cruz de Mayo community, just
below the Parón lagoon in Peru, is
surrounded by seven glaciers,
reaching up to 6,600 metres.
It is estimated that all the glaciers
under 5,000 metres will have
melted completely by 2030.
Some years ago, Peru’s government
sold the Parón lagoon to Duke
Energy, a hydroelectricity company.
“ We live from the ice, because
our water comes from the
ice. How will we live when
there is no ice?
”Julio Granados
Peru
Sometimes the company released
large quantities of water from the
lagoon gates, destroying crops. At
other times, it closed the gates
and the crops died from drought.
Water levels in the lagoon fell. In
2008, thousands of people marched
to the lagoon to protest.
Now the Cruz de Mayo community
manages the lagoon, with support
from local government and consent
from Duke Energy, and the lagoon
is gradually refilling.
feel happy when I see the
“ Ilagoon
refilling. For me it
represents life, the life that
God has created.
”
Flor Vilma Dueñas Olivo,
farmer and community activist
Peru
Bolivia is rich in natural resources,
yet in rural areas nearly three in five
people live in extreme poverty.
About every five years, trade winds
change and warm ocean waters
move eastwards.
One of our partners, Fundación Nuna,
talks to a family about their water
resources - the well in the photo which have become scarcer each year.
This is called El Niño and upsets
normal weather patterns (eg.
causing floods in Bolivia’s lowlands
and drought in the highland plains
and valleys in 2007 and 2008).
A changing climate will have a direct
impact on El Niño.
Rural communities have also noted
changes in temperature since the
1970s and in rainfall in recent years.
Bolivia
Extremes of climate are more
common, the growing season is
shorter, and higher temperatures
are leading to a change in some
crops.
The glaciers that provide water to
the capital, La Paz, are predicted to
disappear by 2045.
Felipa Charque Chambi (72) lives in a
rural community called Villa Arbolitos:
I was a little girl… this
“ When
area was very green, and
people used to bring their
sheep, llamas and cattle from
other villages to drink the
water. But now drought is
causing real problems and
making things tense with our
neighbouring community.
”
Bolivia
Our partners work to ensure
that the poorest and most
excluded Bolivians,
particularly the indigenous
majority, have a say in the
policies that affect them.
CAFOD has helped
indigenous farmers to set up
the Bolivia Climate Change
Platform to lobby on climate
change at national and
international level. United,
those most affected by
climate change have a
stronger voice.
Click the icon for the Declaration of Indigenous Peoples on Climate Change.
http://www.forestpeoples.org/topics/un-framework-convention-climate-change-unfccc/publication/2011/declaration-indigenous-peoples
Bolivia
Hutukara Yanomami Association
represents Yanomami indigenous
people living a traditional way of life in
the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.
In 1992, Brazil’s government finally
agreed to officially protect Yanomami
land but the forest continues to be
under threat. In 2014, around 4,000
illegal gold miners destroyed trees
and polluted rivers with mercury.
Now, unpredictable seasons are
affecting the Yanomami’s ability to
grow food and live sustainably.
Hutukara lobbies Brazil’s government
to keep its promises to protect the
Yanomami people and their land.
Protecting the Amazon helps to
protect the earth from climate change.
Brazil
rain has changed. Now it rains
“ The
in the summer…
The life of the Yanomami people is
being affected - the destruction of
the forest has increased a lot, there
are lots of cracks in the earth.
We Indians are saying: Look at the
sky, it’s changing, the sun is
changing, the rain is changing. The
men in the cities, the industrialised
world, we want them to listen to us
and believe us for the future, see
the pollution, destruction, poverty,
illness. But they don’t see it. They
let it happen.
”
Davi Kopenawa Yanomami,
President, Hutukara Yanomami Association
Click the icon. Davi talks about climate change and how it
affects his people. http://youtu.be/QO_Fd4AbNbU
Brazil
Climate change
more intense weather
events: hurricanes, altered
monsoons, etc
landslides
floods
melting
glaciers
droughts
melting
ice caps
rising river
levels
rising sea
levels
land losses
homes and
businesses
destroyed
water sources
contaminated
water shortages
crops destroyed
livestock
die
vulnerability, hunger, conflict, displaced people,
poverty
Are these outcomes inevitable? Create a mind map showing
positive responses to the challenges of climate change.
Effects of climate change in less
economically developed countries
At the 1992 Earth Summit, 189 countries agreed to establish the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Five years later
the ‘Kyoto Protocol’ was signed, with legally binding emissions
reduction targets for 37 more economically developed countries from
2008 until 2012. Some countries, like the US, refused to sign.
The international community has been developing a successor to the
Kyoto Protocol at annual meetings known as Conferences of the
Parties (‘COPs’). The last meeting look place in Lima, Peru. It is highly
anticipated that a new binding global agreement on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions will be signed in Paris in 2015.
One view on the outcome of the talks in Peru, 2014
www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/524/the-day-the-church-went-green
Suggest why some MEDCs refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
Should LEDCs and MEDCs have the same obligation to reduce
CO2 emissions? Why/ why not?
Who decides climate change rules?
“
Whilst China and others must reduce their
emissions, we in the developed world must not abdicate
our responsibility for the historic backlog of emissions
sitting in the atmosphere right now and the new damage
we continue to wreak on the climate.
Instead of muddying the waters with
buck-passing, we should show leadership.
People’s lives in poor countries are already
devastated by climate change and it’s getting worse. We
need a climate change agreement with justice for the
poorest people at its heart.
Neil Thorns,
Head of Advocacy at CAFOD
What does CAFOD say?
”
CAFOD is campaigning for a global deal that
puts the world’s poorest people at its heart by:
Helping poor communities – who are hit hardest by climate change to adapt to the impact of a changing climate and benefit from
sustainable development. The poorest have done least to cause
climate change; they should not be the ones to pay the price.
Providing necessary support for LEDCs - This includes adequate and
predictable financial support and capacity building for adaptation,
and for building low carbon development.
Beyond the Paris deal, supporting the shift away from using
polluting fossil fuels - the main cause of climate change - to
ensuring sustainable, affordable, safe and reliable energy for
everyone, including the billions that currently live without energy.
What does CAFOD say?
Review what you have studied about the causes of climate
change and its effects on LEDCs.
You are a delegate at the international talks on climate
change in Paris in 2015 with a chance to address the
assembly. What will you recommend in your speech?
In 2014, young people around the world made videos
urging the UN to act on climate change:
www.askwhywhynot.org/
Hear what the top eight young film-makers said to the UN:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtQyg1l3p9g
Pause for reflection
“The plight of the earth
demonstrates that…
materialism cannot be
allowed to drive out
responsibility and love…
care for those in need, and
respect for the rights of
future generations...”
The Call of Creation,
Catholic Bishops of England & Wales, 2002
Section Three
Scripture, Catholic Social
Teaching …and action!
Look again at your Problem and
Solution Trees from earlier in this
unit.
Note any questions that they raise
for you with regard to religious
faith.
Keep these questions in mind as
we explore scripture and Catholic
Social Teaching.
If you attended a Catholic school, you will have studied Creation and
Stewardship in Key Stage 3.
Here is a quick reminder of what you may have learned:
• Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God.
• The creation story in Genesis is a theological, not a scientific, truth.
• Because God is infinitely good, creation reflects that goodness.
• God created humankind in God’s own image and likeness.
• Adam and Eve represent humankind, appointed as stewards of
creation, but rejecting original holiness.
• Yet God does not abandon creation, but loves and sustains it.
• In love, God sent Jesus so that everyone might have life to the full.
Revision
Read these quotations from the Bible:
took the man and settled
“ God
him in the garden of Eden to
cultivate and take care of it.
”
Genesis 2:15
Ever since God created the world
[God’s] everlasting power and deity
– however invisible – have been
there for the mind to see in the
things [God] has made.
Romans 1:20
“
Look at the birds in the sky. They
do not sow or reap or gather into
barns; yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not worth
much more than they are?
Matthew 6:20
”
…the land belongs to me;
and you are only strangers
and guests of mine.
Leviticus 25:23
shall leave [the
“ …you
gleanings of your harvest] for
the poor and for the alien.
”
Leviticus 23:22
I establish my Covenant with
you, and with your descendants
after you; also with every living
creature to be found with you.
Genesis 9:9-10
How would you summarise in one
sentence (it can be long!) the Bible’s
teaching on creation and on its
stewardship by human beings?
What does scripture say?
Justice for the poor is a major theme in scripture.
For example:
out for those who cannot speak,
“ Speak
for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out, judge righteously, defend the
rights of the poor and needy.
”
Proverbs 31:8-9
How might the above quotation change your response to the
previous slide?
Jot down any amendments to your response:
Find more scripture and Catholic Social Teaching on this topic by looking at
Pope Francis’ encyclical on human ecology
What does scripture say?
over inanimate and
“ …dominion
other living beings granted by
Read these quotations:
“ [We must be] committed to
the Creator is not absolute;
it is limited by concerns for
the quality of life of [one’s]
neighbour, including
generations to come;
it requires a religious respect
for the integrity of creation.
making joint decisions ‘…aimed at
strengthening that covenant
between human beings and the
environment, which should mirror
the creative love of God.’
Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 50
”
”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2415
society cannot respond
“ Today’s
adequately to the duty
connected with the responsibility
to protect the environment if it
does not seriously review its
lifestyle, its patterns of
consumption and production.
destined the earth and all
“ God
it contains for… all peoples so
”
Archbishop Migliore, Speech to the U.N., 28 October 2008
Catholic Social Teaching
that all created things would
be shared fairly by all.
”
Pope Paul VI, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in
the Modern World, 69
What would you say are the
Church’s main concerns about
the stewardship of creation?
The Call of Creation is a document written by the Catholic Bishops
of England and Wales. It encouraged Catholics to voice their views
on the environment ahead of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit
on Sustainable Development. Click the icon to read it.
www.cbcew.org.uk/content/download/34849/258827/file/call-of-creation-cafod-2008.pdf
Read:
Section II- The impact on the world’s poor
Section IV- Human beings are dependent but responsible
Section V- Personal responsibility and conversion of life
What reason do the bishops cite in Section II for ‘People’s supply
running short’? What is your own opinion?
How is being created in the image of God both a gift and a
challenge? (Section IV)
If you were to fully live what the Bishops are saying in the
paragraph from Section V, how would your life be different?
Catholic Social Teaching
“ Individual choices can seem insignificant when faced
with such global challenges. But multiplied individual
actions can indeed make a real difference.
”
The Call of Creation
CAFOD belongs to the global Caritas network, a federation
of 170 international Catholic aid agencies.
Download our video showing how Caritas responded to
Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/CAFOD-main-websitefilms/John+Manuel+CAFOD+Version.mov
How can you put Catholic Social Teaching into action?
Click the icon to find out how to campaign with CAFOD
www.cafod.org.uk/secondary/climate
Decide one action that you or your class will take.
There are more ideas in the next section of this unit.
Catholic Social Teaching in action
Return to the questions you had
at the start of this section.
How do scripture and Catholic Social Teaching
shed light on them?
Research any questions that remain unanswered.
Compare what the Catholic Church says about the
stewardship of creation with what you have learned about
international decisions on climate change.
In what ways does international stewardship of the
Earth conform to and differ from the ideals of the Bible
and of Catholic Social Teaching?
Plenary
“
““
At the end of the vast horizon,
we perceived mountains whose indistinct
Never
willescaped
I forgetus
the
contoursLife
would
have
hadofnot their
is not
a simple product
impression
the sea
madeby
upon
snowy
summits
made
visible
the sun
laws and the randomness of matter,
me;
I one
couldn’t
myto
eyes off
come to
add
moretake
charm
beautiful
but
within
everything
and the
above,
it,
sincethrilled
its majesty,
the
roaring
lake,there
which
us so.
When
saw
is a personal
will,
thereI is
a all
of its waves,
everything
spoke
these beauties
very
profound
Spirit who
in Jesus
has thoughts
revealed came
to my
my soul.
soul of
God’s grandeur
to life in
I seemed
to understand
Himself
as Love.
and power.
already the grandeur
of God and the marvels
Benedict
XVI
of heaven… St.
I Pope
shall
remember
what my
Therese of Lisieux
eyes have seen today.
”
”
”
St. Therese of Lisieux
Pause for reflection
Section Four Evaluation and assignments
Think about what has been covered
in this unit
What have I learned?
Where have I felt challenged?
What did I find exciting or interesting?
What was difficult to understand?
What would I like to explore further?
Can I say ‘I am a steward of the earth’ and mean it?
Why/ why not?
What is God saying to me about my role in
stewardship of creation, now and in the future?
Evaluation
1. Research the causes and impacts of climate change, using
the library, the internet, newspapers, and local experts.
Prepare a ten-minute talk for your class or for a younger class.
Your presentation should include:
•
introduction to the issue
•
where it occurs
•
who it affects most and how
•
possible ways forward
•
at least two differing viewpoints on the issue
•
your own viewpoint (with reasons)
•
summary and conclusion.
TIPS
• Remember to use your own expertise too!
If you are studying English Literature you could take a literary
angle, if you are studying science you could research the scientific
viewpoints, etc.
• Remember to include scripture and Catholic Social Teaching.
Assignment ideas
2. Write an essay:
Examine and assess the implications that Genesis 1:27 has
for Christians in terms of their treatment of Creation.
Hints!
• Think about how God treats Creation.
• Show that you have weighed up different sides of the
argument.
• Include relevant quotations from scripture and from Catholic
Social Teaching.
3. Organise action in your school or college to tackle climate change:
www.cafod.org.uk/Education/Secondary-schools/Climate
4. If your school or college is not yet an eco-school, write a plan of
action to help work towards this award.
Find out more at
www.eco-schools.org.uk/
Assignment ideas
5. Invite your local MP into school to ask how s/he will work to prevent
climate change pushing people deeper into poverty:
cafod.org.uk/Education/Young-people/Climate-action-young-people
6. Organise a performance of the ‘Degrees of Change’ play about
climate change:
cafod.org.uk/Media/Files/Resources/Youth/Degrees-of-Change
7. Fundraise for poor communities affected by climate change:
cafod.org.uk/Fundraise/Guide-to-fundraising
8. Organise an exhibition of photographs, paintings or recycled
artefacts, alongside relevant information, to raise awareness of how
climate change affects LEDCs, or make a film (see slide 36).
9. Plan, design and set up a school allotment.
10. Use your artistic or IT skills to produce a piece of communication
to promote action for climate change in your school.
Assignment ideas
Publications
• Ellen Teague, Between the Flood and the Rainbow: Climate
Change and the Church’s Social Teaching, Missionary Society of
St. Columban, 2008
• Michael P.Hornsby-Smith, An Introduction to Catholic Social
Thought, CUP, 2002
• CAFOD, Climate Change photocards, images, facts, stories and
reflections. From http://shop.cafod.org.uk
Weblinks
• Developing countries and climate change:
www.cafod.org.uk/Campaign/Get-clued-up/Climate-and-energy
• Becoming an eco-school: www.eco-schools.org.uk
• Our campaign for young people, plus other resources on climate
change: www.cafod.org.uk/secondary/climate
Other useful resources
www.cafod.org.uk
cafod.org.uk
CAFOD is not responsible for the content of external websites
Picture credits
Annie Bungeroth, Richard Wainwright,
Francesca Hoyle, Karen Luyckx, Marcella
Haddad, Philippe Mougin, Maria Marshall,
Luciano Padrão, Nasa/wikipedia, CAFOD.
Spring 2015
CAFOD is a member of Caritas International
Registered Charity No. 285776