My Perspective: Conference energizes FSPA ecological advocate to educate

by Lucy Slinger, FSPA

In the fall of 2007 I attended the Climate Change Conference sponsored by the Department of Public Information: Non-Governmental Organizations at the United Nations. It was a most unique opportunity to see the United Nations in an up-close personal way and to experience being with about 2,500 people from 390 countries. I still sit in contemplation over it all and I don’t have the words to describe the feelings this experience evoked in my life. Simply being able to walk on the small space on this Earth that is not a sovereign territory of any nation but a collectively designated shared global space puts me in a mindset that there is deep hope for a sustainable future despite the despairing facts presented.

It was a wonderful experience to meet such a wide variety of people. This begins with my time at Franciscan International. As a member of the Third Order Secular Franciscans, I constantly made contributions to this Non-Governmental Organization and was grateful to know of the Franciscan influence at the U.N. It was also wonderful to find the depth of our shared “kindred spirits” over environmental ethics.

Attending the session on the “Caucus on Values” in the Baha’i International Center was a deep confirmation of the line of reasoning and thinking I have done around cosmology, environmental education and sustainability as a part of my FSPA formation and ministry in ecospirituality. I can’t tell you how affirming it is to have discerned the same two paradigms for life that this group of 15 people from around the world, across faiths, across denominations has developed. I treasure the provided single page handout I was given, and will be using it in the retreats, courses, workshops and presentations that I do for my ministry work.

This graphic is an interior design of a vertical farm as
designed by Chris Jacobs of www.unitedfuture.com and James Nelms of www.storyboardsonline.com. Vertical farms,if successfully implemented, offer the promise of urban renewal.
Photo courtesy of Chris Jacobs

It was also intriguing to hear about “vertical farming”—something new for me. I can imagine high-rise farms within cities pretty easily when the given statistics are that there will be 9 billion people by 2020, and that the additional 3 billion people will require food production land that is equivalent to the size of the country of Brazil. It’s a stunning proposition out of technology to offset a shocking reality of the challenge to Earth the Homo sapiens species is presenting. I take with me a renewed sense of urgency to educate and act on behalf of a sustainable future and to know more deeply that what we do today is truly the base for future generations. A clear message was that while the adults of this age will not see the real impact of their lifestyle, the youth of 2020 and beyond will know the massive impact our ways left as a legacy.

Will there be a future for the future generations of Homo sapiens? Our current activities with Earth are defining it today and future generations of our species will simply inherit the unsustainable mess we have generated. The ongoing question remains the extent to which each of us is willing to change our ways to enable a future for our species. The message of climate change is such a clear clarion call for drastic, not minimal, changes today. There is only one living Earth and we are the one species who makes intentional choices to modify fundamental laws that have facilitated the unfolding of the living system we inherited. How dare we leave a legacy of starvation, sterilization and despair because of our arrogant belief that we are so superior to nature that we will come up with technology that can make a difference.

I returned home to the soil of the heartland with gratitude for the space, solitude, silence and good life living in rural America. I have a renewed sense of urgency to educate and live the Franciscan ways with a spirit of humility and poverty. It is a great gift to the world to have the Franciscan International NGO presence at the United Nations. It invites and calls us all daily to conversion in the privileged walk on Earth. God has blessed us with resources to be shared in “doing what is ours to do” for the common global good. I can’t think of a more important presence for Franciscans than being in the global space that is not owned by any nation but truly where global citizens of Earth are afforded the freedom to discern and develop a legacy of global sustainability.

Sister Lucy Slinger is the ecological advocate for the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. Sister Lucy serves as a resource for FSPA congregational facilities, networks with other environmental groups, and coordinates the organic garden at Villa St. Joseph.