Catholics called to care for earth

Barbara DiTommaso of the Albany diocesan Peace and Justice Commission likes to quote a homily she once heard a pastor deliver: "We're used to throwing things away, but there is no more 'away.' 'Away' is here."

Ms. DiTommaso, who participates in environmental activism, spends a lot of time urging fellow Catholics to take care of the environment before it's too late. The reasons, she said, are simple:

* We are not owners of creation; we are its stewards. The Bible gives us a glimpse at God's view of the world in the Book of Leviticus: "The land is mine," God tells the Israelites; "and you are but aliens who have become my tenants" (Lev. 25:23).

* "If we hog more than our fair share, there isn't enough for all people," Ms. DiTommaso stated. "That includes air and water." She cited global warming causing flooding on Pacific islands as an example of one country's pollution affecting other peoples.

Back to basics

Though the New York State Catholic Conference has included just three environmental issues in its 2004 legislative agenda (see separate story), Ms. DiTommaso takes a wider view.

For one thing, she advocates going back to basics: recycling more, living without non-essentials and eating lower on the food chain.

Noting that Pope John Paul II has described consumerism as "exhausting and joyless," she added: "You need to work to have the money for all this stuff; you need to shop for it; and when it wears out, you have to replace it, so it's exhausting. And it's joyless: People buy stuff because they think it's going to make them happy, but [material things] are never going to satisfy us."

She joked that she doesn't advocate washing laundry by pounding it on a rock in the Hudson River, but she would like to see people use drying racks (instead of wasting energy with electric clothes dryers) and live without hair dryers.

Changes urged

"The whole world could live at a European standard of living," Ms. DiTommaso said. "That was the standard at which we lived in 1960. They recycle a lot more; people use mass transit a lot more; private cars are much smaller. Gas costs closer to its true value -- about $4 a gallon.

"Half the new vehicles sold in the Capital District are SUVs and pickup trucks," she told The Evangelist, and rarely are such large, gas-guzzling vehicles actually necessary for suburban families.

Ms. DiTommaso herself has tried to pollute less by twice moving closer to work so she doesn't have to drive as far. Even such small efforts to conserve energy are important, she noted.

Farm issues

The activist also lobbies on behalf of farmers in New York State.

"The Church has always been a voice for small- and medium-sized family farms," she stated. "These are people who take care of the land because they want to pass it on to their heirs. Now we have a lot of industrial farming, where food and animals are being mass-produced. It's a violation of the creatures and a human problem, and it's hard on the workers, too."

She also worries about the long-term effects of genetically modified foods that are finding their way more and more into the American market, particularly corn and soybeans.

"If a flounder gene is put into a strawberry because flounder is a cold-water fish and it helps the strawberry survive the cold, I don't know if our bodies are going to know what to do with that," she said.

The environment, she notes, "isn't something outside myself. I am part of the material world. The things that are good for you are also good for the environment -- and it's a good feeling to realize how much stuff you can do without."

(To learn more about environmental issues, Barbara DiTommaso recommends two websites: the Union of Concerned Scientists -- www.ucusa.org or www.ucsaction.org -- and the National Resources Defense Council -- www.nrdc.org.)

(3/25/04) [[In-content Ad]]