By LEONARDO BOFF*
Visible life, as we know it, is at risk of disappearing, similar to the great decimations of the past.
Considering the statements made by the UN Secretary General, António Gutérrez, we can see that in all his major meetings with state authorities and businesspeople, he is increasingly aggravating the somber tones of his warnings: he is drawing attention to the fact that either we all assume our common responsibility in the face of the ecological degradation of the planet or we will experience collective suicide.
His words carry special weight, because, due to his role in a global organization, he follows the day-to-day course of the world and the gravity of its problems. He realizes, with clear conscience, that we, as a collective, are not doing enough or what is necessary to face the changes that are occurring on planet Earth. As never before in history, destiny is in our hands. It is not that the Earth will end. The greatest miracle of evolution, life in its immense diversity, including ours, could end or be fatally affected.
Visible life as we know it is at risk of disappearing, similar to the great decimations of the past when between 75-90% of the biotic load disappeared. But we were not there. Only millions of years later did we enter the scene of evolutionary history. Now the crisis is planetary. We are deeply involved in the mass extinction of living organisms, ourselves included. There is talk of a new geological era, that of the Anthropocene, the Necrocene and, finally, the Pyrocene.
I am impressed by the testimonies of two figures of the greatest scientific seriousness. The first is Max Weber (1864-1920), shortly before his death. An expert on how societies work, he finally warned us, when confronted with his entire work and with some intuitions of Marxism (in short): “What awaits us is not the blossoming of autumn; a polar night awaits us, cold, dark and arduous.”[1] He coined the strong expression that strikes at the heart of capitalism: it is locked in an “iron cage” (Steel house) that he himself cannot break and, therefore, can lead us to a great catastrophe.[2]
The other testimony comes to us from one of the greatest historians of the 1917th century, Eric Hobsbawn (2012-XNUMX) in his well-known summary book The Age of Extremes concluding his reflections he ponders: “The future cannot be the continuation of the past… Our world is at risk of explosion and implosion… We do not know where we are going. However, one thing is clear. If humanity wants to have a worthwhile future, it cannot be by prolonging the past or the present. If we try to build the third millennium on this basis we will fail. And the price of failure, that is, the alternative to changing society, is darkness” (p.562). We are not operating any paradigmatic change in society.
Let us agree: such judgments from highly responsible people must be heard. Pope Francis rightly stated in his encyclical addressed to all humanity and not only to Christians, On caring for our common home (2015): “Catastrophic predictions can no longer be viewed with contempt and irony. We could leave too many ruins, deserts and rubbish to future generations… our current lifestyle, being unsustainable, could lead to catastrophes” (n.161). In the encyclical Fratelli tutti (2020) radicalizes his warning by stating: “we are all in the same boat; either we all save ourselves or no one is saved” (n.34). And there is no parallel boat to jump into and save ourselves.
In this sinister context, among other minor documents, three documents were prepared that seek, in the midst of darkness, to instill in us a light of hope: Earth Charter (2000), the encyclicals of Pope Francis On caring for our common home (2015) and the other Fratelli tutti (2020)
A Earth Charter, The result of a broad global consultation on values and principles capable of guaranteeing our life in the future, states with hope: “Our environmental, economic, political, social and spiritual challenges are interconnected and together we can forge inclusive solutions (Preamble d). And it points out paths and means of rescue.
in the encyclical On caring for our common home The Pope reminds us that we are Earth (n. 2), with the ethical imperative to simultaneously hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor (n. 49); our obligation is to commit ourselves to the preservation and regeneration of the planet, because “everything is connected and all of us human beings walk together as brothers and sisters on a marvelous pilgrimage that also unites us with tender affection to Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother River and Mother Earth” (n. 92). Our mission is to protect and care for this sacred heritage, which is now under threat.
in the encyclical Fratelli tutti confronts two paradigms, that of dominus (owner) with the of frater (brother/sister). Hair Sunday,Human beings understand themselves as outside and above nature, as its master and owner; using the power of techno-science has made life more comfortable, but at the same time, it has led to the current devastating crisis of ecosystems and the principle of self-destruction with weapons capable of eliminating life on Earth.
The Pope presents this paradigm in the encyclical Fratelli tutti, that of “universal fraternity”: with all beings of nature, created by Mother Earth and among us human beings, brothers and sisters together with those of nature and in the midst of it, caring for it and ensuring its regeneration and perpetuity for the benefit of present and future generations. This universal fraternity is built sustainably from the territory (bioregionalism), therefore, from the bottom up, guaranteeing something new and alternative to the dominant system that, from above, imposes a double injustice, against nature by devastating it and against human beings, relegating the vast majority of them to poverty and misery.
Does this guarantee a place for hope? That is what we believe and hope for. But the painful fact is that, as Hegel (1770-1831) said, we learn from history that we learn nothing from history, but that we learn everything from suffering.
I prefer the wisdom of the African Saint Augustine (354-430): life gives us two lessons: a severe one, of suffering, and a more gracious one, of love that leads us to do creative and unusual acts. We will probably learn from the suffering that will come, but much more from the love that “moves the heavens and all the stars” (Dante Alignieri) and our hearts. Hope will not disappoint us, as Saint Paul promised us (Rom 5,5:XNUMX).
*Leonardo Boff is an ecologist, philosopher and writer. Author, among other books, of Caring for our common home: clues to delay the end of the world (Vozes). [https://amzn.to/3zR83dw]
Notes
[1] The scholar and the politician, P. 194.
[2] Cf. the pertinent analysis by M. Löwy, The cage of hierarchy: Max Weber and Weberian Marxism, Mexico, 2017.
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