A sustainable lifestyle has been advocated to stop the looming food and energy crises that may arise from current climate change caused by environmental pollution and general mismanagement.
This is the presentation at a one-day Conference in Lagos on Environmental Preservation, with the theme “Traveling and Listening Together: Energy Crisis and Sustainable Lifestyle for Church and State” which was organized by the Working Group of ecology of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.
Speakers denounced the abuse of the environment by man and the inherent danger to the well-being of man and society.
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Alfred Martins, opened the discussion when he lamented that many human activities have given rise to climate change, the consequences of which are now facing society.
He stated that climate change has manifested itself in various and unprecedented ways, such as heat waves that have caused uncontrolled forest fires that have devastated large areas of land; progressive desertification; sea level rise leading to destructive flooding and landslides; chemical and technological pollution leading to biodiversity depletion and ecosystem destruction.
“We are faced with the results of our collective and individual lifestyles and habits that lead to the depletion of animal and plant species and to the contamination of the earth, turning it into what the Pope calls a heap of filth,” the clergy said.
According to him, the conference was the church’s response to the call of Pope Francis some seven years ago when he released his encyclical LAUDATO SI translated as Caring for our home. “The document focused on caring for the earth, our common home, the challenges of environmental pollution and persistent poverty facing the world.”
Mr. Martins said that as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease, the world is facing other crises that have both local and global dimensions, namely the energy crisis and the looming food crisis, the impact of which would be enormous and unimaginable, if the necessary measures are taken. they are not taken and quickly too.
“Shouldn’t we be concerned as a church? Shouldn’t we worry as a people? We all should be and that is why I hope this conference provides the platform to strategize together on what needs to be done to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” he said.
In his paper titled “Global Energy and Environment Crisis,” Akin Abayomi, Lagos State Health Commissioner, who was the guest speaker, said that the worldwide energy crisis has raised concern that the world’s demands on Limited natural resources that are used to power industrial society are diminishing as demand increases.
The environmental and economic effects of the situation, he highlighted, are the increase in the cost of energy and electricity with an increase in gas prices of around 47%; increased cost of doing business; unemployment; global warming etc.
Mr. Abayomi then listed factors such as overpopulation as mitigators of global equity and stability; war and attacks; lost; aging energy infrastructure; on inequitable consumption and unexplored renewable energies.
While calling for joint action in Africa, he revealed that Africa contributes 4% of global carbon dioxide and yet is the most affected by climate change, with half of every 10 countries affected by extreme weather conditions in 2019. They are from Africa.
He said that the rising cost of energy is driving the use of alternative energy and that Africa is in a dire situation as 90 percent of West Africa’s forest cover has been lost in the last 100 years and only Nigeria loses. 350,000 hectares for destruction every year.
Reinforcing the need for an urgent change in lifestyle when it comes to the environment, Mr. Abayomi said that Lagos is one of the six cities in the world that are heavily polluted by air pollution, water pollution and lead exposure. He mentioned other cities such as Los Angeles, New Delhi, Beijing, London and Santiago.
To address environmental challenges, he revealed that Lagos is committed to improving air quality and that if Lagos achieves the goal set by the World Health Organization (WHO), it could prevent 2,800 deaths and 155,000 hospitalizations, reduce 2,300 cases of asthma and save up to $2.3 billion annually.
Prescribing solutions to environmental challenges, he urged the church to actively engage and use the pulpit to drive advocacy for the need for a sustainable lifestyle.
The church, he advised, must be practical and preach a sustainable lifestyle; going green, reforestation and preservation of life.
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Contributing to the discussion, the Dean of the Lagos Island Deanery, Julius Olaitan, pointed out that there is a need for a dialogue with nature and a dialogue with man to resolve the crisis in the environment.
He said that there is a need to bring the entire human family together for enlightenment and to see a sustainable lifestyle.
Drawing on his experience as a parish priest, Mr. Olaitan listed the steps they had taken as a church to “reconcile” with the environment. These steps he listed as “Conserve energy; Use of energy saving equipment; good maintenance culture; control of scavengers that litter the environment; reducing reuse and recycling because concern for the environment is also a concern for life”.
In her earlier remarks, Marie Fatayi-Wlliams, Coordinator of the Ecology Working Group, explained the rationale for the conference as part of the group’s efforts to encourage and promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
She said that the conference would also help add steps that will promote healthy living with the environment that, in addition to human needs, is also an instruction from God, who is the creator of the earth and the man who lives on earth.
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