Is environmentalism a moral issue?

[una_fide]

Would environmentalism be considered a moral issue, requiring us to make an effort to make and keep the environment clean? I think that taking care of the environment should be considered a life issue, though not as important as abortion, since abortion goes directly against human life, and it has more immediate consequeces.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Yes, environmentalism can be considered a moral issue, because God has designated humans to be stewards of creation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man’s dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation (CCC 2415).

In his Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace 2007, Benedict XVI said:

The destruction of the environment, its improper or selfish use, and the violent hoarding of the earth’s resources cause grievances, conflicts, and wars, precisely because they are the consequences of an inhumane concept of development (Message 9).

It must be said though, that in the hierarchy of moral values, care for creation is indeed lower than respect for human life. There are many different legitimate means of properly caring for the environment. But direct abortion is always, in and of itself, a grave evil that can never be tolerated. John Paul II stated in Christifidelis Laici:

The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life*,* the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination (CL 38).

Recommended reading:

The “Greening” of Institutional Christianity by John L. Allen Jr.