Open AccessGlobal Problem, Individual Solutions?
Author(s) -
Cynthia M. Nolan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the catholic social science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1944-6292
pISSN - 1091-0905
DOI - 10.5840/cssr20202538
Subject(s) - obligation , beauty , china , environmental ethics , global warming , law , political science , moral obligation , law and economics , business , sociology , climate change , philosophy , ecology , biology
Our Holy Father Pope Francis has encouraged the entire world to care for the earth by protecting its beauty and gifts. Laudato Si was written in 2015, and we are perhaps even more challenged five years later with global environmental problems mostly because the solutions have gotten harder. China refuses to import foreign recyclables, and many developed nations do not have anywhere else to turn. So, what is the obligation of the individual to solve the global problems of pollution, waste, and degraded climate? Is the effort just as virtuous as the result?