Just like Moses transcribed the Ten Commandments from God for everyone, we, as earth citizens, need help for ecological awareness and stewardship. The following 10 eco-commandments come from the presentation “Man and Biosphere,” delivered March 9, 1968, in Paris by Peter Menke-Gluckert to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Peter Sogaard Jorgensen, 4/29/2014, “Ten Eco-Commandments, Evolution and Sustainability”):
- Respect the laws of nature. Understand the value of nature and be appreciative for what God has given us in our Earth and solar system.
- Learn, as responsible earth citizens, from the wisdom of nature. It’s our duty to learn about ecosystems so we can act with wisdom, care, understanding, and sensitivity.
- Do not reduce plurality. We need richness, abundance, and biodiversity.
- Do not pollute! Avoid degrading the land, air and water. Look for ways to clean-up polluted habitats.
- Face your earth-responsibility every day. It’s a fundamental right of all citizens to live in a world unspoiled by man’s refuse and free from wars and hunger.
- Follow the principle of nature precaution/sustainability in all economic activities! Act like indigenous people in using fewer resources and replacing them.
- Act as you speak! Do not buy or use more than you need.
- Prefer intelligent bio-economic solutions. Bring nature into your solutions. Be sensitive to nature’s balance.
- Information about environmental damage belongs to all humankind. Sustainable solutions need to be known through solidarity and dialogue.
- Listen carefully to what your own body tells you about impact of your very personal social and natural environment. Always listen to your inner core from previous life experiences.
In closing, we recommend renewable rather than non-renewable energy; and living in a greener world that promotes healthy forests, wetlands, grasslands, oceans, freshwater lakes, no-till farming (including cover crops) to offset greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion and newly formed arctic sinkholes and melting of the permafrost, and the loss of glaciers and icebergs causing sea-level rise. All contribute to climate change!
By Deacon Tom Cervone, Ph.D., Sister Maureen Houlihan, D.C., and Nicole Cervone-Gish, Ed. M.S.