10 'Green' Commandments: 'Sampung Luntiang Utos'

Inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si, Reverend Jostrom Isaac Kureethadam has written a guidebook, on heeding the call to save the planet from extinction.

- SONNY COLOMA

Since the convening in Paris of COP21, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that sounded the call to limit global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius, while striving for 1.5 degrees Celsius,” consciousness about the need to care for the environment has risen tremendously.

The 10 commandments on caring for the environment have been clustered into three parts: Point of View, Judgment, and Action.

“Safeguard our only home from danger” is Commandment I.

Regarding the entire planet as home impels human beings to consciously protect it from harm. How is it that successive generations of humans have pushed the earth to the brink of destruction? The movement to reverse this descent gained momentum and traction only after a pro-environment consciousness finally overcame the inertia of ignorance and indifference.

“Listen to the plea of the poor’ is Commandment II.

The onus of oppression is carried by the proverbial masses that are “the least, the last, and the lost.” Recall how many decades had lapsed before we woke up to the harsh realities of Smokey Mountain and Payatas, and prompted the government to adopt 4Ps and similar poverty mitigation programs.

The next two commandments constitute the Judgment component.

“Rediscover the theological view of nature” is Commandment III.