Understanding the Environment and Stewardship

Study Notes

Define the environment, its functions, and human interactions with it.
Develop concern and commitment for environmental care, protection, improvement, and preservation through action plans.
Create group mini action plans to address various environmental issues.

Environment encompasses all of God’s creation, including living and non-living elements that influence human life.
Functions of the environment include:
- Resource provision: Offers renewable and non-renewable resources for production.
- Natural waste disposal: Acts to manage garbage naturally.
- Sustenance: Supplies essential elements for life, such as sunlight, soil, water, and air.
- Aesthetic value: Provides beauty through natural landscapes like rivers and mountains.

Stewardship of Creation reflects respect for the Creator and is a fundamental aspect of faith.

Instrumental Value: Represents ecosystems as means to an end, often quantified in monetary terms.
Intrinsic Value: Represents ecosystems as ends in themselves, reflecting moral duties toward nature.

Focuses on social and economic growth that ensures natural resource sustainability and just resource distribution for current and future generations.

Environmental Integrity: Maintains the condition of the environment and protects shared global resources (oceans, land, water, fisheries).
Economic Efficiency: Ensures prudent resource use to minimize waste, encompassing environmental and social justice, and worker protection.
Equity: Advocates for responsible use of resources to benefit future generations.

Framework for addressing environmental issues includes identifying a problem, outlining actions, assigning responsibilities, and setting target dates.
Potential issues to address:
- Worsening floods in coastal towns (e.g., Bulacan).
- Killing of endangered Philippine eagles.
- Illegal wildlife trade.
- Deforestation.
- Spread of diseases from animals.