Le Pèlerin, Catholic Newsletter May 2018 – special edition edited by Father D. Lang “Generation laudato si” to celebrate the publication of Pope Francis’s Laudate Si : The Encyclical on the environmentand ecology ( May 2015 ).
Nicole King was invited to write a letter to someone who had influenced her to paint endangered species ; fauna, flora, and humankind itself ( Anthropocene).
In 1990, on the World Day of Peace, John Paul II, had said,
“ A good aesthetic education and the maintenance of a healthy environment cannot be overlooked,”
In a similar pedagogical philosophy, Nicole addresses her grateful letter to the university limnology professor – CNRS researcher, Dr Bernard Dussart.
Excerpts from the letter.
“ Letter to an ecology teacher.”
“ Dear Bernard ,
Do you remember when I returned from one of my oilfield missions in Borneo, Indonesia, and brought you samples of the plankton I had fished out of the Mahakam delta ? “ ( Prof. Dussart rewarded Nicole’s discovery by naming the new cocolopode after her ; acartiella nicolae).
Reciting how the multinationals are omnipresent for energy production and consequently responsible for such environmental “accidents” such as Deepwater Horizon, Fukushima, and the Elgin gas explosions, Nicole laments how humankind holds herself hostage to an uncontrollable consumption.
She continues her letter ,
“ It’s necessary to counteract their stranglehold ( multinationals ) and reduce our dependence on oil by changing our lifestyle. So much to do. For me, the priority is to include a new ethical basis for how we define and judge technical progress and efficient managers.
To re-envision the world’s permanent creation, writing new guidelines for what kind of planet we wish to live on.
It is a paradox that this wonderful world ( Nature’s self -sufficiency before mankind’s presence ) has forever been at our doorstep. “
She ends her letter to Bernard, by reminding her readers that;
“ we need a persuasive political will to give back the power of decision to ethics, knowledge and BEAUTY.”
