It seems like the world has been hit by a confluence of crises.

One crisis would be bad enough, but the multiple crises pose a serious threat to our very survival.

We have a financial crisis, which has led to a global economic recession. Any recovery is likely to be sluggish.

We also have an environmental crisis due to climate change as global warming and climate chaos threaten the planet’s very survival. Cyclones, mudslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, unusual torrential downpours, rising tides — it seems like the very earth is rebelling against the excesses of humanity. Our seas are polluted, our hills cut, our forests flattened and even our air is hazy — these harm and disturb the delicate ecosystem, destroying biodiversity.

As if that’s not enough, there’s an energy crisis: quite simply, the oil is running out. And prices are once again escalating.

We also have a looming food crisis as traditional farming gives way to corporate agriculture (monoculture cash crops) and the growth of cash crops. Many countries are losing out in food security and self-sufficiency.

These phenomena have a common cause: the corporate encroachment into all the major spheres of life — which in turn produces a culture of consumerism and overproduction beyond the needs of the wealthy minority of the global population while the rest suffer in poverty and deprivation. This culture of consumerism has even spawned a new crisis: a waste disposal crisis. What to do with all the junk, packaging and broken down goods that we throw away? Landfills are piling up, incinerators are polluting the air and toxic waste is spewing into rivers and seas.

And then in the not too distant future, we could be in for a shortage of water resources as catchment areas are degraded and the soil becomes increasingly parched in many places.

And of course, the ever imminent threats of a global pandemic. Just 20 years ago, who could have envisaged people walking around in surgical masks?

This confluence of crises coincides with a social order that is straining to cope with modernity: rising social ills are quite likely the result of the widening gulf between the rich and the poor.

Much of this reflects a failure of a our existing model of Big Capital-dominated, corporateled economic planning, which is hardly conducive to sustainable and holistic development.

Changing such a system would be too much for the average individual. And we cannot hope for the politicians to do much, given that they are often very much part of the system — or at least beholden to the corporate agenda in their thinking.

We have to do our own bit.

For a start, we could escape from the snares of consumerism and materialism — much of it promoted by the constant bombardment of corporate propaganda about how our lives would be so much better if we had such-and-such product.

Notice how Jesus travelled from hamlet to village with only the bare necessities he needed. Similarly with his apostles and followers. They relied on community solidarity and networks and their “carbon footprint” was close to zero —that is, they did not pollute or harm the environment. Much of their waste — whether it was their clothes or their food scraps — was biodegradable. (Plastics had not yet been invented.) Neither did the early Christian communities clear vast tracts of land for their projects — instead they met in each other’s homes.

We need to seriously evaluate each of our purchases. Do we really need this item? Could we do without it? How harmful was the production of this item to the environment? Is it likely that the production of this item used labour that could be exploited? And when it comes to disposal — does it use excessive packaging material? Is the disposal of the used product likely to create toxic waste?

Would it be much nicer to live in an uncluttered home — which would perhaps help to clear some of the clutter in our minds. (Mental note: I need to get rid of the clutter accumulated over the years — and minimise new clutter — in my own home!) Should we opt for natural food, grown in farms that are biodiversity-friendly, rather than rely on processed food with chemicals and preservatives?

We desperately need to be more ecologically sensitive in the face of the multiple crises we are confronted. Even if we are not into green issues or socially conscious, think about what kind of planet we are leaving behind for our grandchildren. At the rate things are going, the effects of this crisis may be seen well before our grand-children’s time. We are talking about seeing some of the effects within our children’s or even our own life-times.

If we want to continue to have a liveable planet, then we need to seriously look at our own roles. After all, we have been called to be stewards of Creation. And there is no more urgent time than now to respond to that calling to protect and safeguard our planet from degradation.