Mumbai: Maharashtra State Level Conference on ’Laudato Si’ & Christian Business

By Rons Bantwal
Bellevision Media Network

Mumbai, 16 Nov 2016: The FABC – (Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference) Climate Change desk was established under the Chairmanship of Cardinal Oswald and Fr Allwyn D’Silva was appointed the secretary. The Climate Change Desk requirement was to lay a foundation on Climate Change in the context of Christian Business and accordingly organized a one day Maharashtra State Level Conference on LAUDATO Si and Christian Business at St Pius College, Goregoan, together with the Christian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) here on Sunday, November 13.

 

How will the world’s climate change in the coming century? The answer to this question depends on how human societies develop in terms of demographics and economic development, technological change, energy supply and demand, and land use change.

 

 

The Climate Change Desk conference on Climate Change and Christian business required to deal with how Christian Business can save the environment through their respective business and establishments and had described new scenarios of the future, and predicted greenhouse gas emissions associated with such developments. The scenarios provide the basis for future assessments of climate change in the context of Christian Business and possible response strategies. 

 

This conference gave an insight and state-of-the-art assessment available of greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, and provides invaluable information for industry, policy-makers, environmental organizations, and researchers in global change, technology, engineering and economics. 

 

The conference began with the lighting of the lamp followed by a reading from scripture Rm. 8:18-25 and a prayer For Our Earth by Bishop Bosco. Albert D’Souza welcomed the delegates after which Bishop Bosco was invited to deliver the keynote address based on the Encyclical of Pope Francis named, ‘Laudato Si’ which deals with environmental issues and in particular with Chapter 3.

 

 

The matter of his address was taken from three documents –

Laudato Si: By Pope Francis,          

Laudato Si: an official summary for bishops, 

CCBI Bulletin June 2015, Federation of Asian Bishops Conference (FABC) papers 140-141 on climate change and ended with A Christian Prayer in Union with Creation.

 

Bishop Bosco advice to all speakers in order to get the audience attention was to – Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone and handed it over to the first speaker Walter Mendonza who dwelt on the topic – Climate Change, Concept Impacts, Current Trends with the help of slides. He put it across to the audience that what is at stake is our civilization and what do we do about it in the face of pollution and other factors that even inconvenience the fishermen who are now unable to read the sky. His focus was mainly on solar energy with a few key pillars – Mitigation, Adaption, Technology Transfers, Financial Transfers, Capacity Building, and Loss and Damage. This was followed by a question and answers session. However the audience noted that Industry and transportation were missing and could not be taken up due to time constraints as time allotted was overshot.

 

The next speaker was Fr Alwyn D’Silva who explained in brief what ‘Laudato Si’ is all about and the encyclical that shows the way that thru creation and thru nature you can feel the love of God. He asked the audience what kind of world do we want to live in as the problems were linked closely to the throw away culture and concluded that the climate is a common good belonging to all and the faiths of Christians motivate them to care for nature. 

 

The next speaker was Deepika Singh who dwelt on Laudato Si and Role of Business in promoting Environmental Sustainability and shared her insights on Pope Francis that he wants to connect to all as business is a very noble profession and one must appreciate small business as they employ the poor. Christian Business must keep in mind mother earth. And keeping with Bishops Bosco advice on Si and Fr Alwyn D’Silva was indeed brief, bright and gone. 

 

After the lunch break a panel of experts on technical inputs shared their expertise in their own field.

 

Nitesh Mehta on Business Affecting Environment: Sustainable Business practices. Kreethi D’Souza dwelt on Ecology Sustainability Legal and Regulatory Factors in Business. Dr Priyadarshini Karva dwelt on Equitable Sustainability Development through Renewable Energy, Business ventures.

 

After the tea break Cardinal Oswald addressed the audience requesting the Christian business to lay the foundation to save the earth by applying good business practices that will not endanger the climate after which a panel of experts shared their experience in Individual Good Business practices. Vincent Mathias shared his experience on the Packaging industry Waste. Pankaj Sharma shared his experience on his working in Swati Pentose Private Ltd. Rudolf D’Souza shared his experience on Rain water Harvesting.This was followed by a question and answer session and a vote of thanks by Fr Alwyn D’Silva.