Care for the Individual and Environmental Safeguarding

In the Footsteps of Laudato si’. Embracing Limits
Care for the Individual and Environmental Safeguarding from a ‘One Health’ Perspective

The first presentation, by Dr Vitalia Murgia from the Association of Doctors for the Environment, was entitled: Using Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products whilst Respecting the Environment. This was followed by a presentation by Professor Fabrizio Bianchi, from the National Research Council (CNR) of Pisa, on the topic: Towards Green Healthcare: Reducing the Impact of Treatments on People and the Environment.

Anthropologists Amalia Campagna, from the State University of Milan, and Viola Di Tullio, from LUISS – Guido Carli Free International University of Social Studies and the Institute for Advanced Study (IUSS) of Pavia, then engaged in a dialogue on the theme: Care for the Environment and the Environment of Care. A Dialogue between Medical and Environmental Anthropology.

It was an event for reflection and dissemination aimed at advocating that an embraced limit is not a deprivation, but rather a resource towards a different, authentic, sustainable, and universally accessible well-being. The limit can represent the safest path to address “that single and complex socio-environmental crisis” (LS 139) from which we all suffer, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.

Indeed, it is necessary to achieve a balance within the environmental and social system that avoids the tragedy of a ‘zero-sum’ society, in which, on the one hand, illness is produced, and on the other, pathologies resulting from flawed policies are treated. Pope Francis, whilst confirming that it is always possible to hope, invites us to develop a “loving awareness” regarding this common home – creation – in which all beings, including humans, live; a shared home, where we act based on the values we hold dear (LS 220).

Following the approach of Laudato si’, it is on the basis of the “three closely intertwined fundamental relationships: with God, with our neighbour and with the earth” that the commitment arises to set out “on a path that needs to change” (LS 66, 202). A commitment to embrace our rightful place in the order and dynamism established by the Creator and to urgently undertake new ways of living with “creativity and enthusiasm” (LS 220, 221).

Father Montresor Gaetano, MCCJ