France, a green nation : Act, Mobilize, Accelerate.
In a context of climate and environmental emergencies, France has adopted a plan to accelerate the ecological transition. Education for sustainable development for all, from primary to secondary school.
Thus, education for the environment and sustainable development includes :
- Acquiring knowledge about the non-human world, its mechanisms, its interfaces with the uses given to it by our societies.
- And transformative learning, which aims to change people (their opinions, beliefs and behaviors) and social institutions.
To address the five environmental challenges, which are : • Mitigating global warming. • Adaptation to the inevitable consequences of global warming. • Conserving and restoring biodiversity. • Preserve resources. • Reducing pollution that affects health.
The President of the Republic plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030, in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
INTEGRAL ECOLOGY - CATHOLIC CHURCH OF FRANCE
The Catholic Church in France is associated with other Christian churches within the ecumenical movement « GREEN CHURCH », which brings together several hundred Christian communities (parishes, monasteries, chaplaincies, etc.). Our societies are today facing a major challenge to establish a sustainable and viable development for present and future generations. This challenge requires a radical transition at both the ecological and social levels, and Christians are directly concerned by this challenge, participating in the establishment of a dialogue : the Christian faith and its vision of creation. The ecological approach is inspired by respect for creation, a value shared by all Christian denominations. This ecological approach is one of the components of the national service, family and society of the French Episcopal Conference : the spiritual dimension can contribute to rebuild a vision of good life, individually and collectively. Christians do not want to remain on the sidelines.
The educational purpose of Catholic teaching : to educate for a full and free life, a life worthy of the human person, respecting creation in order to build a world of peace.
For the Catholic Church in France, in view of the construction of the civilization of love, the purpose of an authentic education is the formation of the human person, ordered to his or her supreme end and, at the same time, to the good of the communities of which he or she is a part. Education is therefore called to serve the growth of the human person and the building of society.
The encyclical Laudato Si’ is included in the national teaching programs for History and Geography, Life and Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences, Technology, etc. For several years now, teachers have been aware of the impact of human actions on the Earth as part of their teaching, confirms the principal of the Sainte Marie de Chavagnes school.
This school has launched a « Curiosity for Nature » workshop to address ecological and environmental issues. The workshop meets once a week for 1 hour and 40 minutes with two adults. Last year, they created a vegetable garden at the school, with cuttings and selling their produce, in collaboration with the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds). The management had encouraged the school’s students to volunteer as « eco-delegates » to think of actions to carry out in the school. Waste is separated into 3 separate bins in each classroom. Several composters have been installed in the school.
A new project involves organizing the playground with vegetation, planting trees, revising the impermeable soils and installing rainwater collection tanks. A committee of adults from the school is working on this issue this year with the eco-delegates.
IN LA VENDÉE
Sixteen high school students and a dozen residents of the EHPAD (old people’s home) in the town of Les Herbiers came together to plant 124 trees of different species, with the aim of creating links between young and old, and to show how planting work is carried out, and all that can be done with wood : awakening to ecology, aesthetics for the beautify the town, and the physical and mental health of its inhabitants. The planting had an international scope, as several schools joined the class initiative : Quebec, Tanzania and Turkey joined the project, with the same goal of protecting biodiversity for a very green future.
As part of the Ecology Orientation, several sisters from the Mother House and neighboring communities visited the « Trivalis » waste sorting and treatment center in La Roche sur Yon, Vendée. During this visit, the sisters discovered how to classify objects at home in order to reuse them.
In the Vendée, all containers can be classified as follows
Since January 1, 2017, all Vendée residents have been sorting the same containers and all packaging. These are sent to the departmental sorting center in La Ferrière. This sorting center is called VENDEE TRI.
Separated by material, the containers are baled and sent for recycling.Sorted packaging is recycled, our packaging has a second life.
Each packaging material has its own recycling channel : the material becomes material again. Recycling packaging saves raw materials : iron ore, bauxite ore, coal, oil, wood, natural gas. Recycling also limits greenhouse gas emissions. Packaging is collected, sorted at the sorting center, baled and sent to specialized recycling plants.
- Plastic bottles and jars are cut into flakes and then granulated to become the recycled raw material used to make pipes, garden furniture, composters, etc. The recycling industry already knows how to make new plastic bottles from plastic bottles.
- Steel cans and jerry cans will be remelted to make steel products. Steel is infinitely recyclable.
- Aluminum aerosols, cans and trays will be moved and remelted. The aluminum thus recovered will be used to manufacture bicycle frames. Aluminum can be recycled infinitely.
- LCardboard from soup or orange juice cartons will be reused to make paper towels, toilet paper, etc. Small cardboard cartons will be turned back into cardboard to make egg cartons.
Mother House and Ecology
At the Mother House, the showerheads have been replaced to save water. The attics have been insulated, as in Nazareth and La Sicaudais. The floor of the chapel was renovated in 2021. Under the chapel, the large oil boiler was replaced with two smaller ones that consume less energy in 2022. The light fixtures are replaced with energy-saving lamps. Every year, wooden windows are gradually replaced by PVC (plastic) frames.
At the request of Secour Catholic and our delegate councilors, we took in a Brazilian lady and her son (a tall young man) for a month while they were waiting for housing to be found for them in the home of a member of the Family of Incarnation.
May this Easter season that we are beginning lead us to deepen our commitment to the care of creation.
Chavagnes en Paillers, April 1st 2024 Thérèse Signoné and Marie-Thérèse Bonnet International Commision of Ecology
