A Primer on Integral Ecology: Unpacking its Meaning and Implications

by Simon Appolloni, M.Div., PhD.

Introduction

This short piece is intended to introduce you to the vision and meaning of integral ecology as laid out by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’ and to identify some of its broader implications for living out our lives in peace and harmony with all creation.

While Pope Francis did not define integral ecology, the description from the Laudato Si’ Research Institute in Oxford England captures its salient points: Integral ecology is the practical expression of a theological and philosophical commitment to the value of all life with special attention to the most vulnerable creatures on earth. It gives therefore priority to those who are living in extreme poverty and living creatures under threat of extinction.[1]

While integral ecology as an ecological concept is not entirely new – dating back as early as 1958 from a pure scientific-ecological perspective[2] – as a commitment to living in peace and harmony with all creation, it is still relatively novel, a vision that has yet to seep into our minds and hearts. On top of its relative novelty, its framework embraces a holistic perspective on life which requires an all-inclusive approach that entails listening to countless voices, hearing from many disciplines, and incorporating different ways of knowing.   

It is for this reason that at the heart of Pope Francis’s vision of integral ecology is an urgent appeal “for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet” (LS 14).[3] Pope Francis underlines that this conversation must include “everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (LS 14).

In short, whether as a concept or as a vision, not only is integral ecology novel and multilayered, but it is also a moving target, revealing new insights and understandings about its meaning and implications with each new conversation.

Pope Francis did not lay out his vision for integral ecology in a vacuum. He relied on the rich tradition of Catholic social teachings and innovative writings from the past half century. Hence, a brief outline of some of the crucial thinking behind integral ecology will be helpful.

The Unfolding of a New Vision of Living in Harmony and Peace with all Creation

While the term ‘ecology’ expresses a concern for relations among the biotic community, in Pope Francis’ vision the fundamental emphasis remains on the development of the human as part of that larger biotic community. It was notably Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Populorum Progressio, which first promoted the concept of ‘integral human development,’ that forms the basis for integral ecology today. Pope Paul VI used the term to contrast our then – and arguably continuing – preoccupation with only the economic development of the human. For integral human development the whole person, spiritually, socially, culturally, politically and psychologically becomes the founding concern for genuine progress.[4]

In the 1980s, the significance of integral ecology as a means of fostering a benign presence on Earth was spelled out by geologian and Passionist priest Thomas Berry who employed the term to contrast our industrial technological destructive presence on Earth as a species.[5] Through our technology, Berry wrote, “we have contaminated the air, the water, the soil; we have dammed the rivers, cut down the rain forests, destroyed animal habitat on an extensive scale…”, concluding that “our ultimate failure as humans is to become not a crowning glory of the earth, but the instrument of its degradation.”[6] Underlying this aggressive way of living on Earth, Berry maintained, is a dysfunctional cosmology that positions us with our consciousness above and separate from the 13.7-billion-year unfolding story of the universe.[7] 

Berry outlined an agenda for an ecological age that, among other things, has us foster reverence for Earth and ensure that our human technologies function “in an integral relationship with earth technologies, so that progress “would enhance both the human community and the earth process.”[8]

It was Leonardo Boff and Virgilio P. Elizondo, writing years later, who brought integral ecology into theological discourse applying the term as a means of responding to the “cry of the poor” and the “Cry of the earth.”[9] Much like Berry, Boff maintained that humans have begun developing a “new paradigm” for engaging creation, one born out of our current ecological and social crises which is fostering within humans, “a new sensitivity to the planet as a whole, resulting in new values, new dreams, new behaviour patterns, embraced by an ever-growing number of individuals and communities.”[10] Yet, more so than Berry, Boff proposed an integral ecology that starts from the standpoint of the poor and oppressed, those “exploited and condemned to die prematurely.”[11] In other words, a preferential option for the poor.

Integral Ecology Today

There are 3 core elements that form Pope Francis’ vision of integral ecology.

An Expression of Love

Integral ecology is first and foremost an expression of the love that radiates from the Holy Trinity, which, in its “infinite wisdom,” created life; hence, “Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection….” (LS 69). The world and indeed the entire universe become God’s loving gift. It is for this reason that Pope Francis quotes from the Book of Wisdom (11:24), “For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.”

A Holistic Perspective

Everything is connected. The human-nature distinction is gone. It is not just the physical, biological and chemical connections, then, that matter but so too do our economic, political, technological and social practices which cannot be separated from the health of the planet. Pope Francis underlines that “We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental” (LS 139).  

A New and Universal Solidarity

The integral human development discussed above is inseparable from the notion of the common good. Francis writes, “Where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters” (LS 158). This justice extends to future generations; hence, an “intergenerational solidarity” becomes paramount (LS 159).

Implications for Everyday Life

Since everything God lovingly created is interconnected, we need to re-imagine an entirely different way of being, new paradigms of living with other humans and the more-than-humans. Below are but three implications to consider:

1. We need to reconsider our current economic system that ignores the finite nature of Earth. Economic growth and its corresponding endless production, consumption and disposal of goods are inconsistent with world that is not only finite but interconnected and interrelated. Just as in the natural world, so too in our economic world, there is no waste. When the life of a product ends, it becomes nutrients for the natural world.
   
2. A true solidarity with the poor is not simply a romantic ideal but a firm resolve to rid our society of all structures and policies that serve the preferential option for the rich. True flourishing of life will only come about with the wellbeing and equitable sharing of wealth among all human and more-than-human communities.
   
3. We need to renew our relationship with the natural world and with all life with the realization that we are not separate from these. When we truly see the world as a loving gift from God, we foster a humility and gratitude that prompts us to live a life of reciprocity through good works.

Concluding Thoughts

The above implications entail an ecological conversion, a sentiment Pope Francis often addressed as a requirement to living out his vision of integral ecology. This entails “the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change” (LS 218).

We will not be alone in this conversion. Thomas Berry foretold the development of “integral ecologists” to describe the leadership we need today. This is leadership that goes beyond what we can get from the traditional prophet, priest, yogi, monk, philosopher of the past and present and certainly beyond any leadership that comes from the corporate leaders, engineers and scientists who are the new guides of our era.[12] These leaders are likely among us even now. We need only invite them into our discussions.

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[1] C. Deane-Drummond and S. Deneulin. ‘Integral Ecology: Discovering its Meaning and Depth’. LSRI Briefing Note 1 (Oxford: Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, 2021).

[2] Cited by Ojeifo Hilary B. Moore, Marine Ecology. University of Michigan: Whiley, 1958.

[3] LS refers to Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, 2015, by Pope Francis, with the paragraph reference, found at https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

[4] Populorum Progressio: On the Development of Peoples, 1967, found at https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum.html. See also C. Deane-Drummond and S. Deneulin. ‘Integral Ecology: Discovering its Meaning and Depth’. LSRI Briefing Note 1 (Oxford: Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, 2021).

[5] Berry, Thomas. 1990. The Dream of the Earth. Sierra Club Books pap. ed. San Francisco, Calif: Sierra Club Books, 62.

[6] Dream, 50.

[7] Dream, 65-66.

[8] Dream, 65.

[9]Leonardo Boff, Virgilio P. Elizondo Ecology and Poverty: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. SCM Press, 1995.

[10] Boff, Leonardo, and Phillip Berryman. 1997. Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 11.

[11] Cry of the Earth, 107.

[12] “An ecological sensitive spirituality. 136-7