It is World Environment Day once again. Predictably, the air is thick with platitudes and posturing. Saplings are planted in ceremonial rows, long-winded speeches are delivered, cameras flash, and social media fills with selfies of politicians and officials claiming to champion the planet. Newspapers are flooded with full-page ads extolling environmental protection—many sponsored by the very agencies complicit in the destruction of our ecosystems.
What we witness, year after year, is an outpouring of tokenism and cosmetic theatrics. Tree planting is important, but who ensures these saplings survive? Public awareness campaigns abound, yet many of the loudest voices are entangled with land sharks filling our wetlands with cement, or the mining mafia ripping apart our forests for profit. Their words ring hollow in the face of their deeds.
This year, World Environment Day focuses on Ending Global Plastic Pollution. The theme is urgent: plastics are choking our rivers, oceans, and even entering our food chains through microplastics. Yet, powerful corporations continue churning out plastics unchecked, protected by opaque regulations and political clout. Enforcement remains lax. Despite bans, thin plastic bags proliferate in markets. Waste segregation and responsible disposal are more ideal than implemented policy. The gap between commitment and action is vast—and devastating.
India’s shameful ranking—176 out of 180 countries—on the 2024 Environmental Performance Index lays bare the crisis. Our air quality is among the worst on the planet, emissions are skyrocketing, and biodiversity is vanishing. This year, the EPI added a new category—biodiversity and habitat. The findings are grim: protected areas are rapidly being consumed by urban sprawl and agriculture. India’s over-reliance on coal is a major factor. Coal-fired plants not only fuel climate change, but are key contributors to the toxic air millions of Indians breathe daily.
This state of affairs is not just a policy failure—it is a cry for environmental justice. It is the cry of the poor, the cry of the earth. The global environmental justice movement has long exposed how environmental harm is disproportionately borne by the marginalized—those least responsible for the damage. Across the world, poor communities, Indigenous peoples, and vulnerable groups like LGBTQIA+ individuals face the brunt of disasters, pollution, and displacement caused by extractive industries. In India, the tribal populations in Manipur or the Adivasis of Bastar are locked in a daily struggle against powerful mining lobbies and state complicity. Their forests are razed, their lands stolen, and their lives rendered invisible.
From June 16 to 26, the 62nd sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB 62) will take place in Bonn, Germany. These meetings will shape the agenda for COP30, scheduled for November in Belém, Brazil. These gatherings are crucial: the world must act now to limit warming to 1.5°C. The clock is ticking. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has already warned of a “rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future.”
In response, the Society of Jesus has launched a global initiative—Jesuits for Climate Justice (SB62 and COP30 Campaign)—with a compelling call for immediate, bold action. The campaign outlines three core demands:
1. Cancel the debt of underdeveloped nations and strengthen the Loss and Damage Fund. Burdensome and unjust debts prevent vulnerable countries from investing in climate resilience. A robust, grant-based fund is essential to address irreversible climate damage.
2. Accelerate a Just Energy Transition. This must account for historical emissions, protect Indigenous rights, value ecosystems, and prioritize human wellbeing over profit.
3. Establish a Global Food Sovereignty System rooted in agroecology. This system should promote culturally appropriate, sustainable agricultural practices, ensuring food security without degrading the land.
As Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si’, “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” And long before him, Mahatma Gandhi said it plainly: “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.”
These are not empty slogans—they are urgent calls for a just, equitable, and sustainable future. The voices from the margins demand that we rethink development, restructure our economies, and recognize the dignity and rights of all communities—human and non-human alike.
The question is: Are we listening?
If so, radical and immediate action is needed—now.
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Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is a human rights, reconciliation, environmental and peace activist and writer
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