Deer had been sighted near, the neighbors said, 

so we were watching when we saw them go 

lightly through fields where hazel brush had spread. 

We had the clearest picture of the doe

 

leaping along. A shaft of sunlight caught her 

like some excited hunter shouting "Here!"

We saw at once how open land and water 

no less than cages desecrate the deer. 

 

The scattered trees gave scant screen to a stranger

that field and pasture marked for rudest show, 

and traffic had its wolf ways to endanger

the lovely indecision of the doe.

 

This that is why I sent word to the grieving 

Spirit that keeps the woods, why I set down

the whereabouts and chances for retrieving 

these tawny jewels lost to a forest crown.

 

 

 

Like a deer that yearns for running streams 

So my soul is yearning for God 

My soul is thirsty for God, the God of my life 

When can I see the face of my God 

My tears have become my bread by night and by day I hear it said, 

Where is your God? 

 

Like the deer that yearns for running streams 

So my soul is yearning for God Deep, 

He is calling on deep in the roar of waters 

Your torrents and waves have swept over me 

With cries that pierce me through to the heart they revile me 

Saying to me, Where is your God? 

 

Like the deer that yearns for running streams 

So my soul is yearning for God 

By day the Lord will send His kindness and love 

By night I will sing praise to my God 

So why are you cast down my soul? Why groan within me? 

Hope in your God my Savior and God 

Hope in your God my Savior and God 

Like the deer that yearns for running streams 

So my soul is yearning for God.

 

 

It is no longer possible to doubt the human – “anthropic” – origin of climate change. Let us see why. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which causes global warming, was stable until the nineteenth century, below 300 parts per million in volume. But in the middle of that century, in conjunction with industrial development, emissions began to increase. In the past fifty years, this increase has accelerated significantly, as the Mauna Loa observatory, which has taken daily measurements of carbon dioxide since 1958, has confirmed. While I was writing Laudato Si’, they hit a historic high – 400 parts per million – until arriving at 423 parts per million in June 2023.More than 42% of total net emissions since the year 1850 were produced after 1990. 

 

At the same time, we have confirmed that in the last fifty years the temperature has risen at an unprecedented speed, greater than any time over the past two thousand years. In this period, the trend was a warming of 0.15° C per decade, double that of the last 150 years. From 1850 on, the global temperature has risen by 1.1° C, with even greater impact on the polar regions. At this rate, it is possible that in just ten years we will reach the recommended maximum global ceiling of 1.5° C.This increase has not occurred on the earth’s surface alone but also several kilometres higher in the atmosphere, on the surface of the oceans and even in their depths for hundreds of metres. Thus the acidification of the seas increased and their oxygen levels were reduced. The glaciers are receding, the snow cover is diminishing and the sea level is constantly rising. (LD 11-12)