Saving the Earth
We live in a deeply complex world where unimaginable wealth exists alongside unbearable poverty and staggering inequality. This contradiction is most glaring in the United States—still the richest country on Earth—where the combined wealth of the eight richest families’ individuals surpasses that of the bottom 50% of the population. Even more appalling, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
Renowned intellectual Dr. Noam Chomsky paints a sobering picture: 23% of Americans are unemployed, millions rely on food stamps to survive, and every thirty minutes, one American takes their own life. The U.S. leads the world in crime, not because of lack of resources, but because of a system riddled with moral decay. Spiritual leaders have rightly condemned this grotesque imbalance as “absolutely immoral”—a direct result of what they call “bad economics,” orchestrated by Modern-Day American Imperialism.
This imperialist system—backed by corporations, militarism, and political dominance—controls over half of the world’s resources. It grips the richest oil reserves in the Middle East, and through 19 U.S. oil companies, it rakes in $16 trillion annually—that’s $10 million every minute. With profits of that scale, there is no incentive to reduce the 52 billion tons of greenhouse gases emitted annually. The death of Mother Earth is just collateral damage.
We are living in a climate emergency—an existential crisis where humanity has been thrown into survival mode. At its root is a global economic system that worships unending growth at any cost. This paradigm, built on greed and profit, sacrifices people and planet alike. It has been said that today’s model of development is like a staggering giant—unbalanced and frenzied. In its blind rush to stay upright, it tramples forests, rivers, oceans, farmland, and communities—leaving only destruction in its wake.
This bitter truth is evident in our own country. Once a paradise, it has been turned into a wasteland by the same forces of Modern-Day Imperialism. Our natural wealth has been plundered, our people impoverished. This is not accidental—it is deliberate exploitation, driven by a belief that “war is the health of the nation.” When President John F. Kennedy moved to stop the Vietnam War, he was assassinated. A U.S. Congressional Inquiry later revealed that it was not Lee Harvey Oswald, but a conspiracy involving the CIA, FBI, and a powerful weapons manufacturer making $500 billion annually from that war.
Now, under the leadership of Donald Trump—the world’s foremost climate change denier and a billionaire who governs for the benefit of the ultra-rich—we see the same deadly playbook. His narcissism and egotism have pushed the world closer to the brink of nuclear conflict, fulfilling Nostradamus’ chilling prophecies for the 21st century.
The warnings are clear. Activists and spiritual leaders across the globe are sounding the alarm: If we are to save life on Earth—if we are to avert nuclear disaster and environmental collapse—we must act now. This is not just a political struggle. It is a moral and spiritual one. The survival of humanity depends on our courage to resist, to awaken, and to radically transform the world before it is too late. No less than Mother Earth is being killed. While the world has made tremendous material progress, humanity’s obsession with consumerism—despite its many advancements—has brought us to the brink of environmental collapse.
We Filipinos must now ask a critical question of our leaders: Progress for whom? Growth for what?
Here in our country, so-called “development” has benefited only a privileged few—the oligarchs—while the vast majority are left behind. What we have is not peace, but negative peace—a peace that silences dissent but not injustice; a peace that prevails when the cries of the poor are ignored, and when greed-driven systems exploit the land and its people.
This is most painfully visible in Mindanao—an island as broken as it is beautiful. Here, communities are pushed to the margins of society, their voices silenced, their rights trampled. Power is concentrated in the hands of elites who manipulate laws and control the economy for personal gain. Corruption thrives. Poverty deepens. And dignity is stripped away from entire communities.
But negative peace is fragile—it festers, it wounds, and when ignored, it explodes. It breeds armed conflict, triggered by the arrogance and blindness of those in power. That is why now, more than ever, we must restore the balance between economy and ecology. Without it, we are destroying the very foundation of life. Material progress alone cannot heal our collective stress, rage, and despair.
leaders often declare, “It is our duty to save the Earth.” President François Hollande of France once said during a visit to the Philippines, “All the people have benefitted from the world’s resources; now it is our duty to save the Earth.”
But that statement is false. Not all have benefitted—only a few have, in collusion with the powerful, while the rest continue to suffer. In our country, millions of Filipinos are still waiting for justice, for dignity, for their fair share of the Earth’s gifts. The time for illusions is over. What we need is not just economic growth—but just, inclusive, and sustainable progress. One that serves the people and heals the planet.
A Minute Before Midnight: The Collapse of a Failing World
Environmentalists around the globe are sounding the alarm: without a dramatic and immediate transformation, the global system is collapsing before our eyes. They warn that we are living in what they call “one minute before midnight”—perilously close to the end of life as we know it. Humanity has crossed a critical threshold, a tipping point driven by the unsustainable state of both our ecology and economy.
Ecological collapse is now undeniable. Climate change is worsening, triggering widespread ecological disasters. Billions face unimaginable suffering. Rainforests are ablaze. Deserts are expanding across continents. Icebergs are melting at alarming rates, raising sea levels and threatening coastal life. Mass extinction is underway. Global warming is displacing entire populations, creating hundreds of millions of climate refugees. The signs of breakdown are everywhere—are we already too late?
The economic system is no less unsustainable. As Pope Francis has boldly stated, we are witnessing “glaring and scandalous social inequities” that demand we break free from the chains of oppression and injustice. The global economy, driven by corporate globalization, enriches a powerful few while billions struggle. A tiny oligarchy tightens its grip—socially, economically, politically—over a world gasping for fairness and dignity.
World leaders continue to issue lofty declarations about saving Mother Earth. But these are hollow words, not backed by action. Greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked. The planet burns while promises gather dust. In contrast, the world’s conscience was stirred by a 15-year-old Swedish girl: Greta Thunberg. In August 2018, she stood before the Swedish Parliament, and later the UN Climate Summit in Poland, delivering a message with moral clarity that shamed world leaders into awareness. “Our civilization is being sacrificed so that a very small number of people can continue making enormous amounts of money,” she said. “Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people can live in luxury. It is the suffering of the many which pays for the luxuries of the few.”
From her words sprang a global awakening. Tens of millions, inspired by her courage, began weekly mobilizations around the world, demanding real climate action. They called for an end to fossil fuel dependency and a transition to renewable energy. Yet, despite the outcry, the global system continues to emit 52 billion tons of greenhouse gases every year. Corporate globalization marches on—unchecked, unrepentant. All rhetoric. No action.
Are we beyond hope? Not if we listen, not if we act. But the time for illusion is over. The hour is late. The world is watching. And the clock is ticking.
We Filipinos must take Greta’s words to heart. Before the United Nations summit, with trembling voice and tearful eyes, Greta Thunberg denounced the global inaction of world leaders: “You have stolen my childhood. You are failing us. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.”
With a clenched fist, she cried: “We are at the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying you are doing enough, when the politics and solutions we need are still nowhere in sight?”
Religious leaders, this is a wake-up call. Prayers are not enough. We need your moral courage and **ethical action—now—**to save our imperiled planet. Action is more urgent than ever; ethics must take the place of empty ritual. Greta’s message struck a nerve because it exposed the truth: the world’s leaders speak in hollow rhetoric while the planet burns. And we, in the Philippines—among the countries most devastated by climate change—can no longer afford silence or complacency. Environmental disasters have become our new normal.
So why are our politicians still obsessed with drama and personal gain instead of the ecological crisis that threatens our very survival? The answer is as disturbing as it is clear: many of them are backed by powerful loggers, miners, and corporate interests.
As journalist Marites Vitug revealed in her book Power from the Forests, politicians and law enforcers are often in bed with environmental plunderers. I witnessed this myself in the 1990s, when we organized human barricades to stop illegal logging and mining. One shipment of logs alone could earn a logger over 360 million pesos—money shared among a tight-knit cabal of politicians, enforcers, and business elites.
We once arrested five illegal Chinese miners in Barangay Tumpagon, Cagayan de Oro. They were mere tourist visa holders, yet came armed with millions of pesos worth of equipment—and even AK-47s and Armalites. After just one week in jail, they were freed and even escorted back to China by a local Kagawad. A week later, our friend and ally, Datu Fausto Orasan (Datu Sandigan)—the courageous chieftain of the Higaonon Tribe—was brutally murdered, allegedly by the armed men of these same miners. To this day, justice has not been served. This is not just a climate crisis—it is a crisis of justice, accountability, and truth.
Let us awaken from denial. Let us reclaim our future from those who profit from destruction. Now is the time for moral resistance. Now is the time to rise. Filipino voters, it’s time to wake up! Let us take inspiration from Greta Thunberg and boldly demand clear, concrete plans from our politicians to protect and heal our ailing planet. We must ask: Why did they allow the construction of six coal-fired power plants in Mindanao?
Around the world, countries are shutting down coal fired power plants because coal is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions and is proven to cause devastating diseases. Yet in Mindanao, these harmful plants continue to rise. Why is this allowed? Is it because we fear confronting the powerful oligarchs and their web of vested interests, protected by those in power? Time has come for ethical, courageous action—a peaceful revolution driven by compassion and love for Mother Earth, the very source of all life.
Let our collective outrage be so loud it cannot be ignored!
MAHALIN PO NATIN ANG ATING INANG KALIKASAN—KUNG SAAN NAGMUMULA ANG BUHAY!
All for God’s greater glory.
