It’s fine to be conscientious about how we treat the ocean, the forest, the rivers, the soil. It is really important in some places, like small island countries or areas where people live entirely from the work of their hands – small shifts in weather or tampering with the ecosystems there can have really deadly consequences for people.

It IS okay to be interested in “ecology.” It IS good that there is ecclesiastical interest in these things, even though the way that that interest is being expressed (and the frequency and intensity with which it is expressed) is questionable. It really does matter, and it really is worth getting right, especially in certain places where people live on the brink of starvation.

But the sort of panic that populates so many young minds today is not only scientifically dubious at best, even aside from the comical doomsday predictions, but it’s also frequently sinful.

We read from McHugh and Callan in their famous manual the following on the vice of “solicitude”…

“1681. Solicitude.–Another form of spurious prudence is solicitude, that is, an inordinate carefulness about temporal things or about the future. Its sinfulness appears from the following considerations. (a) Our Lord condemns solicitude: “Be not solicitous therefore saying: ‘What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?’ . . . Be not solicitous for the morrow, for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof” (Matt, vi. 31, 34). (b) Solicitude seeks temporal things without the moderation that reason requires, does not duly esteem the spiritual, and does not confide in Divine Providence. Without any human care God bestows upon man the gift of life itself, provides for the animals and plants, directs the whole inanimate creation, and it is therefore unreasonable to fret and fume over the temporal things of one individual as if God were unable or unwilling to see to them (Matt, vi. 25 sqq.). 1682. Cases of Unlawful Solicitude about Temporalities.–(a) Solicitude is sinful on account of the things sought if one makes temporal things the end of life, as when a person follows religion purely as a business matter, for the sake of the living and worldly advantages this secures. (b) Solicitude is sinful on account of the immoderate desire of obtaining some good, when one pursues the temporal with such avidity that the spiritual is made to suffer, as when a person devotes so much time and thought to business, politics, society or science that religion is more and more set aside in his life: “The cares of this world choked up the word” (Matt., xiii. 22). (c) Solicitude is sinful on account of the immoderate fear of losing a temporal good, when one is deterred from religion by the thought that fidelity to virtue means the sacrifice of the necessaries of life. Examples of this immoderate solicitude are persons who never attend church or contribute to religion, lest they lose time or money, or who practise race-suicide to escape the burden of supporting a family. 1683. Cases of Lawful Solicitude.–(a) When the end is a genuine temporal good, moderate solicitude is not only lawful but is a duty dictated by prudence. Thus, a man who labors industriously and who saves, spending economically for the support of himself and his dependents and the upkeep of his home and business, is prudent in the true sense of the word, provided he is not too much absorbed in money-making or too anxious about financial affairs: “Work must be attended to, but worry must be banished” (St. Jerome). (b) When the end is a spiritual one, moderate solicitude is also a duty. Thus, St. Paul was solicitous for his Churches (II Cor., xi. 28), Timothy for the Philippians (Phil., ii. 20); those who have charge as almoners should be solicitous for the goods given for the poor, etc. 1684. Cases of Unlawful Solicitude about the Future.–(a) Solicitude is unlawful on account of the end that is intended, when one makes temporal things one’s god, and is therefore perturbed about the future, as when a person has set his heart upon obtaining some honor by fair means or foul, and is restless and disturbed in mind lest it escape him. (b) Solicitude is unlawful on account of immoderate desire, when one seeks for more than one should, as when a person who has sufficient means busies himself about too many things and deprives himself of peace and health in order to be wealthier in the future. (c) Solicitude is unlawful on account of the unsuitability of the time, when one anticipates the season for care, as when a farmer worries during planting season about the harvest, and during harvest time about the next planting. Those who willingly occupy and disquiet themselves with forebodings of dire calamities that are uncertain (e.g., the imminent destruction of the world) or of evils that cannot be prevented (e.g., their death), are also guilty of sinful solicitude. 1685. Cases of Lawful Solicitude about the Future.–(a) When the end is a lawful temporal good, moderate solicitude about the future is good, for providence for the future is a part of prudence (see 1654). Scripture praises the ant which gathers its food in the summer against the winter (Prov., vi. 6). Joseph stored up a reserve of grain (Gen., xii. 34 sqq.); Our Lord appointed Judas to act as treasurer for Himself and His followers (John, xii. 6); the Apostles kept for future expenses offerings made from the sale of fields (Acts, iv. 34, 35). (b) When the end is spiritual, reasonable solicitude is also good, and this is seen in the conduct of the early Christians who gathered alms in advance that they might have the means to bestow assistance during a famine which had been predicted (Acts, xi. 27 sqq.).”

Western people worry about the environment in ways that are rather ridiculous. (Remember – basically, the world’s oceans are polluted because of China, but we are not allowed to talk about this…) But it’s not just ridiculous if it becomes habitual and leads to the neglect of the environment of one’s soul.

Parents – have you asked your kids if they are afraid that the world is basically going to end in 10, 20, 30 years UNLESS WE DO X (usually involving giving more power to the government and major companies to control our lives)? You might want to.