Is the environment a Catholic issue?

Mary Colwell, a producer in the BBC Natural History Unit, gave a unique illustrated talk at Clifton cathedral on Friday in which she argued that environment should be at the heart of Catholic teaching and action. Film from the unit's archives was projected onto the walls of the Cathedral to illustrate her presentation.

Mary said that as there are one billion Catholics in the world, all using the earth's resources for food, fuel and raw materials, the environment was very much a matter of importance to Catholics. She said: "The most important message I want to get across is that the way we treat the earth is a moral issue. It is morally wrong to exploit the earth's resources for greed and selfish profit, to be wasteful and disrespectful. Catholics believe that God created a good world; it should be a place for harmony and mutual benefit. If the way we treat the earth becomes a moral issue then recycling one can is as important as saving an acre of rainforest.

I want to see the Church take a leading role in protecting the earth on which we all depend."