Catholic Women's League promotes Earth Action Initiative

At the General Assembly of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, (WUCWO) held in Dakar, Senegal last October, delegates passed a resolution calling on its members "to recognize their collective responsibility, as participants in the human race, to care for the planet that God created and placed in our care and to take steps to reduce and reverse the damage already sustained."

The Working Group of the Board entrusted with carrying out this resolution has proposed, as the first course of action, an annual worldwide clean-up day on any Saturday in September (to be determined according to local convenience) on which people would be encouraged to organize garbage clean-up projects to reduce the amount of trash entering the world's waters.

The Catholic Women's League, (CWL) in the UK has taken up the challenge and is promoting a new poster to be circulated among church groups of all denominations, schools, and local service clubs, encouraging them to organize or participate in a clean-up project in their locality this September. They are also encouraging members to print the poster and put it up in public locations along with a notice providing details of local projects.

Quoting Pope Francis, in Laudato Si, the poster states: "Whether believers or not we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance whose fruit are meant to benefit everyone."

It goes on to address: 'all school, service clubs and church organisations' calling them to: CHOOSE ANY SATURDAY in SEPTEMBER 2019'

CALL TO ACTION: In the face of the plastic and toxic waste crisis that is devastating our oceans, lakes, and fivers all peoples of the world are called to eliminate any further damage to the earth's water resources and and to clean up the damage already sustained.

The poster states:

+14 BILLON pounds of trash end up in the ocean every year.
70% of industrial waste is dumped into water.
2 MILLION Tons of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste is is discharged in the world's water every day.
'Every year more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.

It goes on to say:

WHAT YOU CAN DO

* Organise a plastic and waste clean-up at your nearest beach, waterfront, roadway or public space.

* Organise an event to educate the public

* Advocate for better landfill practices

* Change your ways

1) Reduce your own use of plastic products
2) Re-use your plastic containers where possible
3) Recycle plastic you can no longer use
4) Ensure that plastics are not contaminated (i.e. with food waste) before recycling.

For more information visit: https://catholicwomensleaguecio.org.uk/

The poster is also printed on the CWL Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CWLEngWales/