A global festival on “Buen vivir” for peopleand planet

This past weekend I was involved in a truly inspiring meeting in Rome dedicated to the idea of “buen vivir”, which roughly translates from Spanish into English with “living well”. The whole concept is linked to the expertise and theories coming from traditions and ancestors of the first peoples of Latin America. “Buen vivir” refers to a lifestyle that values and safeguards the interdependence of human beings and nature, based on the traditional philosophies and these people’s knowledge of the natural environment.

In that context I had the pleasure to co-moderate a session interviewing Tomas Insua, a young Argentine from Buenos Aires who is the co-founder and exectutive director of the Laudato Si Movement, an international coalition that has brought together nearly 900 Catholic organizations that are committed to the protection of all creation in every continent.

With Tomas we explored some key ideas around the integral ecology and also looked at the experiences of people who are making a difference in their communties in the face of unprecedented climate and environmental disaster.

From organic farming in Croatia to tree-planting in Ireland and Australia. From interfaith ecological action in the USA to institutional and diplomatic effort in Malta. What really impressed me the most was to see how often beliefs and values animate environmentalism, as though that sense of “connectness” that often faiths emphasise gave an extra boost to people´s action for the planet.

The other big actor that emerged during our journey throughout the world were the youths. They really put their money were their mouth is! In particular, I was so impressed with a project they launched for the Focolare communities around the world called the Seed-funding programme.

And though I still believe that the latest IPCC report confirming a “code red” for humanity should really worry as all, after this weekend I feel that we also have enough reasons to be optimistic about our capacity to turn the tide around and make the change we want to see for people and planet.

You can watch the online streaming of this event on the United World Project YouTube channel translated in 8 languages including English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Korean and Hungarian.