Today, Sunday, June 5 is "World Environment Day". This gives us an opportunity to become aware of our environment and our contribution to its degradation or upliftment. Can God still look at all he has made and say it is very good (Gen 1:31 ).

In an article in the May 30 Daily Express, headlined "Very bad news for a 'nice place'", environmental journalist Mark Meredith reports some startling facts concerning the state of the environment in our country. The article also gives an assessment of the environment by Dr John Agard, Chairman of the Environmental Management Authority.

Dr Agard states, "the only reason for the environmental stresses we are experiencing is us. Fortunately, . because we are basically the only reason for our own demise, we have the capability to halt and reverse these impacts." His bottom line, "it's down to us: politicians, industry and you the public to halt our downward slide."

It is instructive that the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes reference to our obligations to care for the environment under the seventh commandment. Paragraph #2415 states, "Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbour, including generations to come, it requires religious respect for the integrity of creation"). The seventh commandment - You shall not steal - enjoins respect for all living things, including the earth.

What is our response as Church to the challenge of halting the "downward slide" of which Dr Agard speaks?

The two synods and the reorganisation of the archdiocese have given the stewardship programme greater impetus throughout the parishes and vicariates. There are few parishes that remain unaware of the stewardship programme with its key words of time, treasure and talent. How can the concept of stewardship be applied to care for our environment?

In this Year of the Eucharist as we refocus on the meaning of Jesus' presence and what it means " to be the body of the Lord in this world "- a sacramental presence that is an embodied, incarnational presence, we need to ask ourselves what we have done or failed to do where the environment is concerned.

Taking all the statistics into consideration, we would have to agree with Meredith's opening statement "Very, very, very bad news."

The month of June heralds the start of the hurricane season, one which weather analysts predict will be even more severe than last year's. With the rainy season downpours come the perennial floods.

A short, heavy shower in downtown Port of Spain immediately turns streets into rivers, and the people of Central Trinidad dread this season and the annual floods. These are but two of the most obvious examples of our environmental problems.

Upon receiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, Bill Moyers former host of the weekly public affairs series NOW with Bill Moyers on PBS, had this to say: "What we need is what the ancient Israelites called hochma -- the science of the heart ... the capacity to see, to feel and then to act as if the future depended on you. Believe me, it does".

Could we hope that deeper awareness of our God-given responsibility to be stewards of our earth will spur us as individuals and communities to take up the challenge to stop the "downward slide" and to be bearers of "very, very, very good news" where our environment is concerned?