NOW because the world has failed to pay attention to climate change, Negros Occidental and the rest of the country has to endure not only El Niño droughts but pest attacks as well.
Climate change is an urgent issue with a significant moral dimension. How does our Christian call to love God and love our neighbor call us to action on protecting the environment that sustains life?
St. Francis of Assisi, the original Earth Day champion, advocated not only the care for the poor and sick, but preached on animals, and wanted all creatures on earth, including humans, to be treated as equals under God.
So here we are. Love for neighbor means respecting the web of life, the food chain. Failure to do so will result in dire consequences.
We recall passages on pestilence even in the Bible. Ezekiel 5:17 says, “I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will rob you of your children.” In modern-day speak, development speak, facing food insecurity. Blame not the Lord but our abuse and neglect of His creation.
Lately, the provincial government sounded the alarm that black bug and armyworm infestations have Candoni town, while rice fields in Pulupandan were infested by black bugs and Kabankalan City farms affected by armyworms.
A black bug sucks the sap of palay while armyworms feed on the leaves of rice plants.
Based on records of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, rice farmlands in Pontevedra, Cauayan, Cadiz City, and Pulupandan were attacked by pests and plagued by crop diseases, and damage already reached P15.83 million, as of late last month.
We entreat you, Lord, be pleased to hear our prayers; and even though we rightly deserve, on account of our sins, this plague of blackbugs and armyworms. Mercifully deliver from us from these plagues and protect our land and fields be left fertile, so that all it produces redound to Your glory and serve our necessities, through Christ our Lord.
bqsanc@yahoomail.com