Ecological Conversion
Finding Good News in the climate crisis
On July 1, 2025, Roman Catholic bishops from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, representing more than 800 million Catholics, released a prophetic statement calling for action to address the climate crisis. Released in advance of the COP30 meeting in Belém, Brazil in November 2025, the statement notes the lack of meaningfully progress to ameliorate global greenhouse gas emissions. Governments have largely failed to meet their targets for reduced emissions, which are currently at peak levels, and are nowhere near the goal of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 on the way to zero emissions by 2050.
Last year, for the first time, global average temperatures rose 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average. The scientific consensus is that further increases above this threshold will culminate in a centuries-long global climate disaster. The bishops call for action to end the use of fossil fuels, and for Global north countries to pay their financial and moral debt to Global south countries, who will bear the brunt of the climate crisis primarily caused by Global north countries’ economic policies and exploitation of the earth.
"We need to transform the economic and cultural model, replacing the logic of unlimited profit with integral ecology, that is, solidarity, justice, and care for creation," the bishops said.
The bishops pledged to do their part in education and fostering ecological conversion. They also called for "a historic coalition" across the globe to strengthen dialogue and democratic processes to the benefit of humanity and well-being of the planet.
"Inspired by the cry of the peoples and the urgency of climate collapse, [we] stand together to raise a prophetic voice from the Global South," they wrote. "We share a common conviction: without climate justice there is no peace, without ecological conversion there is no future, without listening to the people there are no real solutions."[1]
This is quite a contrast to the climate change denialism of the Trump administration, its withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, and reversal of Biden administration attempts to promote alternate energy technologies. That denialism is disingenuous. The Trump administration is well aware of the science. They choose to ignore it, because they serve a small, economic elite that believes it will be immune to the worst effects of climate change and that technological advancements will solve the problem (for them, at least).
This is all of a piece with the lifeboat ethic that dictates suppression of immigration, shredding the social safety net, and advancing authoritarianism. It is all about building walls to protect the wealthy from the coming storm, and to hell with everyone else.
Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant . . . Ah, you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter . . . who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of their rights! - Isaiah 5:8-9, 20, 23
The Trump administration is adept at displacing climate change fear onto the latent (and often overt) racist xenophobia deeply rooted in the American psyche; exploiting legitimate anger at the failure of the elites to protect us from the decline and danger we face. But the danger is not our brown-skinned neighbors. The danger is the rapacious fossil fuel economy (including the massive energy inputs required by AI), and the tremendous wealth inequality if fosters.
It must be admitted, however, that Trumpism is a symptom of a deeper disease, a cultural decadence and moral decay that made Trumpism possible. There is an evil spirit of cruelty, greed, and self-centeredness abroad in the land, feeding on loneliness, anxiety, and traumatic stress. And beneath it all is a failure to acknowledge the intrinsic dignity of creation and our profound interdependence. We have lost touch with reality.
“As your being increases, your receptivity to higher meaning increases. As your being decreases, the old meanings return.” - Maurice Nicoll
The bishops are right to call for policies to eliminate fossil fuels and transfer wealth from North to South to protect the most vulnerable from the effects of climate change. But even more important is their call to “transform the economic and cultural model,” to embrace an “ecological conversion.” What they are calling for is a tremendous shift in consciousness, an upgrade to the operating system of our collective consciousness – what Jesus called metanoia.
As Cynthia Bourgeault notes, “what this means is not about knowing more, but knowing with more of you, knowing deeper, carving and digging your being deeper and deeper so that it can receive more knowing. The knowing as it’s often been talked about in Wisdom traditions is state-dependent. It’s not hidden. It’s as plain as the nose on your face, but unless you have got, as they love to say in the bible, ‘eyes to see and ears to hear,’ it can be sitting right there in the room with you, sitting on the nose on your face, and you won’t see it.”[2] This shift in consciousness is about seeing more of reality, more clearly, more consistently – and acting from a place of serene, compassionate, and powerful insight.
Right policies are not enough to meet the spiritual crisis that underlies the climate crisis. It requires awakened hearts. Awakened hearts are the fruit of a surrendered will that seeks in obedience (listening from the depths) to be aligned with divine wisdom and love. Awakened hearts are vessels of the living stream of divine light that infuses the world with the spiritual nutrients we need to build a new cultural model: faith, hope, love, mercy, patience, peace, forbearance, self-control, courage, kindness, gentleness. These virtues are not simply subjective states or feelings; they are actually subtle energies that have objective effects in the world. They increase our collective capacity for higher being and meaning.
Tapping into this energetic field is what the spiritual technologies of the Wisdom traditions, including Christianity, are all about. They awakened heart is not something we pursue to “save our souls,” but rather to become “useful for God.” It is not about escaping the world by blissing out on the meditation cushion, but about engaging the practices that wake us up to reality and begin to free us from the limitations of our conditioning. The awakened heart increases our being and receptivity so that we can transmit what is needed to heal, stabilize, and bless the world.
Advocacy for good policies and regime change to enact them will fail if it is operating at the lower level of being in which we find ourselves collectively. If we are rooted in the anxiety, rage, and polarization so widespread in the culture, our actions will simply reinforce the pathological dynamics operating in the culture. We have to act from a different level of being – a different place.
“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or “There it is!’ For the kingdom of God is among [within] you.” – Luke 20b-21
“His disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’ Jesus said, "It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying 'Here it is' or 'There it is'. Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." – Gospel of Thomas 113
“The Kingdom is inside you, and outside you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize it is you who are the sons of the living Father.” – Gospel of Thomas 3
Jesus referred to this “place” as the Kingdom of God, which is within us and around us. It is a deeper, more subtle dimension of reality that is objectively real and has causal power when we are attuned to it. To have an awakened heart is to be so attuned and capable of sharing the fruits of the Spirit. Attunement to the Kingdom makes living the beatitudes possible; living the beatitudes stabilizes the attunement and the blessings that flow from it.
Purity of intention and humility are key here. And work, work, work. We have to take responsibility for our spiritual development. We have to attend to the deconditioning and healing of the body and psyche that allows our nervous systems to settle down and become capable of transmitting the level of energy coming from the Kingdom. We have to engage the spiritual practices that foster higher consciousness and attune our hearts to the Kingdom. But that isn’t all. We have to share the fruit of the Spirit, taking action to heal and bless the world.
Good policies and social action are not enough. They have to come from a different place. The climate crisis is a spiritual crises. Addressing it requires a critical mass of people shifting into a higher level of conscious awareness and skillful action.
The good news is that this evolution in human consciousness is happening; sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. A global ecological conversion is underway. It is easy to miss, because the powers-that-be benefit from keeping our nervous systems activated by focusing on the bad news. When we are in a reactive state, we often become paralyzed. We can’t think. We can’t see.
More than ever, we need to hear the words of Jesus, “The proper time has been fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near; change your hearts and have faith in the good tidings.”[3]
[1] Brian Rowe, “Bishops of Asia, Africa, Latin America unite in unprecedented climate appeal,” National Catholic Reporter (July 1, 2025).
[2] Cynthia Bourgeault, “Introductory Wisdom School Transcript,” The Center for Action and Contemplation (2019), p. 6.
[3] Mark 1:15 (The New Testament: A Translation, David Bentley Hart).