Leticia Padilla was initially inspired by Laudato Si’ in 2015, so it seems appropriate to see how she put it into action as Pope Francis publishes a new document on the environment October 4. It’s fitting he chose the feast of St. Francis for this publication, as St. Francis saw all creation as a sanctuary. This week continues 3 more of her “5 R’s” begun last week.
Reuse
“In my house, we repair everything. The three kids (now young adults) have been raised since kindergarten on a steady diet of dinner table discussions about sustainability. They know how to sew, mend and fix what’s broken,” Leticia says. “Life is so much easier when you just quit buying.” Her daughter majored in environmental studies, and now works at the Ecology Center in Berkeley CA.
Rot
The answer to Leticia’s question seems obvious: “Food waste rotting in landfills releases methane gas into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change. Why not let it feed our gardens and nurture us?” Her daughter designed and with her dad built a master composter for their home, and Leticia introduced the practice to their parish campus. As a high school Home Economics teacher, she taught students to shop wisely for food, to minimize food waste and to repair their clothes. She taught All Saints elementary school students to separate food waste and compost in the school garden. “The garden is my happy place,” she smiles, and when the Padillas grow too much food for their own family, off it goes to the food bank or All Saints parish.
But she also notes the importance of an infrastructure to support her practices. In California, Senate Bill 1383, passed in 2016, set a goal of diverting 75% of organic waste (about 27 million tons) away from landfills by 2025. Nonprofits like Second Harvest also collect unused food from grocery stores and restaurants, channeling it to hungry people.
Recycle
“I’m done living with blinders on,” Leticia says. “We can’t recycle ourselves out of this mess.” Cardboard and paper can be recycled, but not plastic which disintegrates into tiny particles (microplastics) that killed twenty elephants who ingested it at a landfill in Sri Lanka. Preparing infant formula in a plastic bottle degrades the bottle, so babies drink a kind of plastic soup. And the research isn’t yet in on how microplastics which contain suspected carcinogens might affect our diets and health.
As long as companies continue to churn out single-use plastics, we’ll poison the environment for the sake of dubious convenience. As Matt Simon explains in his book, A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies, “we’re trying to drain the tub without turning off the tap. And it wasn’t so long ago that humans got along fine without plastic.” The Padilla family, in fact, went waste-free for three years—due to their habits, no trash service needed.
If all life and all God’s creation are sacred, so too are even our smallest efforts to care for them. Surely God who created fog-feathering redwoods, vast oceans and glistening mountains can’t idly watch beloved humans foul their home, destroy their health and ruin their planet. Ever the courteous parent, God sends scientific researchers, conscientious citizens, and Leticia Padillas.
Kathy Coffey 