Caring for Our Common Home: Laudato Si Gallery

Each day, we see the changing climate’s impact on people around the world. Whether it is families whose homes are threatened by rising water levels or the farmers we serve who are losing their crops to irregular rainfall and warmer temperatures.

In his Laudato Si’ encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis reminds us that it is our responsibility to care for our common home – the earth – and it is our mission to serve our sisters and brothers affected by climate change overseas.

In advance of Laudato Si’ Week, we invite you to read through the photographs and stories of those most impacted by the changing climate.

“There are no lasting changes without cultural changes … and there are no cultural changes without personal changes” (LD, 70)

Jofilo Nafak’s house was severely damaged by flooding in Kalmakanda, Netrokona, Bangladesh. She bought food, vegetables and some seeds with the money she received from Caritas Bangladesh and CRS. During the flood, some of her crops were destroyed, and now she is replanting the rice and other crops.

Photo by Amit Rudro for CRS

Roba Waqo is a farmer in Dhogogich, Marsabit County, Kenya. In early 2020, large swarms of locusts descended on his farm, decimating his crops and destroying most of his livelihood. CRS, the county government of Marsabit and partner Caritas, implemented a seed distribution program to affected households, providing a financial respite from the locust swarms and allowing farmers like Waqo to get back up on their feet.

Photo by Will Swanson for CRS

Children enjoy clean water from a pump in Ethiopia’s East Hararghe zone.

Photo by Melikte Tadesse/CRS

A young herder tends his animals in Lesotho, where CRS implements the Integrated Catchment Management project as a sub-recipient for the German Agency for International Cooperation. The project is a four‑year initiative focused on socioeconomic development and adaptation to climate change in Lesotho. The project aims to advance environmental protection and adaptation to climate change while improving food security through sustainable water resources.

Photo by Dooshima Tsee/CRS

Baomahintsy Ndrianjanirina’s daughter tries to help water plants at the Mirindra Cooperative nursery in Bac Namorona, Madagascar. Baomahintsy cultivates cacao, vanilla and other crops and manages the nursery with support through the TSIRO Alliance. TSIRO, which means ‘flavor’ in the Malagasy language helps strengthen value chains in critical biodiverse landscapes of Madagascar, as well as other regions around the world. The TSIRO Alliance provides training and support to farmers, helping them adopt sustainable cultivation methods that can withstand climate change effects, sell premium crops to buyers at a fair price, and follow an environmental plan that promotes biodiversity.

Photo by Tofy Rabenandrasana/CRS

Rice fields grow in the Lingoni community of southern Malawi. Irrigation systems that feed the area’s farmlands extend the agricultural season and make off-season farming possible.

Photo by Dooshima Tsee/CRS

Esther Yasini is a farmer and member of the watershed management committee tilling her farm in preparation for irrigation in southern Malawi. Esther contributes to and has benefited from the continued work done to preserve the watersheds.

Photo by Dooshima Tsee/CRS

Sandra Chávez shows crop residues present in the soil of her field where she grew maize and beans in the La Corregidora Community, of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Center for Integral Peasant Development of the Mixteca, a local partner of CRS, believes that caring for the soil, reforesting, preserving native seeds that have demonstrated resilience to severe droughts, and investing in agricultural enterprises to motivate youth to stay in their lands is vital to the future of the region.

Photo by Oscar Leiva/Silverlight for CRS

Elizabeth López García hammers a stake for a tether that will allow her cow to feed within a specific area of her cornfield in San Isidro Yododeñe, Oaxaca, México. Elizabeth is a farmer and participant in the Water-Smart Agriculture project — Agua y Suelo para la Agricultura — a program developed by CRS in México and Central America.

Photo by Thor Morales/CRS

On Earth Day, local climate activists of Cotabato city in the Philippines conducted a coastal clean-up and mangrove planting in the mangrove area established by USAID and CRS Philippines’ Climate Resilient Cities Project.

Photo by Benny Manser/CRS.

On a personal level, we can all make little changes to act against climate change – whether that is carpooling, composting, recycling or reducing our consumption of dairy and meat to lower our environmental impact. You can also learn more about organizations that work toward a greener world so that we can better care for our sisters and brothers and our common home.