Livesimply book urges curb on northern lifestyle

Progressio's latest publication, Live simply: Let others live, makes the theological case for people in the global North to recognise the impact that their unsustainable lifestyles are having on people in the global South.

Edward Echlin, writer and campaigner on sustainable living, asks us to make practical changes to our lives to reduce environmental damage and poverty in the South, ranging from removing paving slabs from our gardens to taking holidays without plane travel.

Echlin's theological argument for environmental responsibility is based on the biblical mandate to be good stewards of creation, on using the simple lifestyle of Jesus as our inspiration, and on understanding the link between 'love thy neighbour' and caring for your neighbour's environment.

Echlin says, 'Make Poverty History showed that many people are concerned about poverty and want to see change in the way the world operates. The livesimply project challenges people in the global North to take the next step: to be the change they want to see, to make changes in their own lives that, like ripples in the teeming ocean of the earth community, will reach out and help bring change to the lives of others. Only if we live sustainably, if we 'walk our talk', can we really help the poor.'

Echlin's book is particularly timely, given the seminar on climate change and development organised in April by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the statement earlier this month by 11 El Salvadorean bishops opposing all mining operations in their country on the grounds that 'any material benefits do not outweigh the threat to human life'.

Progressio's Executive Director Christine Allen says, 'The poor in the South are the most affected by climate change whether through drought or excessive rainfall, and they are the most affected by the North's insatiable appetite for cheap food and resources when their land is converted to single crops for export rather than food to feed themselves. We need to look long and hard at how our demands, and the political and economic structures that underpin them, are linked to deprivation in the South. And we need to make radical changes, both to our lifestyles and to the structures that are keeping people poor.'

Progressio is publishing Echlin's book as part of its commitment to 2007's livesimply project, that brings together over 40 Catholic organisations seeking to live more simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor.

Order or download a copy of Live simply: Let others live

Notes to editors

• For more information or to interview author Edward Echlin or Progressio's Executive Director Christine Allen, please contact the Progressio communications team on 020 7354 0883, or email clarej@progressio.org.uk,
• Enclosure - Live simply: Let others live by Edward P Echlin (2007) for review. Edward Echlin is an ecological theologian. He is Honorary Fellow at Trinity & All Saints University College, Leeds, and Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, Salisbury. His writings include The Cosmic Circle: Jesus and Ecology (Columba Press, 2004) and Earth Spirituality: Jesus at the Centre (John Hunt, 2002). Dr Echlin gardens organically in East Sussex, and is Chair of Catholic Concern for Animals.
• The livesimply project brings together over 40 Catholic organisations who are seeking, through an online promise bank open to the public, to live more simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. For further information go to www.progressio.org.uk/livesimply.