SMNZ Draft Sustainability Policy

​Peter Healy sm, a member of the Ecology Commission, has been working, in dialogue with the SM NZ Provincial Administration, to develop the following Draft Sustainability Policy

Preamble:

This policy sets down for the Society of Mary practical steps for our involvement towards the creation of a life sustaining world.Care of our common home is an intrinsic part of living the gospel today. We will take inspiration and direction from Laudato Si. Mary and her talent for homemaking and gardening in the village of Nazareth can be a model for our endeavors. 

Principles:

1. We will live the Spirit of the Society authenically by attending to our way of life and how it impacts on our planet home.
2. We will integrate this care into our living of the vow of poverty today.
3. We will reflect carefully on the new perspectives and urgent appeals before us in Laudato si, recognizing our responsibility to care for Earth and the poor of Earth in the way we live.
4. We will acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis and act with the required integrity.
5. We will confirm creation-centered elements of our faith and spirituality by acknowledging the whole of creation as a gift and promise and under the care of Mary mother of the New Creation.  We will pray and act as co-creators and guardians of this world redeemed in the Incarnation, Death and Resurrection of Christ. 

 Procedures:

1. A sustainability guide will be prepared for each community.This guide of practical suggestions will enable life sustaining communities with a focus on energy use, travel, food, waste and water use.
2. A "sustainability champion", someone who leads by encouragement and example, can be nominated in each community.
3. Spending time in nature, in the form of reflection, gardening and its associated activities, is encouraged as a life-giving, homemaking spiritual practice.
4. We will encourage employees and colleagues, in our various Marist projects, to take action in their lives to comlpement our own sustainability commitments.
5. As communities and as a Province we will discuss ways of measuring our carbon footprints and look towards reducing them over time.
6. Review date: November 2020
7. The implementation of this Policy will be evaluated at pre-March 15 and end of year community meetings.