God's Earth, Our Earth

In Term 2 all classes in our school will be taught a major unit on Sustainability. This unit is integrated with Religious Education, where the focus is teaching children that God is the creator of the universe and we are the guardians,the kaitiaki, of this creation which is our world. Catholic schools are becoming increasingly involved with teaching and practicing sustainability, and they are fortunate to be able to link this practice to Biblical statements and church teaching. The land is God's gift to all of us. This source of our livelihood and our very being is increasingly being put at risk, and with it the lives of millions who depend directly on the produce of the earth. As Catholics we are called to ecological conversion- to think and act in ways which take into account the future of the planet and its people. Schools are to offer a practical example and education to students showing them what it means locally to adopt principles of living sustainably and preserving our global economy.(www.Caritas.org.nz)

Learning Outcomes:
Students will learn that

• God is creator of all that is good, the source of all being, seen and unseen, of Tapu and Mana, giver and sustainer of creation which is entrusted to the care of human beings, who, as creatures, are utterly dependent upon God.

• Because creation is entrusted to humans, the natural world is not just a resource to be exploited.

• We cannot use and abuse the world and matter as material for our actions and desires: we must consider creation a gift that has not been given to us to be destroyed, but to become God’s garden.

• We are stewards of the environment which is God’s creation. And in order to pass it on to the future generation we need to conserve and sustain the environment.