To the editor:

Protecting the environment has been sidelined by innovation and now we must face the consequences. This push for technological innovation and disregard of the possible effects, has affected the State of Ohio considerably. The 122 endangered species and 53 threatened species in Ohio alone is evidence of this. In Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si, he urged the public to take environmental stewardship to heart. Currently the House of Representatives has proposed legislation the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act to combat this. Representative Steve Stivers (R) is an original co-sponsor of this bill. Others from Ohio include Tim Ryan (D), Michael Turner (R), Joyce Beatty (D), Marcy Kaptur (D) and Anthony Gonzalez (R).

This is a non-partisan issue, and this bill could protect Ohio’s wildlife and remedy the harm done to our ecosystem. This would not mean rolling back technology and innovation but rather encourage us to become more intentional with it. As Pope Francis put it “Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive and sustainable progress which has been made, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur.” Ecological culture cannot be overwhelmed by masking the urgent and immediate problems of pollution, environmental decay and the depletion of natural resources. We need a strong voice in this revitalization, and I call on the above-mentioned Representatives to lead the charge.

John-Henry R. Frantz

Sidney