'Environmental Festival' without fossil fuel

The 5th '2010 Festival for Preservation of Creation' was held at the Convent of Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, from October 8 to 10, 2010. This Festival was organized by the Catholic Association for Preservation of Creation, under the auspices of the Subcommittee for Environment of the CBCK Committee for Justice & Peace.

With the theme, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft."(Ps. 19,2) this Festival provides the faithful a chance to realize that we could live in plenty without causing damage to the earth and nature. According to the divine order of creation, it is also a duty for human beings to take care of all nature and creatures, living together with them. In this regard, this festival was prepared for the understanding of our actual situation in which rivers and creatures are dying due to our misbehavior, suggesting alternative ways.

To experience the 'pleasant inconveniences' for two nights, which make them closer to the divine order of creation, all participants gathered by public transportation, bicycle, or on foot, garaging their cars. They cooked rice with wood fire, used only candles, giving up all daily products related to fossil fuels such as toothpaste, shampoo, etc..

On the first day of this Festival, the Most Rev. Matthias Ri Iong-hun, President of the CBCK Committee for Justice & Peace, said to all the participants: "The candle lights make us calm and bring back the pure heart of our childhood. I feel as if we are taking a retreat. Though it is impossible for us to go back to the past, I hope that we will look back on our lives through such experiences like this."

Fr. Stephen Yang Ki Sok, Secretary general of the Catholic Association for Preservation of Creation said: "The 'Festival for Preservation of Creation' has been held in the different regions for five years, and this is the first time that it takes place in the capital region. As the Four Major Rivers Project has become a big issue in our society, the interest in this Festival increased more. A large scale development project such as the Four Major Rivers Project is due to an obsession with material things not as means but as goals." And he went on to explain the object of this Festival.

"We hope that you have a chance to experience a life without fossil fuels in this festival and come to understand what you can give up as well as what you have to preserve. Preservation of Creation does not mean doing nothing, but taking care of our environments conforming to the divine will of creation. And this environmental festival is a little cry for a true life which God wants us to practice in this world of material things with little interest in sharing love."