ABSTRACT
In Laudato si, the Papal Encyclical Letter, Pope Francis made an urgent appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet, and called for a conversation that includes everyone. Citing the environmental challenge we face and noting its human roots, he articulated the need for concern and action. Many parallels can be found in the ideas and concepts detailed in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter and the writings that have emerged from global People’s Forums that take place annually around the world. This chapter outlines an alternative vision for the globe articulated at global People’s Forums. Many of the ways that the Pope re-conceptualizes a new role for humanity on an ecologically sustainable planet parallel the discussions at the Peoples’ summits. These are at least some of the voices that Pope Francis calls into the global dialogue. This paper offers a glimpse of the vast global movements taking place around the world and the people who risk their lives documenting their struggles. These people, their stories and visions offer a new way to conceptualize an alternative future, one not dominated by environmental chaos, humanitarian disasters and endless militarized conflict. This narrative demands confronting the “root causes,” in the words of Pope Francis, of global instability and environmental destruction, and it is a narrative told mostly in the margins, by the people themselves, infrequently heard over mainstream global media channels.
