In this presentation at the Laudato Si' panel during World Youth Day 2023, John Mundell critiques the consumption‑driven global economy, describing its ecological harms and concentration of wealth. He references the Pope’s call for an ecological conversion, outlining the personal qualities that emerge from such a transformation—gratitude, generosity, a sense of universal communion, creativity, and personal responsibility. Mundell emphasizes the need for reflective examination of one’s life, using a John Muir quote to illustrate an inner connection with creation. He argues that change should come through small, daily habits rather than dramatic, one‑off events, and that community support is essential to resist the strong economic current that pushes toward over‑consumption. The talk culminates in the central question: what will most motivate young people to shift from a consumption‑focused lifestyle to a sustainable one, and how can that motivation be cultivated?
Chapters
This has to do a little bit with what I talked about in the main area, but it's about motivating ecological transformation and conversion. How are we going to convert the whole world? So as you know, the current global economic system is driven by this desire for comfortable individualistic lifestyles supported by profit-driven business activities. That are dependent on constantly growing consumption. That's our system, and it's broken, and it's unsustainable, and it's led our planet to have all kinds of damage from negative impacts. And you know what those are: excessive pollution and loss of biodiversity, depletion of critical natural resources, and the concentration of the control— Of the planet. of land, financial resources, and decision-making in the hands of the wealthy at the expense of the marginalized and the common good. More doom and gloom, right? Doesn't it sound overwhelming? How can we really have any positive impact on this global, huge ecological crisis? But we know for certain That one thing is, is that we can't just sit here and talk about it. We have to act and do something. So, you know, the Pope asked for an ecological conversion, and there are all kinds of— how would I say— personal characteristics that happen when you undergo that kind of transformation. You have a sense of gratitude and a gratuitousness that develops. You have a sense of generosity in your life. You have this loving awareness of a universal communion, a connection between people and planet. And you also have this greater creativity and enthusiasm to look for solutions. And also this feeling that somehow, personally, you're responsible for some of this. So, if we are to make positive changes in our lifestyles, First of all, what would motivate us to do this? I mean, come on, you know your friends, right? You know the difficulty. How do we start? How do we begin this journey? And also, kind of what changes should we make? So why should we change? Well, I think we had from one of our individual speakers today a good start when he talked about this process really starts with this examination of our own lives. And perhaps the discovery that something is missing. And taking time to reflect in our relationships with the world and with those placed around us, and also with the Creator, it helps us to be mindful of those amazing things, those discovering amazing things that we heard about in our earlier talk today. You know, the plants, the animals, the rivers, the rocks, the microbes. They're each waiting for us to encounter them. And when we do take the time, take a breath in our daily lives, it begins to open up all kinds of possibilities, which I think we've heard a lot about this morning. So I won't go back into that. But I— this one quote really stuck with me from John Muir. He's a— he's an American naturalist that was famous in American history. The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. I want to read that again. The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. So in this examination, we have to begin to have things stir up inside of us. To begin to make us feel like we're connected and that we see the world around us as a gift, which is one of the kind of main themes of Laudato Si'. So, how do we start? Changing our behavior is not about this one big change in our life that happens all at once, but making those small changes each day. You know, it's kind of unusual for us to have one of those St. Paul on the road to Damascus knocked off your horse by God type of experiences in which the voice of God clearly asks you to personally redirect your lives in a radical new path. That just doesn't happen that often. Except these kind of events at World Youth Day are kickstarters, if you will, to that kind of process and helps us view things differently than when we were back home in our own countries and our own cultures. So getting back to my basic, uh, kind of premise— well, how do you start and what challenges are you going to face? And I'll just say this: the challenge is amazing. It's like jumping into a river and swimming against the current And you know what that's like. The river is unforgiving. So this current of the economy you live in is just amazingly strong. It tends to overwhelm you and submerge you and sweep you down along with it in the direction it wants you to go. How do you deal with that? If you deal with it yourself, by yourself, it's difficult. So you have to look for kindred spirits, people among you that can work as a community to— To help you move along that counter-current direction. And sometimes they are inspiring you when you're down, and sometimes you inspire them when you're up. So what do we change? And this is the final point. It's important to remember that ecological conversion really isn't about the big stuff. I think, as you said, It's about saving the world, not those not saving the world kind of actions. I'm going to go out, I'm going to change the globe. It's really about creating lasting change with these small day-to-day changes in small packages, in small increments. They're almost unnoticeable sometimes. So with all of that, this is the kind of question we're going to grapple with in our session. What will be the greatest motivator of ecological conversion from a lifestyle of consumption to one of sustainability, and how do we create that for young people? So what will motivate you to make the change in lifestyle, and how will we create that for you? That's what we'll deal with.
