The world’s first climate change refugees floated away from their sinking island home on the big screen at Sears Recital Hall last night.
Sun Come Up follows the people of the Carteret Islands in the South Pacific Ocean as they travel to neighboring Bougainville to ask its citizens to give land for their starving people to relocate.
The event, hosted by the SEE initiative, invited students to consider the plight of these people, half a world away. What do we feel? What is our responsibility? How might we express our Marianist identity on the issue of climate change?
Students told of feeling frustrated by our energy-intensive society. Others said implementing sustainable practices can address the issue, while others wondered that even immediate consumption cuts could no longer help the Carteret Islanders.
In the film, the importance of faith was obvious; villagers and islanders would gather together to pray, only for the islanders’ pleas to be refused.
“People of faith have been good at acts of mercy but not so much at acts of justice,” said Sister Leanne Jablonski, F.M.I.
We have the opportunity for our response to be different.
Read more student reactions.