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Mother Pelican
A Journal of Solidarity and Sustainability

Vol. 19, No. 4, April 2023
Luis T. Gutiérrez, Editor
Home Page

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Human Agency in the Anthropocene

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ARTICLES

Restorative Hope and Ethical Leadership in Times of Natural Catastrophes
Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué

The Environmental Dogs Bark But The Growth Caravan Moves On
Madeline Weld

Humanity's Secret War Against the Environment, Ourselves, and Our Children
Carter Dillard

Why News of Population Decline and Economic Slowdown Isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing
Richard Heinberg

A Realistic 'Energy Transition' Is to Get Better at Using Less of It
Richard Heinberg

Choosing a Partnership Future: Evolving a Sustainable, Life-Affirming Way of Being on Earth
Geoffrey Holland

Listening to the Forest
Suprabha Seshan

Historical Amnesia in the Age of Capitalist Apocalypse — And How to Overcome It
Henry A. Giroux

Edge Consciousness: The Peoples' Pluriverse
Cara Judea Alhadeff

Ruminations on Losing Power and What Is Appropriate Technology
Eliza Daley

What Government Is For
Dave Pollard

Feasibility for Achieving a Net Zero Economy for the U.S. by 2050
Michael J. Kelly

When the Economy Gets Squeezed by Too Little Energy
Gail Tverberg

Is Humanity a Cancer on the Planet?
Warren M. Hern

Feedback and Dis-Equilibrium in Human Overpopulation
Steven B. Kurtz

A Geoeconomic Tsunami
Marc Saxer

A Desperate Race to Avoid Locking In the Pathway to Human Extinction
Ian Dunlop

Degrowth in a Green-Growth World
Rosalie Bull

The Next Decade Will Be The Most Pivotal in History: This is the Global Phase-Shift
Nafeez M. Ahmed

Green Talks: Nate Hagens & The Great Simplification
Rex Weyler

The Politics of Scripture ~ The Sleepers Must Awaken
Christy Randazzo

Some Thoughts on the Ordination of Women
Gerry O'Shea

The Evolution of Pope Francis on Women: Some Movement, But More Needed
Kate McElwee

On Patriarchy, Religious Patriarchy, and Human Agency in the Anthropocene
Luis T. Gutiérrez




Restorative Hope and Ethical Leadership
in Times of Natural Catastrophes

Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué

This article was originally published by
Globethics, 24 February 2023

REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION

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Aya – A sign of hope. Aya, Arabic for “a sign from God,” is the name of a Syrian baby girl, whose mother died after giving birth to her amidst the ruins of their home in Jenderis during the recent earthquakes. She appears to be just this sign of hope in dark times, for her surviving family, for her affected community, and for the world witnessing this catastrophe from afar. Not a symbol of hope that denies or glosses over the devastating losses, destruction and cries of despair, but a sign of hope for restoration. Hope that is nourished by the indestructible dignity and willpower of the most affected to rebuild what has literally been shaken to the ground, and to actively participate in the process of restoration and healing.  

Aya’s tragic birth reminds us not only of the vulnerability and giftedness of all life, but also of the responsibility and mutual care we are called to exhibit in protecting it, even under adverse circumstances. Ethical leadership represents such a life-preserving ethos. It is not an inward-looking, isolating attitude, but rather the cultivation of values that uphold the humanity in each individual and the interrelatedness of all humans with the living world. The praxis of such an ethical leadership, however, cannot be prescribed. The situations, locations, experiences, and even our worldviews may vary, but the responses culminate in the common desire to uplift the humane and the integrity of all life so that present and future generations can live.

What would otherwise remain abstract, becomes a lived reality in the example of Aya’s great-uncle, who is taking her into his family, currently living under a tent having lost their home. He may be perceived as such an ethical leader – not triumphant and overbearing – but humble and determined, marked by the thousands of deaths around him, and yet responsible and care-giving to Aya, and thereby modelling an outlook on the world and a behaviour that radiates far beyond Syria.      

A tender story of hope for restoration amidst destruction and an inspirational story of ethical leadership. Life continues amidst all brokenness and can be rebuilt in a restorative, life-affirming and values-driven perspective.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué is a Protestant theologian originating from Togo with specialization in ecumenical theology, ethics, and missiology. She has been appointed as the new academic dean of Globethics.net, the Geneva-based foundation for Ethics in Higher Education. Adamavi-Aho Ekué previously served the World Council of Churches as professor of ecumenical ethics at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey and as programme executive for Ecumenical Theological Education from 2007 to 2019.


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