Pope Francis’s recent landmark encyclical on climate change is a welcome sign of the Church’s desire to contribute to the important social issues of our time, and not just focus on doctrinal matters. It certainly highlights the Pope’s willingness to play a powerful role on the world stage and to influence public opinion on such an important matter.
Yolanda Kakabadse, president of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the Pope’s encyclical “adds a much-needed moral approach” to the debate on climate change. The timing of the papal letter is certainly significant considering that December’s climate conference in Paris is widely regarded as the last chance for the international community to reach an accord on global emissions.
Pope Francis did not beat about the bush and called for a radical change in our behaviour and lifestyles to save the planet for future generations; he laid much of the blame for global warming on human activities. He wrote: “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.”
The Pope specifically highlighted the loss of biodiversity in Amazonian rainforests and the melting of polar glaciers in his letter, and criticised a “collective selfishness” among people in their attitude towards the environment. However, no country is immune from the effects of climate change (Malta certainly isn’t) which will affect our way of life, water supply, economy, national security, food supply and can cause political instability throughout the globe.
I have no doubt that ordinary citizens, as well as many governments, are becoming more aware of the dangers presented by climate change, and that the Pope’s latest encyclical will increase this trend.
Only last Wednesday, for example, a court in The Hague ordered the Dutch government to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent by 2020. Campaigners, who argued the government had a duty to protect its citizens from the dangers of climate change, instituted the case on behalf of almost 900 Dutch citizens.
US President Barack Obama welcomed the Pope’s encyclical saying he admired the Pontiff’s decision to make the case “clearly, powerfully, and with the full moral authority of his position” for action on global climate change. Obama added that he was committed to taking bold actions at home and abroad to cut carbon pollution and to increase clean energy and energy efficiency.
He added: “I look forward to discussing these issues with Pope Francis when he visits the White House in September. And as we prepare for global climate negotiations in Paris this December, it is my hope that all world leaders – and all God’s children – will reflect on Pope Francis’s call to come together to care for our common home.”
December’s climate conference in Paris is widely regarded as the last chance for the international community to reach an accord on global emissions
US conservatives, however, who have a passionate, ideological and totally unreasonable opposition to tackling climate change – and who have sadly promised to reverse many of Obama’s measures taken so far in this area – criticised the Pope’s letter.
Jeb Bush, a Catholic and Republican presidential candidate, said he did not get his economic policy from his bishops, cardinals or the Pope – so why should he get his policy on the environment from them?
Rick Santorum, also a Catholic and Republican presidential candidate, questioned whether the Pope was credible on the issue of climate science. (The Pope actually has a Master’s degree in chemistry).
A few days after the publication of the Pope’s encyclical, however, the Obama administration released a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency which predicted that thousands would be killed and billions of dollars lost in the economy in the next century through massive storms, extreme heat and poisonous air if the world does not act on climate change.
If climate change is not addressed, the report predicts more than 2,000 storm-mangled bridges, 57,000 deaths from poor air quality and 12,000 fatalities from extreme temperature between now and the year 2100.
However, the report points out that if the world commits to scientifically recommended cuts in carbon emissions, the US will save 7.9 million acres from wildfire, and prevent more than $10 billion in damage to mid-western farming counties and coastal communities alike.
Perhaps even more worrying than the US Environmental Protection Agency report, however, was a study released by three US universities which concluded that the Earth has entered a new period of extinction, and humans could be among the first casualties.
The report, by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley, said vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal. One of the study’s authors said: “We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event.” The last such event was 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs were wiped out.
“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” said the main author, Gerardo Ceballos.
Since 1900, the report says, more than 400 more vertebrates had disappeared. Such a loss would normally be seen over a period of up to 10,000 years, the scientists pointed out. The study, published in the Science Advances journal, blames climate change, pollution and deforestation for this state of affairs.
The scientists said it was still possible to avoid a “dramatic decay of biodiversity” through intensive conservation, but that rapid action was needed.
Hopefully the world will wake up to the threat posed to our eco-system –before it is too late – and a good beginning would be a comprehensive agreement on climate change (which has now become a national security issue) at the Paris summit later this year. Countries such as China, India, the US and the EU member states must rise to the occasion, compromise and do whatever it takes to reach an accord. Failure is simply not an option; there is too much at stake.