“The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.”
“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years.”
“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. … A number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity.”
“We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us.”
Press conference packed.
“The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.”
“The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty.”
“Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain.”
We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.”
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.”
“There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself.”
“We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.”
“What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal.”
“It has become countercultural to chose a lifestyle whose goals are even partly independent of technology.”
“Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and look at reality in a different way.”
He warns of “synthetic agrotoxins” harming birds and insects and “bioaccumulation” from industrial waste. He calls for renewable fuel subsidies and “maximum energy efficiency.” And although he offers prayers at the beginning and end of his heavily anticipated missive on the environment, Pope Francis unmasks himself not only as a very green pontiff, but also as a total policy wonk. In the 192-page paper released Thursday, Francis lays out the argument for a new partnership between science and religion to combat human-driven climate change — a position bringing him immediately into conflict with skeptics, whom he chides for their “denial.”
Francis urges taking public transit, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, recycling — and boycotting certain products. He called for an “ecological conversion” for the faithful. “It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment,” he writes. A highly accurate draft, which leaked Monday in the Italian press, had already begun dividing politicians and theologians.
As the Vatican rolled out the official draft to scenes of Francis on a big screen planting a tree, the debate over the proper role of a pope — one that was already popping up on the presidential campaign trail in the United States — immediately intensified. Environmental activists, meanwhile, widely cheered the rise of an unlikely ally in the fight against climate change, one whose voice could resonate not only in major global conferences but also in prayer groups and church pews.
The Document opens with a reference to the Pope’s namesake, Francis of Assisi, a Saint revered globally for his connection to the natural world.
1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.[1]
2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. 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. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
If you haven’t seen it, check out my recent video, where I highlighted the Francis of Assisi connection.
And finally, a review of the climate denial, right wing reaction to the document.
I’ve been pulling quotes all morning. Here are some great lines about denial and the psychology of denial.
“…we can note the rise of a false or superficial ecology which bolsters complacency and a cheerful recklessness. As often occurs in periods of deep crisis which require bold decisions, we are tempted to think that what is happening is not entirely clear. Superficially, apart from a few obvious signs of pollution and deterioration, things do not look that serious, and the planet could continue as it is for some time. Such evasiveness serves as a licence to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.”
“It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been. The failure of global summits on the environment make it plain that our politics are subject to technology and finance. There are too many special interests, and economic interests easily end up trumping the common good and manipulating information so that their own plans will not be affected.”
“It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”
“Such evasiveness serves as a licence to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.”
You see, we sinners are the problem! Our sins are what puts CO2 into the atmosphere, not our outmoded energy system.
We cling to our “self-destructive vices” . Vices like wanting enough to eat, and being comfortable in our homes, having knowledge, being entertained, and being able to travel. Such excess!!
Go frack yourself, Pope. WE are not the problem. Burning fossil fuels for energy is the problem. Government not doing its job is the problem.
Too many people is the problem, too – and YOU are making that worse by actively working against birth control.
Greed is a problem, too. So, how come the Catholic Church has hidden it assets, owns corrupt banks? Why do you live in opulence, while Vatican banks hoard over a trillion dollars that could feed the poor?
Disrespect for the law is also a problem. The fact that the Catholic Church has abetted the largest ring of child abusers and rapists, shielding perpetrators from the law and the Church itself from prosecution and paying fair remuneration speaks very clearly about the hypocrisy of you presuming to tell us what our “vices” may be.
“What an ass”, you say, and go off on the failings of the Catholic Church and the Pope? How irrelevant and UNhelpful to the cause!
You’re angry, GB, as are many of the rest of us. Unfortunately, you have let your anger slip over the line into rage, and are starting to sound a bit irrational (or drunk) WE are most definitely the problem, and the Pope and the Church are part of WE. What the Pope is saying may be the moral and ethical icing on the cake that we need to be able to “sell” it. Renewables are coming down in price, China is making strides (or at least good noises), fossil fuels are on the ropes, and insurance companies are starting to really look at the risks of climate change—we may be on the verge of a breakthrough.
We have maybe a couple of decades at best to get it all together, and YOU give aid and comfort to the enemy by helping them try to discredit the Pope? IF the Encyclical causes substantial progress to be made in Paris on a global plan and IF it helps the Democrats take back Congress and work with President Hillary, we may yet avoid climate change disaster.
You keep screaming about how “the government needs to fix it!—-right now!—free electricity for everyone!” If anyone is an ass here, it’s you. Wake up and understand the whole problem. I’m starting to read what looks to be a very good book by an economist who has been involved in the issue for a while—-I think you’ll like his message because he sounds a lot like you (but sober). “Why Are We Waiting: The logic, urgency, and promise of tackling climate change” by Nicholas Stern, MIT Press, 2015.
If you think we are going to solve this problem in time without a massive government program, you are guilty of the same wishful thinking the whole world has been using for the past thirty years in re AGW. This is not going to be solved by people putting PV on their roof. Or by waiting for the free market to privatize and profitize it away.
And if you think we are to blame for this, because we enjoy the fruits of civilization, feel free to chastise yourself, alongside all the Calvinists out there, who feel there is no redemption without suffering. Count me out. Civilization is about raising the standard of living for all, and for nurturing the discovery and education in our society. I refuse to apologize for that. And none of the energy we use to create those benefits is wrong – except for that which puts CO2 in the atmosphere.
That is the problem – [CO2]. Not raising the thermostat, or traveling to Grandma’s house, or lighting outdoor art exhibits. Because we could all be enjoying the fruits of civilization to our bloody heart’s content AND simultaneously watching [CO2] fall if our fracking government was doing its job. Making people feel guilty for not using less energy – when we could easily have unlimited energy at our fingertips if we wanted, enough to easily raise the standard of living for everyone on the planet – is backward thinking, a cruel remnant from the fossil fuel age
Encyclicals which blame everyone but government are deeply unhelpful. Because the only way to get the government to do its job is for people and institutions to demand it, to fight for it, to talk about it, – shit – just to write about it.
The alternative is the infighting, and undirected unproductive tail-chasing that has characterized the AGW debate for the past thirty years. Blaming anyone and everyone and everything, not remembering for more than 5 seconds what is most important here (planning, building, and deploying a new energy system), and falling back into the same helpless pattern of self-defeat as before.
At least China is actually taking action, supposedly. Don’t recall them talking about “self-destructive vices” or lifestyles of too much consumption, but maybe I missed it.
Do you ever really read what I post here? I have said from day one that it is highly unlikely we will solve the AGW dilemma without “a massive government program”, and that a Gilding-type Great Disruption or ingoing disasters resulting from passing Guy Mcpherson-type tipping points will be needed for that to come about.
You have spewed so much irrational BS in this comment that it’s not worth dissecting beyond saying that you talk out of both sides of your mouth about “blame” and are deluded when you say it’s the government’s fault and that it’s a simple matter to get the government to “do the right thing”.
There is no pattern of “self-defeat”. What we have is a pattern of SUCCESS—-by the plutocracy and corporatocracy, the fossil fuel interests, the whoring politicians, Wall Street and the financiers—-they have propagandized and lied and confused the public, and bought the government. We must deal with that and the dirty money in politics if we ever hope to succeed. And Pope Francis’s message on morality and ethics puts a much needed twist on the whole thing. How can you go off into your dark corner and not recognize how big a deal this encyclical is?
Nice piece of homework, but he and his council FAILED to appreciate the other elephant in the room:
“50. (…) Yet “while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development”.[28] To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. (…)
(…)
[28] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 483.
(…)”
That “consumerists” blame population growth just to evade responsibility is an INSULT. Quite a sinister argument to actually “refuse to face the issues” of population growths.
Heck, why is modern agriculture a pile of filth? Not only because fat Americans like eating cheap hamburgers. It’s also because e.g to feed 500 million extra Indians required to intensify and industrialize agriculture. But sooner or later this “Green Revolution” combined with climate chaos will fall back on those who refused to face the issue (e.g. certain popes and mullahs guilty of incitement to genosuicide by reckless procreation) plus some billion extra souls bred from agricultural wreckage of the planet.
I refuse to applaud somebody just because he gets current climate science and notes the Great Pacific Plastic Gyre. (Heck, it’s 2015 meanwhile.) On the really big picture Francis has FAILED.
Popes come and go, there is a lot of news, hope and chatter about the Encyclical and that is good. But he is just stating what the other major religions and guides of decent human ethics have been telling us for a long, long time.
Just how much longer does this even need to be debated or do we need kicking in the butt to react ? It is 2015 for god’s sake, one thing the human race seems to excel at is wasting time by endless talk, meetings and decision delaying.
People who are trying to put the pope down as a leftie are inherently and distastefully dense, thick and stupid.
The Pope is just repeating what scientists have been stating for years. Stop voting and putting people in power that cannot accept the message, that is the only way to actually limit the damage to even further lengths. How many messages do people need.
Here is a link that contains support for the Pope: from a Jew, an Islam and a Christian. Nearly all Climate scientists are aboard, so for gods sake ditch those ignorant naysayers, don’t let them bring us all down, yes and I mean all.
Early responses:
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_28336225/latest-vatican-launches-encyclical-news-conference?source=infinite
I’ll be reading it today:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
….but I can already tell that this is a document of both substance and historical significance.
I’ve been pulling quotes all morning. Here are some great lines about denial and the psychology of denial.
“…we can note the rise of a false or superficial ecology which bolsters complacency and a cheerful recklessness. As often occurs in periods of deep crisis which require bold decisions, we are tempted to think that what is happening is not entirely clear. Superficially, apart from a few obvious signs of pollution and deterioration, things do not look that serious, and the planet could continue as it is for some time. Such evasiveness serves as a licence to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.”
“It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been. The failure of global summits on the environment make it plain that our politics are subject to technology and finance. There are too many special interests, and economic interests easily end up trumping the common good and manipulating information so that their own plans will not be affected.”
“It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion”, whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”
“Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain.”
You see, we sinners are the problem! Our sins are what puts CO2 into the atmosphere, not our outmoded energy system.
We cling to our “self-destructive vices” . Vices like wanting enough to eat, and being comfortable in our homes, having knowledge, being entertained, and being able to travel. Such excess!!
Go frack yourself, Pope. WE are not the problem. Burning fossil fuels for energy is the problem. Government not doing its job is the problem.
Too many people is the problem, too – and YOU are making that worse by actively working against birth control.
Greed is a problem, too. So, how come the Catholic Church has hidden it assets, owns corrupt banks? Why do you live in opulence, while Vatican banks hoard over a trillion dollars that could feed the poor?
Disrespect for the law is also a problem. The fact that the Catholic Church has abetted the largest ring of child abusers and rapists, shielding perpetrators from the law and the Church itself from prosecution and paying fair remuneration speaks very clearly about the hypocrisy of you presuming to tell us what our “vices” may be.
What an ass.
“What an ass”, you say, and go off on the failings of the Catholic Church and the Pope? How irrelevant and UNhelpful to the cause!
You’re angry, GB, as are many of the rest of us. Unfortunately, you have let your anger slip over the line into rage, and are starting to sound a bit irrational (or drunk) WE are most definitely the problem, and the Pope and the Church are part of WE. What the Pope is saying may be the moral and ethical icing on the cake that we need to be able to “sell” it. Renewables are coming down in price, China is making strides (or at least good noises), fossil fuels are on the ropes, and insurance companies are starting to really look at the risks of climate change—we may be on the verge of a breakthrough.
We have maybe a couple of decades at best to get it all together, and YOU give aid and comfort to the enemy by helping them try to discredit the Pope? IF the Encyclical causes substantial progress to be made in Paris on a global plan and IF it helps the Democrats take back Congress and work with President Hillary, we may yet avoid climate change disaster.
You keep screaming about how “the government needs to fix it!—-right now!—free electricity for everyone!” If anyone is an ass here, it’s you. Wake up and understand the whole problem. I’m starting to read what looks to be a very good book by an economist who has been involved in the issue for a while—-I think you’ll like his message because he sounds a lot like you (but sober). “Why Are We Waiting: The logic, urgency, and promise of tackling climate change” by Nicholas Stern, MIT Press, 2015.
If you think we are going to solve this problem in time without a massive government program, you are guilty of the same wishful thinking the whole world has been using for the past thirty years in re AGW. This is not going to be solved by people putting PV on their roof. Or by waiting for the free market to privatize and profitize it away.
And if you think we are to blame for this, because we enjoy the fruits of civilization, feel free to chastise yourself, alongside all the Calvinists out there, who feel there is no redemption without suffering. Count me out. Civilization is about raising the standard of living for all, and for nurturing the discovery and education in our society. I refuse to apologize for that. And none of the energy we use to create those benefits is wrong – except for that which puts CO2 in the atmosphere.
That is the problem – [CO2]. Not raising the thermostat, or traveling to Grandma’s house, or lighting outdoor art exhibits. Because we could all be enjoying the fruits of civilization to our bloody heart’s content AND simultaneously watching [CO2] fall if our fracking government was doing its job. Making people feel guilty for not using less energy – when we could easily have unlimited energy at our fingertips if we wanted, enough to easily raise the standard of living for everyone on the planet – is backward thinking, a cruel remnant from the fossil fuel age
Encyclicals which blame everyone but government are deeply unhelpful. Because the only way to get the government to do its job is for people and institutions to demand it, to fight for it, to talk about it, – shit – just to write about it.
The alternative is the infighting, and undirected unproductive tail-chasing that has characterized the AGW debate for the past thirty years. Blaming anyone and everyone and everything, not remembering for more than 5 seconds what is most important here (planning, building, and deploying a new energy system), and falling back into the same helpless pattern of self-defeat as before.
At least China is actually taking action, supposedly. Don’t recall them talking about “self-destructive vices” or lifestyles of too much consumption, but maybe I missed it.
Do you ever really read what I post here? I have said from day one that it is highly unlikely we will solve the AGW dilemma without “a massive government program”, and that a Gilding-type Great Disruption or ingoing disasters resulting from passing Guy Mcpherson-type tipping points will be needed for that to come about.
You have spewed so much irrational BS in this comment that it’s not worth dissecting beyond saying that you talk out of both sides of your mouth about “blame” and are deluded when you say it’s the government’s fault and that it’s a simple matter to get the government to “do the right thing”.
There is no pattern of “self-defeat”. What we have is a pattern of SUCCESS—-by the plutocracy and corporatocracy, the fossil fuel interests, the whoring politicians, Wall Street and the financiers—-they have propagandized and lied and confused the public, and bought the government. We must deal with that and the dirty money in politics if we ever hope to succeed. And Pope Francis’s message on morality and ethics puts a much needed twist on the whole thing. How can you go off into your dark corner and not recognize how big a deal this encyclical is?
Nice piece of homework, but he and his council FAILED to appreciate the other elephant in the room:
“50. (…) Yet “while it is true that an unequal distribution of the population and of available resources creates obstacles to development and a sustainable use of the environment, it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development”.[28] To blame population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues. It is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption. (…)
(…)
[28] PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 483.
(…)”
That “consumerists” blame population growth just to evade responsibility is an INSULT. Quite a sinister argument to actually “refuse to face the issues” of population growths.
Heck, why is modern agriculture a pile of filth? Not only because fat Americans like eating cheap hamburgers. It’s also because e.g to feed 500 million extra Indians required to intensify and industrialize agriculture. But sooner or later this “Green Revolution” combined with climate chaos will fall back on those who refused to face the issue (e.g. certain popes and mullahs guilty of incitement to genosuicide by reckless procreation) plus some billion extra souls bred from agricultural wreckage of the planet.
I refuse to applaud somebody just because he gets current climate science and notes the Great Pacific Plastic Gyre. (Heck, it’s 2015 meanwhile.) On the really big picture Francis has FAILED.
Popes come and go, there is a lot of news, hope and chatter about the Encyclical and that is good. But he is just stating what the other major religions and guides of decent human ethics have been telling us for a long, long time.
Just how much longer does this even need to be debated or do we need kicking in the butt to react ? It is 2015 for god’s sake, one thing the human race seems to excel at is wasting time by endless talk, meetings and decision delaying.
People who are trying to put the pope down as a leftie are inherently and distastefully dense, thick and stupid.
The Pope is just repeating what scientists have been stating for years. Stop voting and putting people in power that cannot accept the message, that is the only way to actually limit the damage to even further lengths. How many messages do people need.
Here is a link that contains support for the Pope: from a Jew, an Islam and a Christian. Nearly all Climate scientists are aboard, so for gods sake ditch those ignorant naysayers, don’t let them bring us all down, yes and I mean all.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/18/pope-encyclical-science-climate-change-faith
must see science part 1hr in here…
https://youtu.be/bYibHoWrKXo