“For human beings…to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins.”Laudato Si, “On the Care of Our Common Home”
Yesterday social media worlds were in a frenzy as Pope Francis released the long awaited Encyclical “Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home,” an open letter outlining humanity’s universal responsibility to care for our shared planet and tackle the root causes of our greatest modern challenges like climate change. I was quickly taken back to last year when His Holiness spoke out against damaging the rainforest, calling deforestation a “sin” and asking his fellow Catholics to respect “God’s Creation.”
Francis decried the destruction of the Amazon: “When I look at America, also my own homeland, so many forests, all cut, that have become land…that can longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the earth and not allowing her to her give us what she has within her.” Not big on imposed religious preachings, here was something coming from the Catholic Church that I could subscribe to!
And this wasn’t the first time the Pope, who hails from Argentina, piped up on behalf of South America and the Amazon. When visiting Brazil a year prior, Francis reminded Brazilian bishops that “the Church’s presence in the Amazon Basin is not that of someone with bags packed and ready to leave after having exploited everything possible…the Church has been present in the Amazon Basin from the beginning, in her missionaries, religious congregations, priests, laity and Bishops and she is still present and critical to the area’s future.” Furthermore, the Amazon should not be “indiscriminately exploited, but rather made into a garden.” Amen.
While the Pope’s Encyclical acknowledges both God and science and is expected to influence global politics, it is not a scientific or a political document. It is, rather, a definitive moral case for action on climate change calling on all of humanity to reject “capitalism at all cost” and to care for the environment and for people in need from a place of love and compassion. It is a teaching document that stands in solidarity with the overwhelming scientific consensus and experts from a myriad of disciplines who have declared that fossil fuels and unchecked exploitation of the natural world are irreversibly damaging our “common home.” The Encyclical does not speculate on the causes of climate change itself – as a moral leader, the Pope calls for proper stewardship of “our common home” and labels acts against the planet as “sins.”
The Pope makes an invincible moral case for climate action and joins scientists, business leaders, environmentalists, economists, investors, unionists, indigenous peoples, youth activists and other spiritual leaders around the world in calling for a transition from dirty fossil fuels to a clean and renewable energy future. Such holy words come at a moment when investors are increasingly abandoning fossil fuels, a great global movement to #KeepItInTheGround grows rapidly and a clean energy transition is happening faster than most imagined.
Perhaps most importantly, His Holiness is calling for all of us – not just Catholics – to care for the planet and people who call it home. We must continue to join together and stay united to leverage this momentum to convince leaders to act on climate as we near a new global climate agreement to be delivered in Paris this December.
Politicians must look beyond themselves
“While some are concerned only with financial gain, and others with holding on to or increasing their power, what we are left with are conflicts or spurious agreements where the last thing either party is concerned about is caring for the environment and protecting those who are most vulnerable. Here too, we see how true it is that “unity is greater than conflict.”[Page 82, Section 198]
What did Amazon Watch Executive Director Leila Salazar-Lopez have to say about the Encyclical?
“The Pope’s Encyclical on the “Care for our Common Home” reminds us that we all live on one planet, interconnected. While this is a call to Catholics, it’s also a historic call to ALL of humanity to care for ALL life on this one and only planet that we share.
“It brings great hope to see Pope Francis taking a moral stand for creation, all people and our global climate. It brings me hope that he recognizes that our forests – from the Amazon to the Congo – are invaluable and that we must protect and defend them. It brings me hope to see that he challenges unwarranted destruction in the name of consumerism and progress. It brings me hope that he calls on global governments to take action on climate change by reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and increasing our use of renewable energy.
“Today I am beaming with hope because THIS is what Amazon Watch, our partners and allies, indigenous peoples around the globe, climate scientists, and a growing movement of people from all walks of life everywhere are calling for to ensure survival of all life on this interconnected planet.
“Join us, join the global call, join the Pope in saying now is the time to take action on climate. Now is the time to #KeepItInTheGround from the Amazon to the Arctic. Not only is this a moral obligation for being human, it’s what we must do if we want a living, breathing planet for future generations.”
A few more words from Pope Francis (an extract from Pope Francis’s encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si)
“Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning.”
“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. Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected…
“The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon. Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the Earth’s orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet 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. Concentrated in the atmosphere, these gases do not allow the warmth of the sun’s rays reflected by the Earth to be dispersed in space. The problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which is at the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes.
“Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change. However, many of these symptoms indicate that such effects will continue to worsen if we continue with current models of production and consumption. There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy. Worldwide there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy. There is still a need to develop adequate storage technologies. Some countries have made considerable progress, although it is far from constituting a significant proportion. Investments have also been made in means of production and transportation which consume less energy and require fewer raw materials, as well as in methods of construction and renovating buildings which improve their energy efficiency. But these good practices are still far from widespread.
“Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.”
Pope Francis’s full encyclical is published here by the Vatican
#Keepitintheground #PopeforPlanet
More Info:
- Why we must listen to the Pope on climate change (The Guardian)
- The Pope’s encyclical on climate change – live reaction and analysis (The Guardian)
- Papal encyclical gives hope to indigenous people (Al Jazeera)
- Pope Francis encyclical calls for end to fossil fuels (BBC)
- Pope Francis calls for swift action on climate change (The New York Times)
- The 5 Most Important Points of Pope Francis’s Climate Change Encyclical (Time)
- What does the Pope’s encyclical mean for the climate fight? (RTCC)
- Pope’s encyclical on the environment: key questions answered (The Guardian)
- Behind the Scenes With the Pope’s Secret Science Committee (Bloomberg)
