Foreign Affairs

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts) Sat Jun 20, 2015, 06:42 AM Jun 2015

Pope to Developed World: Greed is Causing Climate Change, Inequality

http://www.juancole.com/2015/06/developed-causing-inequality.html

‘The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all,’ reads Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment which also says the most developed nations owe a ‘grave social debt’ to the poorest people on the planet who are being disproportionately and negatively impacted by human-caused global warming.

Pope to Developed World: Greed is Causing Climate Change, Inequality
By contributors | Jun. 20, 2015
Jon Queally

A message to leaders and supporters of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis, cataloging the threat of climate change and the moral imperative to act aggressively to combat its root causes, is being heralded around the world on Thursday as a powerful—even ‘radical’—statement from one of the world’s most recognizable religious leaders.

“What makes the pope’s message so radical isn’t just his call to urgently tackle climate change. It’s the fact he openly and unashamedly goes against the grain of dominant social, economic and environment policies.”
—Steffen Böhm, Sustainability Institute at University of Essex

Released in the form of a 180-page Papal Encyclical (pdf)—a formal letter to all the bishops of the church—the document codifies an official message from the spiritual leader, who makes the case that acting on climate change is not just a matter of decreasing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling global warming, but also involves addressing the inequities and injustices caused by the fossil fuel-driven economy and resulting climate change.

“This home of ours is being ruined and that damages everyone, especially the poor,” reads the pope’s message on the environment, climate, and social justice.