Pope Francis' Climate Change Encyclical Just Leaked. Here's What It Says.

[riversedge]

Source: motherjones.com





Pope Francis' Climate Change Encyclical Just Leaked. Here's What It Says.
Humans are causing climate change, and there will be "grave consequences" if we don't act fast, warns the pope.

—By Stephanie Kirchgaessner and John Hooper
| Mon Jun. 15, 2015 3:25 PM EDT


Marcio Fernandes/AP

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is republished here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Pope Francis will this week call for changes in lifestyles and energy consumption to avert the "unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem" before the end of this century, according to a leaked draft of a papal encyclical. In a document released by an Italian magazine on Monday, the pontiff will warn that failure to act would have "grave consequences for all of us."

Francis also called for a new global political authority tasked with "tackling…the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions." His appeal echoed that of his predecessor, pope Benedict XVI, who in a 2009 encyclical proposed a kind of super-UN to deal with the world's economic problems and injustices.


According to the lengthy draft, which was obtained and published by L'Espresso magazine, the Argentinean pope will align himself with the environmental movement and its objectives. While accepting that there may be some natural causes of global warming, the pope will also state that climate change is mostly a man-made problem.............

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/06/pope-francis-climate-change-encyclical

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Tweet:

Global warming is man-made, says Pope Francis in leaked encyclical on the climate http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/global-warming-is-man-made-says-pope-francis-in-leaked-encyclical-on-the-climate/ #p2 #NoMoreBushes

[Algernon Moncrieff]

1. Responsible stewardship of the resources God gave us is nothing new.

I applaud the Pontiff's call for better ecological behavior.

[meow2u3]

32. Climate change deniers won't admit that they don't own the Earth

Climate change deniers not only think they own everything and everybody on the planet and can do whatever they damn well please with them--including other human beings, they also think stewardship is an outdated concept.

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. He had better set up meetings to tell the billionaires they are killing our planet.

They will suffer as much as anyone.

[Backwoodsrider]

3. no they wont, not even close

The poor are the ones that cant afford nice AC units and water and pretty much anything else as we move toward times of disease and starvation.

[Dont call me Shirley]

9. True. They have already caused so much suffering.

But they will suffer and probably more so than all their victims, when the monster of suffering they have created stands to their face ready to devour them. That one moment of utter fear and suffering will be more than any one person could endure.

Those who do not ease the suffering of others, but are the cause of the suffering of others will have to meet their evil deeds someday.

"May I become able to end all suffering" Dalai Lama, in regard to how we would be best served to live our lives.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. nah, they have built armies of loyal minions and are building robotic replacements for those.

It is the peasants who will suffer, not the royals.

[Dont call me Shirley]

19. The royals will not be able to escape a scalding earth, unless aliens come to save them.

[LiberalArkie]

26. Yes they will, It it means an underground estate cost 1 billion, damn no problem there.

Because one thing they know is that that when the dung hits the rotary oscillator, it will remove 3/4 of that vermin that composes the 99% and everthing will eventully return to better than normal. The remaining 1% will be treated as Gods then. Really no downside for them.

[Dont call me Shirley]

29. Let's all hope that the psychopathic economic royalists are not the ones left to represent humanity

That would be worse than human extinction.

[Backwoodsrider]

23. yep thats the direction we are going

I like techie stuff so am not bummed out about the prospective future like some. We can create greater things and maybe there is a god consciousness in us all that has better things in mind for us humans. Thats as long as our society stays together but the royals will probably have mega weapons to keep us peasants in line, if they let us live.

Or maybe life is on course for a major natural disaster that will cause society as we know it to end. Either way its going to happen just the way its supposed to so I am not going to let my imagined future ruin right now.

[Backwoodsrider]

20. I am with you on that!

We are starting a shift in the awareness of our consciousness that is going in a positive direction as we get back closer to the truth. Many people are more able to be mindful and aware of this miracle called life. Is their going to be a reckoning and equaling of karma? Maybe but we both will probably be in different forms by then.

[Gregorian]

6. Billionaires are facilitating it, but it's the billions who are doing it.

If it were billionaires, they'd have to be very busy doing it since there are probably a hundred of them. It's the BILLIONS of people. I'm not sure how one comes to the conclusion that this is the billionaires' fault. I see this from lots of people, and I find it disturbing. We are responsible, and we are the ones who are going to have to change. That's why it was called An Inconvenient Truth. We're going to have to change, and it isn't going to be convenient. Sure, big corporations bought and crashed fuel cell and solar companies, which narrowed our choices of energy conversion, but it's our behavior that is causing this.

I think the confusion comes from how the problem is getting worse even though many of us haven't change how we live. That's due to simply having more people using more resources.

[Dont call me Shirley]

13. The billionaires are in charge of what products are sold. They continue to gobble up the earth's

precious resources creating and selling us garbage which continues to create more global warming. They continue their useless destructive greedy wars, instead of promoting peace and healing. They continue to poison the earth with their chemical, nuclear and gmo toxins. They live to create more devastating and powerful weapons to kill instead of promoting life.

Yes they are the direct cause of global warming!

[Gregorian]

25. There are several topics in your reply. I agree with much of it.

Yes, we're still using gasoline. But no one if forcing us to fill up. We fill up. That's a vote that goes right to the manufacturer that we agree to use it. But we're still not at the real issue by only looking at this. A better example isn't a product, but a resource. If we look at fish, there's no one to blame but the number of mouths those fish go into. Then it gets clearer where the actual problem lies.

We can't displace our responsibility on others. Of course, who is going to ride a bike when their commute is an hour by car? Not many. So we appear to be at someone's mercy. So the carbon emissions isn't the simple example. But deforestation, depletion of fish, mining, agricultural runoff, population are all direct consequences of our consumption and behavior. The billionaires have almost nothing to do with that. But they do influence the truth we see on tv, so in a way they do affect our consumption. But that is still in our control.

This is partly why, even though I'm ecstatic about Bernie, there is still a dark backdrop over which no one can make much of an improvement above and beyond just slowing down the disaster.

By the way, this is why Bernie is stating that we must get involved. It's the same situation: the solution is from the bottom up. That's where the numbers are. That is where all of these changes come from.

[Duppers]

40. +1000

Touchy subject for some on DU. I've argued this point before but not as well as you.

Thx

[calimary]

7. They don't think so.

They think they can just hop into the ol' Gulfstream and beat a hasty retreat to New Zealand. Well, at the rate they're going, New Zealand will be just as polluted and screwed up as the Pacific garbage gyre.

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. They can figure out how to live on the garbage gyre in their endless sea of denial.

[PADemD]

35. I guess they never saw the movie, On The Beach

[Gregorian]

4. I love this guy.

And he has the ears of a shitload of people. This is more important than just about anything going on right now. It could be the beginning of change throughout the world.

[calimary]

8. Me too! This is HUGELY significant.

I can't wait to hear how the CONS badmouth it and denounce it and claim he doesn't know anything. But YES, he has the ears of a shitload of people. His constituency, I do believe, is bigger than anybody else's on the planet.

[Gregorian]

11. Me too. What will conservatives think?

But there's Spain, France, Portugal, Africa... Like everywhere.

What's a republican?

I think the big question would be how change is implemented. Maybe it's like this guy is a father figure, and whatever he says is good. And people would just feel ok about family planning, etc.

Between Bernie and this, I feel hopeful about life again. I've got a stopwatch out to see how long it lasts.

[Turin_C3PO]

28. See, that's why I respect this pope.

He has many people around the world who (for better or worse) treat him as an ultimate authority figure. While he has fumbled on birth control and gay rights, he has been great on economic, militarism, and climate issues. This doesn't excuse the lack of institutional change against women and people who are gay, but it does indicate a church willing to look at most issues realistically and with the future in mind. At least, that's my hope.

[Gregorian]

36. Plus, I haven't seen him wearing that cowboy hat.

Haha. I just thought I'd mention it.

Yeah, you can't offend too many people. Some subjects are untouchable until the time is right. Fear.

[calimary]

37. I hear ya. But I'm still filled with trepidation.

[JDPriestly]

5. Thank you, Pope Francis.

I think the leak is good because now we will all want to read the Encyclical.

[rurallib]

10. endorsing birth control would go a long way in helping the problem

until he endorses that he really only wants to talk and not act

[riversedge]

15. yes, agree.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. exactly right. Still all smoke no substance.

[prairierose]

18. Absolutely...too many people ...

on the planet makes the man-made pollution worse.

[Turin_C3PO]

30. You're correct.

I think endorsing birth control and legal civil marriage (I doubt the church will ever endorse gay marriage within their church) would really make the Catholic Church and enormous force in change for the better, due to the amount of followers it commands. But in the meantime, I'm glad this pope seems to be on the right side of economic, war, and climate issues. That's a good thing, imo.

[rurallib]

31. welcome to DU

[Turin_C3PO]

48. Thank you!

[calimary]

38. Welcome to DU, Turin_C3PO!

Glad you're here! I would LOVE to see that. An endorsement of birth control. Because the mushrooming and out-of-control population that's overrunning this planet and gobbling up all the resources, I think that is Ground Zero where we have to start, as Earthlings. We HAVE TO manage our population growth. The answer is NOT "just have MORE babies!" Besides, this is usually the solution we're handed by a male-dominated hierarchy. Like the Catholic Church - where the men in that hierarchy, with NO women members, just simply don't have to worry about feeding a family. Or keeping a roof over the family's head. Or making sure there's schooling and clothing and creative stimuli.

Easy for them to sit there and say. They don't have to do the heavy lifting. Which, in TOO many cases, is forced upon a woman as single head of household.

[GliderGuider]

43. I disagree. I think he's made the right choice.

Fossil fuel use is outpacing population growth in every virtually country on the planet, rich and poor alike.

Since 1850 per capita carbon emissions have risen over 30x, while population levels have gone up le than 6x: less than a fifth of the growth rate of carbon emissions.

I agree that the planet is desperately overpopulated, but IMO climate change poses a far greater and more immediate existential threat to all creatures than the number of people.

[Gore1FL]

12. While I agree with him. Religion has no place in science.

Religious-based arguments from both sides need to go away. Let's base our decisions on what scientists have to say--not politicians, not religious leaders, even if they had a science background before their careers caused them to focus on non-science.

[PADemD]

27. We need all the help we can get.

Religious leaders need to convince their religious flock who won't listen to scientists.

[sofa king]

41. I like it.

I've given up hope for most people and their ability to think. Most people are doofuses who require others to tell them what to think.

This guy is one of the people who tells those doofuses what to think.

Having a guy at the top who can think has the potential to influence the opinions of half a billion fools who will never be able to create informed opinions of their own.

There is a quote from Alexander the Great which has probably been attributed to Jesus as much as Alexander: "I do not fear an army of lions, if led by a sheep. I do, however, fear an army of sheep, if led by a lion."

So yes, let the sheep be led by a lion who knows his valences, please!

[Gore1FL]

44. Point, but my concern is that ultimately he will lead doofuses to do idiotic things as well.

I hate to give him any credibility on any subject.

[sofa king]

47. You are surely correct.

We seem to agree that the purpose of the Pope and his Church is to control the actions and opinions of people who probably don't need to be controlled, but who easily can be.

Idiotic things are part of the ritual of doofusosity, so they are practically guaranteed.

[riversedge]

21. k and r.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. Does this enyclical come out in favor of birth control to slow population growth and allow family

planning in the poorest of nations? Will he at least stop telling people to not use condoms to prevent HIV transmission in Africa, where 1.3 million a year are still dying, leaving families and communities unable to care for themselves?

His rhetoric seems fairly hollow unless he stops encouraging extreme population growth.

[F4lconF16]

39. It's total bullshit, let's be honest.

He doesn't give a shit about the poor. He's a member of the capitalist elite, and worse, the leader of one of the worst institutions as far as keeping people in poverty in history.

He sits on his gold, he says nice things, and in return, the world rewards him.

Meanwhile millions have died from a lack of birth control, which also has the side effects of widespread poverty and environmental harm.

Meanwhile, he still doesn't think abortion is okay. See above.

Meanwhile, he continues to attack women and lgbtqia+, refusing to recognize their equality. A lack of equality ALWAYS makes all the previous problems worse and causes a host of new ones.

Meanwhile, he's calling for an end to extreme capitalism, asking for something more democratic-socialist, while ignoring the serious problem with far-right capitalist fat cats in his own high ranks of the church.

I'm not even going to mention the ways his religion makes all of the above problems worse.

Total. Bullshit.

Everyone has a choice. He doesn't have to do any of this. He could declare for equality of all types, begin supporting birth control, abortion, and gay marriage, call for his people to join him in turning their backs on bigotry, and leave the church for a spiritual life without all the bigotry he promotes now. I'll bet you such a thing would turn the Catholic world upside down and cause a whole lot of people to renounce their own bigotry. A man of such immense power might even be able to jumpstart a social movement (like, *ahem*, actual socialism) sheerly through his own decision and the publicity that would follow. He, personally, would have no harm come to him besides the loss of power. It would be an incredible thing.

But instead he's decided to hate women and gays.

Can I quote Tim Minchin? I think I will:

Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, he's a fucking motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, he's a total motherfucker

Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fucking fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucking pope

[harun]

24. Conservatives are the Neo-Protestants

[Jester Messiah]

33. I see a lot of religos unable to follow their own religion

Catholicism mandates that what the pope says goes, right? So if US conservative Catholics really believe in their religion and weren't just paying lip service to a god who (until now) validated their every position, they need to fall in line, right?

Or were they just worshiping themselves all along?

[hifiguy]

34. While he has a long way to go on a number of issues

this is extremely significant and he deserves big props for it.

[GliderGuider]

42. This is the Pope's moon shot. Or maybe his "Hail Mary" play...

I have this thought for those who complain about the pope not going long on population control.

Climate change is being driven by fossil fuel consumption. Fossil fuel use is rising far faster than population growth, as can be seen from the per capita line on the graph below. Because climate change is an existential threat to all creatures on Earth, in my opinion Pope Francis is absolutely correct to prioritize energy consumption over population growth at this point.



I will be watching the world's reaction to the Pope's message very closely, because this encyclical marks the first global-scale test of the theories of American anthropologist Marvin Harris. In particular, his Principle of Infrastructural Determinism predicts that changes to a culture's value and belief systems will have relatively little impact on that culture's overall behaviour with respect to its environment.

I desperately hope Harris is proven wrong. If he is correct, no amount of moral suasion will save the day (or life as we know it). Unfortunately, Harris has a lot of evidence on his side.

[Xithras]

45. Some of the biggest environmentalists I've ever worked with were Christians.

Real Christians, not the hatemongering types.

As one once put it: "God doesn't make mistakes. If God created something on the Earth, then it needs to be here. If we clearcut a forest that God made, or drive an animal to extinction that God created, then we're saying that Man knows better than God. Or worse, we're saying that God was wrong and that the world didn't need that animal after all. You cannot be a Christian and believe those things. If someone is dedicated to destroying the works of God for personal profit, who is that person REALLY working for?"

I clearly don't buy into the religious aspect of it, but I can appreciate his worldview. It's a shame that beliefs like that aren't more widespread.

[skepticscott]

46. Hatemongering Xstians are just as much "real" Xstians

as any other. But you're welcome to provide objective proof otherwise.

And if god put hatemongering Xstians on earth, then they need to be here. Since, of course, God doesn't make mistakes.