Pope Francis speaks up for the planet

GUESTWORK | Roy Wehrle

What a wonder! At a time when so many of the leaders and people of our world are sleepwalking through the most exciting, promising and treacherous time in the history of our world, there arrives a shaft of bright sunlight through the clouds. It is the pope’s encyclical, his proclamation on global warming. When we have the technology to give everyone on our planet a good, but not a luxurious, slice of life, Pope Francis calls us out for the misuse of the resources and technology given to us. When authority is everywhere sadly lacking, from families to governments, Pope Francis speaks out with clarity and authority, speaking truth to the power of the capitalist elites around the world, and to all the people of the world. After a tortured history of the relationship of science with Christianity, the pope brings science and reason together seamlessly.

The encyclical is magnificent in two ways.

It calls a spade a spade in uncompromising language: Capitalism is now rogue and climate change is on our back. Also, and remarkably, the encyclical weaves together what are generally seen as separate issues: poverty, income inequity, industrial damage to the environment and climate change.

So what did Pope Francis say? Climate change is real and becoming dire, and largely caused by us. Carefully utilizing the latest studies and data from the United Nations’ climate scientists, the reality of the climatic disruption being visited upon our earth is clearly laid out. The time to act forcefully is now and the December UN Paris climate conference is perhaps our best chance to do what the world has delayed doing these last decades. Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said this is “a game changer in making people think about this. (Climate policy) is not politics any more.” Too long special industrial interests have blocked policies needed to cut back sharply our waste emissions of fossil fuel fumes into our atmosphere.

Climate change will disproportionately harm the poor of the world, especially in southern regions. Ironically, those who contributed least to causing the problem will reap a whirlwind of hot harm and famine. The North has a moral responsibility to act.

The paper includes a lament for Mother Earth. “We have come to see ourselves as her lord and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. ... Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming.”

Capitalism is now a rogue force in the world.

Capitalism has been a great force for good bringing hundreds of millions of people out of dire poverty, mainly in China, but also lesser numbers in Africa and India and Latin America. But, the pope exclaims, capitalism is now out of control. The industrialists of the world like to hide behind the ruse that the market knows best. Leave the market alone, stay out of politics, say critics of the encyclical. The pope remonstrates with a firm “no.” The market needs a pilot; it cannot know where it is going In unforgettable language the pope declares, “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.” In our haste to consume we have spoiled the nest which is our home. This is uncontestable. The thrust of the encyclical is that we must redefine what is meant by progress and even the good life.

No one escapes the pope’s indictment – not industry, not government and not we the people. This moral condemnation of man’s inhumanity to his poor brothers and sisters comes at an opportune time as nations decide whether the Paris climate conference will be another ceremonial talkfest or a breakthrough to protect both nature and mankind.

Politicians worldwide are afraid to speak truth to the public. Pope Francis, who has assumed the name of perhaps the most devoted of all followers of Jesus, has told the searing truth of our predicament, of our careless disregard for the magnificence of nature and life all around us, and of those who will come after us. He has issued a clarion call not only to Catholics and Christians, but to all the world to take action now. As the Lakota Sioux say: We do not inherit nature from our forefathers, we borrow it from our grandchildren.

Roy Wehrle is a longtime environmentalist in Springfield and emeritus professor at UIS.