Recent news reports show that the dangers of climate change are growing rapidly. The global record for the most abnormally hot month was just set in February 2016, breaking the record set in January 2016, breaking the record set in December 2015.
For the United States, it was the warmest winter on record. Alaska was a full ten degrees Fahrenheit warmer than its historic average.
On March 11, the National Academy of Sciences released a new report, “Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change,” showing increasing certainty in the link between climate change and extreme weather events.
During the warmest winter on record, we have again seen deadly flooding in Louisiana, deadly flooding in Missouri, and deadly tornadoes throughout the south.
These realities call out for a response. Wherever you are right now on the issue of climate change, you can get more informed, get more involved, do more, and speak up more.
To get more informed, many people of faith are looking to the Encyclical from Pope Francis, Laudato Si, for guidance. In Chapter Five, the Pope offers instruction on how people can get involved in politics, or public life, at every level – personal, local, regional, national, and international.
Pope Francis identifies the real ecological crises facing humanity, not just climate change, but also desertification, marine pollution, and loss of biological diversity.
While addressing these problems, Pope Francis sets forth the vision of a better future: “a sustainable and diversified agriculture,” “renewable and less polluting forms of energy,” “more efficient use of energy,” “better management of marine and forest resources,” and “universal access to drinking water.” He also recognizes that local communities are using cooperative efforts to provide local self-sufficiency and the sale of surplus renewable energy.
But that is still not enough. Because the problems today are global in scope, Pope Francis sets out a vision of a cooperative global effort, in which wealthy countries act, accepting lower consumption and embracing better living, to help all survive. Pope Francis also cites examples of how the world can come together on a global basis to address problems, such as the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, which achieved “resolution” of the problem of stratospheric ozone depletion (the ozone hole).
The question is not can we act to safeguard ourselves from environmental degradation, but rather will we do it. To that end, Pope Francis calls for people of faith to involve themselves in “healthy politics” that builds relationships and community among people and engages in a “frank dialogue in the service of life, especially human life.”
Politics is not a dirty word to Pope Francis. “What is needed is a politics which is farsighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis,” Pope Francis writes.
He recognizes that there is sometimes corruption in politics, and even more often political failures which allow economic interests to exploit the situation to the detriment of others. Our politics, he writes, “remains caught up in inconsequential discussions.” That sounds so true today, in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign. But this is not a reason to turn away from politics.
Pope Francis argues it is the job of people of faith, drawing on “God’s grace” and our “deepest convictions about love, justice and peace,” to reject both the distractions and the cynicism of our current political system.
Pope Francis urges readers to take up the challenge of “healthy politics” that focuses on what the political process must accomplish for humanity and future generations.
That means we need to do more than just get more informed. We need to get more involved, do more, and speak up more. Our calling is clear: to love God and God’s Creation, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, both at home and around the world, today and for future generations. With God’s help, we can do it.
Rob Hogg is a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Cedar Rapids, former board president of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light, and a state senator from Cedar Rapids. He is the author of a 2013 book, America’s Climate Century: What Climate Change Means for America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do About It, available in libraries across Iowa. Please send comments or questions to senatorrobhogg@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment