The Vatican has recently released a statement the result of an in-depth workshop exploring the impact of global warming and the need for immediate action worldwide. The opening statement on the web page reads:
“We call on all people and nations to recognise the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants and by changes in forests wetlands grasslands and other land uses. We appeal to all nations to develop and implement without delay effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems including mountain glaciers and their watersheds aware that we all live in the same home.”
As citizens of a wealthy developed nation we are part of the problem but we can be part of the solution. To be richly informed and read the full statements visit this website:
www.vatican.va/roman_curia/prontifical_academies/acdscien/index.htm
Choose English then Roman Curia then Pontifical Academies then Science! It is the report on Fate of Mountain Glaciers
in the Anthropocene: A Report by the Working Group Commissioned by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
The Working Group states:
In response to the argument that “since the Earth has experienced alternating cold periods (ice ages or glacials) and warm periods (inter-glacials) during the past today’s climate and ice cover changes are entirely natural events” we state:
The primary triggers for ice ages and inter-glacials are well understood to be changes in the astronomical parameters related to the motion of our planet within the solar system and natural feedback processes in the climate system. The time scales between these triggers are in the range of 10000 years or longer. By contrast the observed human-induced changes in carbon dioxide other greenhouse gases and soot concentrations are taking place on 10-100 year timescales –at least a hundred times as fast. It is particularly worrying that this release of global warming agents is occurring during an interglacial period when the Earth was already at a natural temperature maximum.
They recommend 3 measures:
Human-caused changes in the composition of the air and air quality result in more than 2 million premature deaths worldwide every year and threaten water and food security —especially among those “bottom 3 billion” people who are too poor to avail of the protections made possible by fossil fuel use and industrialization. Since a sustainable future based on the continued extraction of coal oil and gas in the “business-as-usual mode” will not be possible because of both resource depletion and environmental damages (as caused e.g. by dangerous sea level rise) we urge our societies to:
I. Reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions without delay using all means possible to meet ambitious international global warming targets and ensure the long-term stability of the climate system. All nations must focus on a rapid transition to renewable energy sources and other strategies to reduce CO2 emissions. Nations should also avoid removal of carbon sinks by stopping deforestation and should strengthen carbon sinks by reforestation of degraded lands. They also need to develop and deploy technologies that draw down excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. These actions must be accomplished within a few decades.
II. Reduce the concentrations of warming air pollutants (dark soot methanelower atmosphere ozone and hydrofluorocarbons) by as much as 50%to slow down climate change during this century while preventing millions of premature deaths from respiratory disease and millions of tons of crop damages
every year.
III. Prepare to adapt to the climatic changes both chronic and abrupt that society will be unable to mitigate. In particular we call for a global capacitybuilding initiative to assess the natural and social impacts of climate change in
mountain systems and related watersheds.
The cost of the three recommended measures pales in comparison to the price the world will pay if we fail to act now.
They have a lot more to say.
The big churches like the Roman Catholic Church have an immense role to play in helping the global community face the changes that are coming. Our local churches will be part of helping our local community here in the upper Kedron Brook valley cleave together as a compassionate supportive community in times of trial.