I’ve
only had time to read about half of the Pope Francis’ Encyclical On Care For Our Common Home. Just a couple things to say from
what I’ve read so far. The Encyclical is not only about climate change. It is
about our entire global environmental crisis, of which global warming is only
one aspect.
I’ll have much more to say about this later, once I’ve read the whole thing and
had time to digest what the Pontiff has to say. In the mean time I thought it
might be good for you to take a look at what Francis says in part of the first
chapter about superficial ecology, something that I run into much more than I
want to. Francis says:
At the same time we can note the rise of a false or superficial
ecology, which bolsters complacency and a cheerful recklessness. As often
occurs in periods of deep crisis which require bold decisions, we are tempted
to think that what is happening is not entirely clear. Superficially, apart
from a few obvious signs of pollution and deterioration, things do not look
that serious, and the planet could continue as it is for some time. Such
evasiveness serves as a license to carrying on with our present lifestyles and
models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to
feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to
acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing
will happen.
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| Pope Francis |
