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| A big thumbs up for the pope |
This is big. Really
big. In anticipation of his upcoming encyclical on global warming, Pope Francis
held a summit meeting yesterday called “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity:
The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Development,”
So
often when I hear people talk about global warming, what is put forward are technological
fixes, everything from switching to hybrid cars to turning the oceans into
mechanisms to sequester vast amounts of the carbon that we’ve thrown up in the
atmosphere. We certainly need to consider and implement some of these
technology changes. Driving a Prius is better than driving a gas-guzzler.
But technology alone will not get us
out of the corner that we have painted ourselves into. For what has driven all
of our tech advances since the birth of the industrial revolution is the
consumption of resources. That’s what the whole paradigm is all about.
Technology cannot save us from technology.
What the pope is calling for to save
us and our planet is a change in our spirit. One top Vatican official, Cardinal
Peter Turkson, said during the meeting that a “full conversion” of hearts and
minds is necessary to solving the problem of global warming. He is right.
Turkson went on to say:
In our recklessness, we are traversing some of the planet’s most
fundamental natural boundaries. And the lesson from the Garden of Eden still
rings true today: pride, hubris, self-centeredness are always perilous, indeed
destructive. The very technology that has brought great reward is now poised to
bring great ruin.
As long as we are geared
and programed to consume and have the hubris that blinds us to the effects of
our actions we will continue to warm the world. And this message is not just
something for Catholics or just for Christians. Jewish,Muslim, Protestant, Buddhist and Hindu leaders accompanied the pope at the
meeting today.
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