Pope's climate change encyclical tells rich nations: 'pay your debt to the poor'
Source: The Guardian
Pope Francis has called on the worlds rich nations to begin paying their grave social debt to the poor and take concrete steps on climate change, saying failure to do so presents an undeniable risk to humanity.
...snip...
The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned, Francis wrote. In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.
The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development.
In a press conference on Thursday in Vatican City to mark the release of Franciss encyclical, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who wrote a draft and is the popes point-man on social justice issues, said it was imperative for practical proposals not to be developed in an ideological, superficial or reductionist way.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/18/popes-climate-change-encyclical-calls-on-rich-nations-to-pay-social-debt
Encyclical Letter LAUDATO SI On Care For Our Common Home
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)The world's weathy nations 'continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.'
msongs
(67,501 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Top of the Catholic column of shame would have to be genocide in all of its heinous forms.
Volaris
(10,281 posts)nope not one little bit. What's next, the Pope feeding hungry people? Calling out the sin of avrice? Telling atheists they can go to heaven?
Oh yeah he did all that already.
There are days when the sound of crickets are rather calming actually lol=)
rpannier
(24,350 posts)I was shocked when I discovered that former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn was a member of Opus Dei when he was alive
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)underpants
(183,043 posts)They will soak up air time with "but there is no proof it is man made" or at least "there are doubts about the cause".
The Pope smartly addressed the economical/financial aspect if this. THAT is the key.
SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)buying and forgiving foreign debt?
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)It's a tradition
libodem
(19,288 posts)Woo Hoo
The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)I'm fairly certain that's not how it works.
jamzrockz
(1,333 posts)Start by calling for an end to the imperialistic fervor on western nations. Stop with the regime changes, humanitarian wars that lead to bigger humanitarian crisis, trade deals that favor corporations while hurting powerless people. He should ask for that first but he wouldn't.
I have yet to see him call on countries that support the terrorists attacking Syria to stop. I have yet to see him say anything meaningful about the conflicts in Libya or Iraq or Afghanistan. But he comes out with this trying to get western nations who are also in debt up to their eyes balls to pay third world countries money.
I think he is really trying very hard to destroy the church. He said you don't need the church to get into heaven and I really stopped going, I swear, the more the man talks, the more people will leave the church
jamzrockz
(1,333 posts)Last edited Thu Jun 18, 2015, 12:59 PM - Edit history (1)
I am originally from Nigeria and I visit every 2-3 yrs and by far the biggest problem we have is electricity. I am sure infrastructure of some kind will be the needs of most poor places. The best thing western nations can do is help poor countries build up their infrastructure to produce affordable services. I am talking about technical assistance, help with affordable loans, finances etc. It takes about $250 in diesel, regular electricity fees and maintenance of generator to keep the lights on in our place in Nigeria and that amount is unaffordable to most people back home
Do that and you will be doing a huge service to millions of people. But giving money to officials will not help. Most of those corrupt leaders will just take it and run. Poor countries needs help but this proposal will not happen and I doubt it will help any even if it is implemented.
GreatGazoo
(3,937 posts)Solar panels large and small can increase independence, improve quality of life and avoid fires (from kerosene) that kill. One firm, SolarAid, donates $10 from every purchase to make more solar sources available throughout Africa.
http://www.solar-aid-eco-shop.co.uk/collections/all
http://www.sunedison.com/social-innovations
RiverNoord
(1,150 posts)even though I'm an atheist. Pretty tough divide to overcome there . Still, amazing that a man like him could become Pope in modern times after so many centuries of political scheming and extreme corruption at the highest levels of the Vatican. Hope he lives a long and fruitful life.
And, of course, it's kind of fun listening to American faux-Catholic nut jobs like Santorum making incredible asses of themselves lashing out at the most genuinely Christian pope in... well... maybe ever?
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)The original Jewish Christians, John the Baptist, Peter, James and the rest were all Ebionites (the poor) and they were very strict vegetarians and believed in life long celibacy. Paul believed in celibacy but not the vegetarian stuff. They were all heavily influenced by the Essenes and the other desert groups that were so popular at the time. No sex but lots of cold baths. They were called the Daily Bathers. One historian wrote that all of Joseph's sons were chaste. And another one wrote that these guys took vegetarianism so seriously that they would be tortured and killed before they would eat meat.
This pope is really a whole lot closer to the original Christian concepts than anyone we have had for a very long time.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)Why would you want to support an organization like that?
leftyladyfrommo
(18,874 posts)Talking about this pope
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned, Francis wrote. In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future.
The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development.
Anyone connected to Wall St, who doesn't recognize this as part and parcel of their legacy, is fooling themselves. People talk about making a better world, so few work towards it. Heck, most fund those attacking it.
I don't want it to be this way. I freaking hate it!
I want an economic system that makes peoples lives better. That is what Adam Smith wanted. Not world dominating monopolies and industries that plunder and pillage the poorest for obscene wealth at the expense of our ability to continue to live and evolve on this pale, blue dot.
We are on fire. Polar bears are eating dolphins. We don't need no water they say, I say, Bern motherfucker.
Bern.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)Last edited Thu Jun 18, 2015, 04:33 PM - Edit history (2)
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.htmlI like paragraph 189 and 195:
195. The principle of the maximization of profits, frequently isolated from other considerations, reflects a misunderstanding of the very concept of the economy. As long as production is increased, little concern is given to whether it is at the cost of future resources or the health of the environment; as long as the clearing of a forest increases production, no one calculates the losses entailed in the desertification of the land, the harm done to biodiversity or the increased pollution. In a word, businesses profit by calculating and paying only a fraction of the costs involved. Yet only when the economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future generations,[138] can those actions be considered ethical. An instrumental way of reasoning, which provides a purely static analysis of realities in the service of present needs, is at work whether resources are allocated by the market or by state central planning.
Some other good Paragraphs:
171. The strategy of buying and selling carbon credits can lead to a new form of speculation which would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide. This system seems to provide a quick and easy solution under the guise of a certain commitment to the environment, but in no way does it allow for the radical change which present circumstances require. Rather, it may simply become a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.
153. The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source of much suffering for those who use them. Many cars, used by one or more people, circulate in cities, causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the need to give priority to public transportation. Yet some measures needed will not prove easily acceptable to society unless substantial improvements are made in the systems themselves, which in many cities force people to put up with undignified conditions due to crowding, inconvenience, infrequent service and lack of safety.
154. Respect for our dignity as human beings often jars with the chaotic realities that people have to endure in city life. Yet this should not make us overlook the abandonment and neglect also experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services and where some workers are reduced to conditions of servitude, without rights or even the hope of a more dignified life.
The Pope also address GMO crops, but refuses to say they are good or bad in and by themselves (That is still debated even among scieintists) but the affect such GMO crops have had on farmers in poor countries:
134. Although no conclusive proof exists that GM cereals may be harmful to human beings, and in some regions their use has brought about economic growth which has helped to resolve problems, there remain a number of significant difficulties which should not be underestimated. In many places, following the introduction of these crops, productive land is concentrated in the hands of a few owners due to the progressive disappearance of small producers, who, as a consequence of the loss of the exploited lands, are obliged to withdraw from direct production.[113] The most vulnerable of these become temporary labourers, and many rural workers end up moving to poverty-stricken urban areas. The expansion of these crops has the effect of destroying the complex network of ecosystems, diminishing the diversity of production and affecting regional economies, now and in the future. In various countries, we see an expansion of oligopolies for the production of cereals and other products needed for their cultivation. This dependency would be aggravated were the production of infertile seeds to be considered; the effect would be to force farmers to purchase them from larger producers.
In paragraph 124 The pope uses the Catholic view of what is called "Man Domination" of the planet as stated in Genesis:
He did it again in Paragraph 67:
This being a VERY IMPORTANT Catholic Document, abortion is mentioned in passing:
93. Whether believers or not, we are agreed today that the earth is essentially a shared inheritance, whose fruits are meant to benefit everyone. For believers, this becomes a question of fidelity to the Creator, since God created the world for everyone. Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged. The principle of the subordination of private property to the universal destination of goods, and thus the right of everyone to their use, is a golden rule of social conduct and the first principle of the whole ethical and social order.[71] The Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable, and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property. Saint John Paul II forcefully reaffirmed this teaching, stating that God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring anyone.[72]These are strong words. He noted that a type of development which did not respect and promote human rights personal and social, economic and political, including the rights of nations and of peoples would not be really worthy of man.[73] He clearly explained that the Church does indeed defend the legitimate right to private property, but she also teaches no less clearly that there is always a social mortgage on all private property, in order that goods may serve the general purpose that God gave them.[74] Consequently, he maintained, it is not in accord with Gods plan that this gift be used in such a way that its benefits favour only a few.[75] This calls into serious question the unjust habits of a part of humanity.[76]
52. The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned. In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future. The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse. The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development. The poorest areas and countries are less capable of adopting new models for reducing environmental impact because they lack the wherewithal to develop the necessary processes and to cover their costs. We must continue to be aware that, regarding climate change, there are differentiated responsibilities. As the United States bishops have said, greater attention must be given to the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests.[31] We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)in the first place.
pnwmom
(109,025 posts)So there's that.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)rules for themselves but they still want to affect that the faith and the Pope are holy authorities when they speak about other things, such as how gay rights are from Satan. The fact that Catholics don't practice their Catholicism does not make it better, it makes it worse. 'We don't believe it, but you have to hear it call you names'. So deeply selfish. Ritualized hypocrisy.
pnwmom
(109,025 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)where people are much less likely to have access to birth control, thanks in part to the Catholic Church's centuries of repression and control in many of these countries.
pnwmom
(109,025 posts)recommendation from the theologians who studied it, and I hope it changes.
However, that doesn't keep me from welcoming the new encyclical on the environment. Just as I agree with many of Bernie Sanders positions on the issues, but not all -- especially on gun control.