File Under S For "Snort": Vatican Calls For Immediate Action On Climate Change

A report commissioned by the Vatican's Scientific Panel, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences doesn't mince words: it urges the world to act quickly and strongly to address climate change. It says: "humans must act decisively now to avert a coming crisis."

"We have entered a new geologic epoch that began when the impacts of mankind on the planet became a major factor in environmental and climate changes."

"We call on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially reversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants," it says. "If we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us."

The report says climate change is already underway and that action is necessary as a matter of social justice, especially for the poor. It ties action to the biblical idea of "stewardship" for the Earth, described here as "a planet blessed with the gift of life." It asks "all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink."

EDIT

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/22362

our "Daily bread." I'm also glad they are vocal on the disproportionate effect that climate change has on the poor. Now, if only there could be some realization by religious groups that overpopulation might be a factor in both climate change and poverty.

...pedophile priests for research purcposes. Exhile them to an iceberg in the Antartic, give them all notebooks and rulers and have them
record data about how fast their ice berg shrinks.

And make it a small ice berg. And make sure the waters are shark infested.

How does this sick organization dare to have an opionion on absolutely anything, including that false-prophet Pope who covered up
child raping for decades?

catholic church decided to chime in.

:sarcasm:

in the Philippines working out?

What eugenics experiment in the Philippines???

Birth control is discouraged by the church, the population is doubling at 30 year intervals and poverty is endemic.

It is a serious problem, and we can't deal with the problem without a broad-based consensus that it's a serious problem

Lower expectations that families should have lots of kids. Increasing population = increasing resource demands.

with friends like these who needs an enemy

than Americans-at-large to believe in evolution

A recent Harris poll included questions on evolution ... For evolution, 45% of respondents indicated that they believed in it ... The results varied by religion: 51% of Catholics, 32% of Protestants, 80% of Jews, and 16% of born-again Christians believed in Darwin's theory of evolution ...
Evolution in a new Harris poll
December 16th, 2009
http://ncse.com/news/2009/12/evolution-new-harris-poll-005232

Over the past 30 years there has been a rapidly rising tide of Catholics embracing an evangelical, fundamentalist set of beliefs unfortunately. However, even with that when I attended a Jesuit college I never saw the type of thinking that rejected reality anywhere on display. I'm personally an atheist, but I developed a lot of respect for the intellectual depth of the order and the influence it has on the Catholic organization as a whole.

For at least as long as I have been following climate policy, and that is at least seven years. The "Vatican" has credibility on this one.

Richard Cizik, the political leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, was advocating for climate protection. They fired him when he said something nice about homosexuals.