As a practicing Catholic, I eagerly awaited the publication of the Holy Father Francis’ Encyclical Letter, titled ‘LAUDATO SI’ (Be Praised) On Care for our Common Home. An encyclical letter has been used for hundreds of years by the Vatican to inform the bishops and laity on positions of the pope. Over 50 years ago, Pope XXIII addressed the nuclear crisis, rejected war, and offered a proposal for peace. In 1971, Pope Paul VI brought the world’s attention to the serious problems of pollution, saying, “Man is suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation he risks destroying it and becoming his turn the victim of this degradation.”
And now, Pope Francis has released an Encyclical Letter meant to be read and considered by everyone regardless of faith affiliation. This Letter, which is actually more of a book, is insightful, comprehensive, and even poetic while grounded in scientific inquiry and concern for the world’s poor.
And this Letter is a manifesto of and for environmental justice. Overwhelming evidence shows that low-income communities and people of color bear disproportionate environmental burdens in our society. These communities are repeatedly chosen as sites for massive, polluting industrial facilities and landfills. Their air, land, and water are poisoned and contaminated by pollutants spewed out of giant smokestacks and bled into the ground from concentrations of toxic waste.
In his Encyclical, Pope Francis links climate change and pollution in the first chapter. “Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor and causes millions of premature deaths.” “Climate change as a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social and economic …and (m)any of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena linked to warming.”
Most lamentably the Holy Father declares, “(t)he earth, our home is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
He attributes this state to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. His critical observations of the environment are based on science (he used to be a chemistry teacher), and he reminds us of the Gospel of Creation in which humankind should care and respect all God’s creatures, and the climate is a common good.
Just as Sierra Club’s founder John Muir declared, “(w)hen we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe,” Pope Francis also exhorted, (e)verything is connected and “(c)oncern for the environment thus needs to be joined in a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society.” Pope Francis explained an “integral ecology” in chapter four of the Encyclical as the way to see the connection respecting human dignity and caring for the natural world.
Pope Francis also digs into the problems of coal extraction, carbon credits, and the hopeful utilization of clean energy to help solve the climate crisis. The Holy Father cities the Rio Declaration of 1992, “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific inquiry shall not be used as a pretext for postponing cost-effective measures which prevent environmental degradation. This precautionary principle makes it possible to protect those who are most vulnerable and whose ability to defend their interest.”
Political leaders from the local level up to the international level need to live up to their responsibilities to fight the climate crisis and reduce consumption levels in their own communities and countries.
The atrocities that we have committed to Earth and her peoples are catching up with us. Vulnerable communities are already feeling the impacts of increased floods, heat waves, drought and air pollution, as well as their associated impacts to health and economic prosperity. The overwhelming problems of the climate crisis must be tackled on the personal and global level.
By working toward environmental justice, which includes including the people most affected in solutions and remedies, holistic efforts can bear fruit. Pope Francis reminds us that everyone can do something every day to reduce our consumption in order to leave our one and only planet Earth with clean air and water for our children and grandchildren. Individuals, policymakers, young people -- everyone can aspire a “civic and political love” that includes care for Creation and for each other.
Take action by calling on our world leaders to act on climate in Paris!