My question has been answered by CA on the home page. Pope Francis’s Environmental Encyclical: 13 Things to Know and Share (p. 10). Thanks to all who shared.
I think it is very cavalier to dismiss well-established science. As JPII said re evolution, “Truth cannot contradict truth,” re God is Truth, and He cannot contradict scientific truths, such as evolution, even tho there might be some minor debates and revisions, e.g., about the classification of various hominids, etc.
Same way climate change science has been established for nearly 200 years, with the evidence reaching scientific confidence (95% confidence, .05 on the null) in 1995 and becoming stronger and more robust ever since. And we are already experience neg consequences of AGW. There are no scientific studies based on legitimate climate science that disproves anthropogenic global warming, tho there could be some internal disagreements about its projections and impacts, or whether or not it is impacting Rossby waves (which bring lingering cold spells from the arctic to the mid-latitudes). These disagreements in no way contradict the overall science that has very firmly established that AGW is indeed happening.
Truth cannot contradict well-founded scientific truths (tho these are based on evidence and theories that could change or be improved).
It would be morally wrong to oppose the science in this encyclical, and exceedingly immoral not to mitigate climate change, even if one is not completely convinced it is happening. Prudence requires us to do the best we can with the knowledge we have to avoid harms to life on earth and our own progeny.
#10. “This is thus a subject on which there can be a legitimate diversity of opinion among Catholics and among people in general” is a wrong idea, the general science on AGW is settled and has been for over a decade; this idea of holding one’s own opinion could deceive people into doing nothing about this serious problem and lead to very serious consequence (both in this world & the next), bec we all, of course, wish AGW were not happening, we wish to wake up to a world in which the best authorities have very solid proof it is not happening, but we are required to work with the well-established reality we have, not wishful dreaming.
Anyway, as mentioned earlier, there are plenty of things we can do that don’t cost or require little effort, or even rake in net savings for us. At the very least we should be doing those things…which could reduce one’s GHG emissions and concomitant pollution by 30% or even up to 60% or so…if we really put forth the effort to ferret out those measure then implement them.
The earth systems take up about half the CO2 we emit, so before these earth systems are degraded to the point they cannot take up that much, we really must on the whole reduce our GHG emissions by about half, or more if feasible.
We had an environmental group in our parish up north at Holy Angels Church, and we had the motto, HALF – Holy Angels Little Flowers, reducing our environmental impact by half, following the path of the Little Way of Environmental Healing, based on St. Therese’s Little Way of Spiritual Childhood.
We just need to take one baby step after another…
