Global Warming: What is a Catholic to do? November 2007
Global warming: “Is it for real? Is it as bad as some people say it is? And, if it’s bad, what can we do about it?” In this lesson we will briefly examine the global warming debate and give some suggestions about our attitude as Catholics towards this issue.
Hard to ignore
The news this October and November seemed to be full of things related to global warming. The southeastern US experienced a drought, Oklahoma was flooding, wildfires were raging in California, and the ice was melting in Alaska. In television specials such as CNN’s Planet in Peril, we heard claims that these natural disasters were due in part to global warming.
And global warming was in the news in another way, too. In October former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for increasing public awareness of the dangers of global warming. During the month of November the UN IPCC published the final part of its report, Climate Change 2007, which again made
international headlines.
Is it real?
But is global warming for real? Certainly Mr. Gore
has become the most prominent figure in convincing
people that global warming is real, imminent, and
extremely dangerous. In his book and documentary,
An Inconvenient Truth, Mr. Gore warns us about a sea rise of twenty-three feet due to the melting of the polar ice caps. That would put most of New York City and many other coastal areas underwater. Worst of all, according to Mr. Gore, we humans are the main cause of this warming.
Some points of dissent
Many scientists, however, disagree with Mr. Gore, and that is the source of the global warming controversy. For example, in October, a High Court judge in Great Britain agreed with many other experts when he ruled that Mr. Gore’s documentary contained serious errors and needed to be balanced with the presentation of another point of view. The judge cited scientific studies that show that a sea rise of the magnitude claimed by Mr. Gore would take thousands of years to happen. He noted nine “alarmist exaggerations” in Mr. Gore’s book and documentary.
After the Nobel Prize was announced in October, a scientist named Dr. John Christy, a member of the IPCC (and the winner of the prize), published an article in the Wall Street Journal that made headlines. He denounced the unscientific bias in the IPCC report and the manipulation of its conclusions by Mr. Gore. Dr. Christy pointed out that at best the report offered projections of possible outcomes, not definitive predictions. Like many other scientists, Dr. Christy also explained that the computer models used to make these projections were incapable of representing the complexity of the real world. He also joined other scientists in stating that the temperature information that Mr. Gore used in his documentary was faulty.
An earlier lead author of the IPCC report and professor at MIT, Dr. Richard Lindzen, has repeatedly expressed his dismay about the “hysterical panic” seemingly promoted by the IPCC report and Mr. Gore’s work.
No easy consensus
Clearly, in spite of what many media sources have been saying, there is no scientific consensus about global warming. Some scientists are convinced it is a problem; others are not. Some scientists are convinced that human activity is causing it; others are not. As Catholics, how should we respond?
What’s a Catholic to do?
First, we should have a concern for the environment. Recently Pope Benedict XVI has been reminding young people that we are called to be stewards of God’s creation, that environmental respect and responsibility are an integral part of Christian commitment.
At a gathering of 400,000 young people this past September in Loreto, Italy the pope stated, “There is no doubt that one of the fields in which it seems urgent to take action is that of safeguarding creation…. We need a decisive Yes to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible.”
Human life a marvel, not a cancer
But Pope Benedict has also warned us of a mistaken type of environmentalism that sees man as the cancer of the planet, that sees people as pollution, and that thinks the solution is in promoting anti-life policies such as abortion, sterilization, and contraception. That, says the pope, is clearly not the solution: “How disturbing it is that not infrequently the very social and political groups that, admirably, are most attuned to the awe of God’s creation pay scant attention to the marvel of life in the womb” (Sept. 15, 2007).
Reflecting God’s wisdom and care
The human family has been created in God’s image (Genesis 1: 26-27). Through our likeness to God, we
human beings have been given the task of exploring,
developing, and shaping the earth (Genesis 1:28). God has asked man to be a loving and wise gardener in charge of developing the earth (Genesis 2:15). The earth was created for the human family. When we build communities and interact with the raw materials around us, we are doing something good, something positive. The human family and human culture are the pinnacles of God’s creation. We can actually add to the beauty and wonder of creation through our own creative interaction with the
environment – that is part of what it means to be human.
Therefore, as Pope Benedict has reminded us, Christian environmentalism always puts respect for human life as its top ethical priority and sees human culture as positive,
not cancerous.
Realism that is resourceful
True, man can damage himself and the environment if he uses his power for selfish purposes. But he can use his power to serve, to help the earth, and to help others. Yes, pollution is bad and can even be a serious sin because it is an irresponsible abuse of God’s gifts. But on the other hand, making intelligent and productive use of those resources is a good thing.
Opportunity for evangelization
Pope Benedict also sees an opportunity for evangelization in our legitimate concern for the environment. He sees it as an opportunity for reflecting on ethics. Just as we
discover certain laws in the environment (in nature) that must be respected for the health of the planet, so also we can discover in ourselves, in our human nature, laws for true spiritual and moral health. These ethical laws (summed up in the Ten Commandments) are a matter of life and death. They are the path to true happiness. And following these ethical laws also affects our interaction with the environment. So, today’s concern for respecting the laws of nature can open an opportunity for reflection on the health of following moral law. This is part of what Pope Benedict XVI means when he talks about the need for a “human ecology.”
Being scientific about science
The pope also shows us that in analyzing the debate on global warming we must be prudent and weed out facts from exaggerations. Pope Benedict is recognized by both Catholics and non-Catholics as one of the great intellects of modern Europe. He studies issues carefully before speaking out, and the environment is no exception. In fact, the Vatican sponsored a scientific congress on global warming this past spring during which experts presented both sides of the debate.
The pope is listening to science, and he is also reflecting on the insights of previous Church teaching about the environmental issue. He wants to know more about the scientific arguments on all sides, because he is aware that oversimplifications can sometimes blur rather than clarify the truth.
Yes, science is an excellent instrument for fact-finding, but it has its limits, and throughout history many credible scientific theories have even been proven wrong or have needed serious adjustment. For example, in the 1960s a
famous population “expert” named Paul Erlich helped cause widespread alarm through predictions of worldwide famine due to overpopulation, but his predictions never came true – his theories were wrong. Because science works with more complicated reasoning than just our
immediate knowledge, there is always room for error. Responsible scientific research recognizes its limits.
A key to future comments
So far, in his discourses Pope Benedict has not used
the specific term “global warming,” showing he is
prudent about the debate being waged, but during the last six months he has used the term “climate change” several times, a term that is a similar but not identical term.
He will certainly talk more about climate change, but he will also caution us to look for balance, avoiding the alarmism and hysteria that can easily be manipulated into anti-life policies.
The Holy Father will ask us to promote a truly
Christian environmentalism, where man is seen as a blessing, not a curse. He will remind us that he believes in us. He believes that we can find creative solutions to environmental challenges – solutions that help us develop and become good stewards of creation rather than try to expel man from history.
Catholic environmentalism
So, how can a Catholic show concern for the environment? We can promote a culture that is respectful of the environment, but also of ethical values, especially the value of human life. We can work for balance in the debate and avoid alarmism. We can live stewardship and responsibility, taking care of our natural environment out of charity and respect for all men, made in God’s image. We can start with our own lives: conserving electricity, recycling, avoiding unnecessary waste, enjoying the beauty of nature, making good use of the resources we have been given, and sharing those resources with others in need. In this way we can help this world to be a place where our fellow men and women discover God’s love, both in the beauty of nature and in the beauty of moral truth.
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