VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis
called Thursday for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he calls
the "structurally perverse" economic system of the rich exploiting the
poor that is turning Earth into an "immense pile of filth.
In a sweeping
manifesto aimed at spurring action in U.N. climate negotiations,
domestic politics and everyday life, Francis explains the science of
global warming, which he blames on an unfair, fossil fuel-based
industrial model that he says harms the poor most. Citing Scripture and
past popes' and bishops' appeals, he urges people of all faiths and no
faith to undergo an awakening to save God's creation for future
generations.
It's an indictment of big business and climate doubters alike.
"It
is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of nature
with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with
progress," he writes. "Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable
disaster. Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of
progress."Environmental scientists said the first ever encyclical, or teaching document, on the environment could have a dramatic effect on the climate debate, lending the moral authority of the immensely popular Francis to an issue that has long been cast in purely political, economic and scientific terms.
Veerabhadran
Ramanathan, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist, said the
encyclical would be a "game-changer in making people think about this."
"It's not politics
anymore," he said, adding that science is usually difficult for people
to understand but that people respond to arguments framed by morality
and ethics.
The energy lobby was quick to criticize the encyclical and its anti-fossil fuel message.
"The
simple reality is that energy is the essential building block of the
modern world," said Thomas Pyle of the Institute of Energy Research, a
conservative free-market group. "The application of affordable energy
makes everything we do — food production, manufacturing, health care,
transportation, heating and air conditioning — better."
Francis
said he hoped his effort would lead ordinary people in their daily
lives and decision-makers at critical U.N. climate meetings later this
year to a wholesale change of mind and heart, saying "both the cry of
the Earth and the cry of the poor" must now be heard.
"This
vision of 'might is right' has engendered immense inequality, injustice
and acts of violence against the majority of humanity, since resources
end up in the hands of the first comer or the most powerful: the winner
takes all," he writes. "Completely at odds with this model are the
ideals of harmony, justice, fraternity and peace as proposed by Jesus. SOURCES http://news.yahoo.com/pope-urges-revolution-save-earth-fix-perverse-economy-100612403.html#
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