Vatican conference: wealthy humans responsible for global warming, extinction of species

March 02, 2017

A Vatican conference on biological diversity has concluded with a statement calling for redistribution of the world’s wealth, arguing that the consumption by the rich is a primary cause of global warming.

The Vatican conference, co-sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, had drawn criticism because of the list of invited participants, including the discredited prophet of “overpopulation,” Paul Ehrlich.

In their concluding statement, the participants claimed that biological species are becoming extinct at “approximately 1,000 times the historical rate,” and attributed this to the “huge strains on the earth’s capacity to function sustainably” because of human use of fossil fuels.

Noting that a small percentage of the world’s people account for a large portion of global consumption, the conference concluded: “The wealthy are thus substantially responsible for the increase in global warming and, consequently, the decrease in biodiversity.” The statement argued: “An inescapable condition for attaining global sustainability is wealth redistribution.”

The statement called for “new ways of working together to build a sustainable, stable, and socially just world.”

 

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Further information:

• Extinction is Forever: How To Avoid It (Vatican press office)
• Paul Ehrlich, prophet of ‘overpopulation’ doom, invited to speak at Vatican conference (CWN, 1/13)