Climate change threatens every society: Cardinal Parolin
May 20, 2015
No one is immune from the implications of climate change, the Vatican's Secretary of State has warned.
“When the future of the planet is at stake, there are no political frontiers, barriers or walls behind which we can hide to protect ourselves from the effects of environmental and social degradation," wrote Cardinal Pietro Parolin in a message to participants in a conference on climate change and economics, held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
Cardinal Parolin said that he hoped the conference would stimulate thinking on the ways in which the world economy can be re-oriented "to cultivate two interconnected objectives: combating poverty and easing the effects of climate change."
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
May. 21, 2015 5:14 PM ET USA
You would think we could figure out how to cover more of the planet's surface with crops. Crops cool the planetary atmosphere in 3 ways: (1) highly absorb sunlight (>75%) without surface heating, thereby reducing atmospheric warming by the greenhouse effect; (2) absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen; and (3) transpire water absorbed through the roots. An added benefit of crops for the world's poor is that they produce food. I don't believe we are too ignorant to know how to fight global warming.
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Posted by: unum -
May. 21, 2015 9:29 AM ET USA
I see the Vatican beginning to drift to the political left. If they continue, they are drifting away from many American Catholics. "Climate Change" without the benefit of solid scientific evidence and a "world economy" without proven economic policies are fantasies. Jesus asks us to love and care for each other. He does not advocate any particular political or economic movement!
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Posted by: dover beachcomber -
May. 21, 2015 1:54 AM ET USA
I live in Palo Alto, California, just a mile or two from Google and Facebook headquarters. Both of these tech behemoths are building, or have already built, huge new campuses located just 2 to 6 feet above San Francisco Bay's mean high tide. Evidently, they aren't very worried about quickly rising sea levels, one of the most often cited hazards of climate change. And if *they're* not worried, perhaps Cdl. Parolin shouldn't be, either.
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Posted by: nix898049 -
May. 20, 2015 4:59 PM ET USA
So, it would seem to be impossible that the climate changes for the better. Ever. Wow.
