http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/climate-change-conservatives-catholic-teaching Wow, looks the pope is getting involved in climate change and even the catholic Republicans are liking what the pope is saying. We all know that there is special interest groups involved with the denial of climate change. But now even a religious figure that has a lot of followers is getting involved with climate change.
The world was here long before we ever were, and will still be here long after we're gone. Climate change has occurred since the beginning of time, and I'm not certain that we're the cause of any current climate change. Even if we are somewhat responsible, countries like China, India, Mexico, and others will continue polluting and continue to kick our asses in the global marketplace while we needlessly overregulate ourselves into another recession. Much of this climate change fear mongering is put forth by alt energy interests and hypocritical limousine liberals who refuse to do without their own limos, private jets, yachts, sports cars, and multiple mansions powered largely or entirely by fossil fuels.
It is human nature to avoid unpleasant facts. The US deficit is indicative of criminally reckless borrowing. Any individual would have been brought to book for such irresponsible and antisocial behavior and at least declared bankrupt so that the borrowing would stop. Similarly we harm our environment and nobody is brought to book, whether it be our vanishing rain forests or polluted oceans. The next generations will pay the price while we trash our heritage with gay abandon. It is no secret that climate change is a natural phenomenon. Whether it is an ice age triggered by solar cycles or mass extinction caused by the impact of a huge interplanetary asteroid, you cannot argue with a tornado. You simply do your best to survive, or die trying. However, this argument is of little comfort when we are the cause of a similar disaster. The hole in the ozone layer is one frightening example. Smog is another. Causing the Earth's temperature to rise will have devastating consequences for future generations. Like the disappearance of the rain forests, the change is likely to last for many human generations. This is like allowing a child to play with matches. Fires are natural things. So what if some kid burns the forest down? When the consequence is more immediate we tend to take action. Climate change is long-term. The evidence of climate change is irrefutable. The Earth is definitely getting warmer. What is not clear is whether we have the larger hand in this, or whether nature would be doing this anyway. Either way, the results will be devastating - in a century or so. This allows the devil in us to deny responsibility, much like a smiling murderer being released on a technicality. The Pope is convinced that we are destroying posterity ourselves. I am convinced that he is right, and I am not even Catholic. Many eminent scientists agree. Polluting the planet is not acceptable in principle. Whether nature compounds the issue is not an excuse. We have to learn to respect our fellow man, and the planet we call home. Clearly many among us have no intention of limiting pollution, or responsibly managing their finances. These people have to be forced to toe the line by politicians and the judiciary. That is the essence of responsible government; legislating what is likely to be best for the people. We cannot afford to ignore the Pope. If he is right the consequences to posterity will be devastating. If he is wrong, we lose nothing by supporting his stance.
A lot of the ideas for climate improvement don't really improve anything. For instance, a lot of electric cars won't help unless they're powered via solar energy, because a lot of electricity comes from coal burning plants. Nowadays, we even got green webhosting, but Iv'e heard some people on internet forums say it doesn't really make a difference. Finally, it seems like a lot of environmentalism, in general, doesn't make a difference, and hence, wastes people's time.
Absolutely right. Fixing this problem is not a simple matter. Some things, though, are no-brainers. Living closer to your workplace; improving public transport; reclaiming desert areas; stopping deforestation; using solar power instead of burning fossil fuels etc, will all improve our habitat and lower the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We cannot afford to encourage excuses to do nothing. When New Orleans disappears under the ocean a lot of good folk will look back to our generation with contempt. The consequences are dire enough that a lot of research is needed here. Wasted time is nothing new in human affairs. Mostly we waste time to our own detriment. This time, with luck, we will leave a better world to our children and grandchildren.
The Pope should focus on cleaning up the Catholic church first. I'm no denier of climate change but I'm certain that little can be done to reverse what has already happened. As the world's population grows there'll be more deforestation to "free up land" for farming or building homes for people. The only solution to climate change is depopulating the world. Would the Pope be among those who'd be willing to be "thinned out" so the world can be a better place?
I have to agree that the pipe should really be concerned with getting his own house in order before he starts to interfere with other issues in the world. If the Catholic church had a better reputation, then in future that might give him some power when discussing other matters, but at the moment people aren't going to pay him too much attention.
I'm actually very glad that the Pope is getting into these things. It's obvious that Catholicism is open to a lot of bigotry and produces lots of zealots (hey, I'm religious, too - buddhist, here) and if the Pope can support things like climate change, environmentalism, and accepting the LGBT community, it might persuade a lot of Catholics into taking on these ideas. I'd like to see a new world in which everyone is aware of the worlds problems, and can love everyone unconditionally (which they're encouraged to do in their religious texts - yet they take it out of context).
The Pope also said that there is a correlation between climate change and abortion. How so? Either he comes out directly and tells every nation to make abortion illegal or he doesn't rather than try to skirt around the issue. So what he's doing is trying to preach against the "evils of this generation" whilst at the same time trying to make it appear like he's concerned about climate change.
The climate change hysterics are just fear mongers. The climate is always changing. Most of the people pushing for more government action to control the weather are marxists and leftists. The pope seems to have some real problems with capitalism, so I'm not that surprised to see him pushing this nonsense.
