By Tony Magliano
Climate change is real; its death and destruction is presently upon us, and it is projected to get much worse if far more aggressive national and international efforts to reverse it are not soon enacted (see: https://bit.ly/3iSIb2Y and https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ and https://bit.ly/2REOYBm).
Those who deny climate change and its accompanying global warming – from certain high government officials to countless ordinary users of social media – are in denial of the scientific facts (see: https://bit.ly/3c9vajk and https://wapo.st/3hxxMsc and https://bit.ly/32Cmtux and https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/).
Denying the reality of climate change is akin to denying that astronauts landed on the moon (see: https://bit.ly/3hKwlGN). And such denial is in company with beliefs of the Flat Earth Society (see: https://bit.ly/2RBx bLv and https://physicsworld.com/a/fighting-flat-earth-theory/).
If we, and especially governments, continue to drag our environmental feet, climate scientists predict that by 2030 far worse, and far more frequent catastrophic weather events – like hurricanes, floods, droughts and crop failures – will cause untold suffering to countless human beings and to our common earth home (see: https://bit.ly/2E7MhED). In fact, doing too little, too late, could quite possibly put all of us, and future generations, at a catastrophic point of no return.
Let’s not let that happen!
Get involved!
Pray, plant trees, research ways your house and parish can go green (see: https://bit.ly/2mpMI4S), urge your state and federal legislators to pass Green New Deal legislation. And participate in the current ecumenical Season of Creation which formally lasts until Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi – patron saint of ecology (see: https://seasonofcreation.org/catholic/).
In his message for the Season of Creation beginning on Sept. 1 – World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation – Pope Francis writes, “Everything is interconnected, and that genuine care for our own lives and our relationships with nature is inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others”
He adds that this is a “time to return to God our loving Creator. We cannot live in harmony with creation if we are not at peace with the Creator who is the source and origin of all things.”
Calling us to humility and attentiveness the Holy Father says “Today we hear the voice of creation admonishing us to return to our rightful place in the natural created order – to remember that we are part of this interconnected web of life, not its masters. The disintegration of biodiversity, spiraling climate disasters, and unjust impact of the current pandemic on the poor and vulnerable: all these are a wakeup call in the face of our rampant greed and consumption.”
Continuing this line of thought, Pope Francis says that the pandemic has “led us to rediscover simpler and sustainable lifestyles … The pandemic has brought us to a crossroads.”
In agreement with climate scientists, the Holy Father warns, “Climate restoration is of utmost importance, since we are in the midst of a climate emergency. We are running out of time, as our children and young people have reminded us. We need to do everything in our capacity to limit global average temperature rise under the threshold of 1.5°C enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement, for going beyond that will prove catastrophic, especially for poor communities around the world” (see: https://bit.ly/3kq3GJ0).
In the spirit of St. Francis let us continue living the Season of Creation throughout all the seasons of our lives, forever discovering with joy, all that God has made!
Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at [email protected].