“No matter how much we try to deny, hide, conceal or relativize them, the signs of climate change are there, more and more evident. No one can ignore that in recent years we have witnessed extreme phenomena, frequent periods of anomalous heat, drought and other complaints of the earth which are just some tangible expressions of a silent disease that affects us all.”
“Praise God for all his creatures.” This was the invitation that Saint Francis of Assisi made with his life, his songs, his gestures. In this way he took up the proposal of the psalms of the Bible and re-presented the sensitivity of Jesus towards the creatures of his Father: «Observe how the lilies of the field grow: they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his glory, was dressed like one of these” (Mt 6:28-29). «Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God” (Luke 12:6). How can we not admire this tenderness of Jesus for all those who accompany us on our journey?
Eight years have now passed since the publication of the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, when I wanted to share with all of you, sisters and brothers of our suffering planet, my heartfelt concerns for the care of our common home. But, as time passes, I realize that we do not react enough, as the world that welcomes us is crumbling and perhaps is approaching a breaking point. Regardless of this possibility, there is no doubt that the impact of climate change will increasingly harm the lives of many people and families. We will feel the effects in terms of health, work, access to resources, housing, forced migration and other areas.
This is a global social problem that is intimately linked to the dignity of human life. The bishops of the United States have expressed very well the social sense of our concern for climate change, which goes beyond a merely ecological approach, because «our care for others and our care for the earth are intimately linked. Climate change is one of the main challenges facing society and the global community. The effects of climate change are suffered by the most vulnerable people, both at home and around the world.” The bishops present at the Synod for the Amazon also said it in a few words: “Attacks on nature have consequences on the lives of peoples.” And to forcefully express that this is no longer a secondary or ideological issue, but a drama that harms us all, the African bishops declared that climate change highlights “a shocking example of structural sin”.
The reflection and information that we can gather from these last eight years allow us to specify and complete what we stated some time ago. For this reason, and because the situation is becoming even more urgent, I wanted to share these pages with you.
The global climate crisis
No matter how much we try to deny, hide, conceal or relativize them, the signs of climate change are there, more and more evident. No one can ignore that in recent years we have witnessed extreme phenomena, frequent periods of anomalous heat, drought and other complaints of the earth which are just some tangible expressions of a silent disease that affects us all. It is true that not all disasters can be attributed to global climate change. However, it is verifiable that some human-induced climate changes significantly increase the likelihood of more frequent and more intense extreme events. We therefore know that every time global temperatures increase by 0.5 degrees Celsius, the intensity and frequency of heavy rains and floods in some areas, severe droughts in others, extreme heat in some regions and heavy snowfall also increase. in still others. If until now we could have heat waves a few times a year, what would happen with a global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which we are close to? Such heat waves will be much more frequent and more intense. If we exceed 2 degrees, the ice sheets of Greenland and much of Antarctica will melt completely, with enormous and very serious consequences for everyone.
In recent years there has been no shortage of people who have tried to downplay this observation. They cite supposedly scientific data, such as the fact that the planet has always had and will always have periods of cooling and warming. They neglect to mention another relevant fact: what we are witnessing now is an unusual acceleration of warming, at such a rate that it only takes one generation – not centuries or millennia – to notice it. Rising sea levels and melting glaciers can easily be felt by a person in their lifetime, and probably in a few years many populations will have to move their homes due to these events.
To ridicule those who talk about global warming, they resort to the fact that extreme cold temperatures also occur frequently. We forget that these and other extraordinary symptoms are only alternative expressions of the same cause: the global imbalance caused by global warming. Droughts and floods, the drying up of lakes and populations swept away by tsunamis or floods have basically the same origin. On the other hand, if we talk about a global phenomenon, we cannot confuse it with transitory and changing events, which are largely explained by local factors. 8. The lack of information leads to identifying large climate projections that concern long periods – at least decades – with weather forecasts that can cover a few weeks at most. When we talk about climate change we are referring to a global reality – with constant local variations – which persists for several decades.
In an attempt to simplify reality, there is no shortage of those who blame the poor for having too many children and try to solve the problem by mutilating women in less developed countries. As usual, it would seem that the poor are to blame. But the reality is that a small, richer percentage of the world‘s population pollutes more than the poorest 50% and that the per capita emissions of the richest countries are much higher than those of the poorest. How can we forget that Africa, home to more than half of the world‘s poorest people, is responsible for only a fraction of historical emissions?
It is also often said that efforts to mitigate climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and developing cleaner forms of energy will lead to fewer jobs. What is happening is that millions of people are losing their jobs due to the various consequences of climate change: rising sea levels, droughts and many other phenomena affecting the planet have left many people adrift. On the other hand, the transition towards well-managed forms of renewable energy, as well as all efforts to adapt to the damage of climate change, are capable of generating countless jobs in different sectors. This is why politicians and entrepreneurs need to deal with it immediately.
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