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[thefro]

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Top Ten Takeaways (from America Magazine)

BBC article

The Pope has issued an encyclical, calling for fossil fuels to be "progressively replaced without delay".
Pope Francis urges the richer world to make changes in lifestyle and energy consumption to avert the unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem.
Environmentalists hope the message will spur on nations ahead of the UN climate conference in Paris in December.
But parts of the document, leaked earlier this week, have already been criticised by some US conservatives.
It has been dismissed by a Republican presidential candidate, Jeb Bush.
Humans to blame
The encyclical, named "Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home", aims to inspire everyone - not just Roman Catholics - to protect the Earth.
null
Leading figures in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian church were at the launch of the encyclical
The 192-page document, which is the highest level of teaching document a pope can issue, lays much of the blame for global warming on human activities.
The Pope writes that: "We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.
"The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life."
null
The UN's climate change chief Christiana Figueres says the Pope's message will influence talks in Paris this year on a deal to tackle global warming.
Developing countries are demanding firmer promises of financial help from rich countries so they can adapt to inevitable changes in the climate and get clean energy to avoid contributing to further warming.
Ms Figueres said their position would be strengthened by the Pope's insistence that this was the clear moral responsibility of the rich.
The encyclical will be welcomed by poor countries in Africa and Latin America.
The big question is how it will play in the USA, where it has already been dismissed by a Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who is a Catholic.
Leading Republicans have warned the UN that they will undo President Obama's climate policies - so if the encyclical sways any of the conservative Catholics in Congress that could prove significant.

Edit: Only about a quarter of the way through reading it since I'm doing some other things right now, but lots of really good stuff

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...8959f32_story.html?postshare=3381434628888596

VATICAN CITY — He warns of “synthetic agrotoxins” harming birds and insects and “bioaccumulation” from industrial waste. He calls for renewable fuel subsidies and “maximum energy efficiency.” And although he offers prayers at the beginning and end of his heavily anticipated missive on the environment, Pope Francis unmasks himself not only as a very green pontiff, but also as a total policy wonk.

In the 192-page paper released Thursday, Francis lays out the argument for a new partnership between science and religion to combat human-driven climate change — a position bringing him immediately into conflict with skeptics, whom he chides for their “denial.”

Francis urges taking public transit, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, recycling — and boycotting certain products. He called for an “ecological conversion” for the faithful.

“It must be said that some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment,” he writes.

“He is giving us a moral legitimacy to continue campaigning,” said a jubilant Giuseppe Onufrio, executive director of Greepeace in Italy who was set to join a June 28 march in St. Peter’s Square in support of the pope’s environmental stance. “Climate change is now an issue of social justice.”

In the document, Francis linked global warming to the overarching theme of his papacy — fighting inequality and global poverty. “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” Francis wrote, blaming a toxic cocktail of overconsumption, consumerism, dependence on fossil fuels and the errant indifference of the powerful and wealthy. He described a hell on Earth should nothing be done, one filled with more methane and carbon dioxide, acidification of oceans and the crippling of the global food supply.

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

Its cool that he thinks this way, but oil companies will do all they can to delay the transition and Republicans will be there to back them up.

 

[Matt_]

Honestly seeing the effectiveness of oil companies denying climate change it makes me wonder how we ever managed to move away from coal

 

[Klyka]

I love how the republicans can literally say "We will undo the policies enacted to protect the planet" and people will STILL VOTE FOR THEM.

 

[Sayter]

Its cool that he thinks this way, but oil companies will do all they can to delay the transition and Republicans will be there to back them up.

There are quite a few Dems that support big oil as well.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Honestly seeing the effectiveness of oil companies denying climate change it makes me wonder how we ever managed to move away from coal

or how we ever moved from gas with lead in it to gas without

 

[giga]

Honestly seeing the effectiveness of oil companies denying climate change it makes me wonder how we ever managed to move away from coal

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385

 

[Amir0x]

man that's so weird using scientific consensus to argue decisively that climate change is real and man made and we need to take steps NOW to stop it.


Now I just wonder if one day we can get a pope to release a LGBT encyclical in which he takes the scientific position and shows compassion, and doesn't require people to abandon a huge essence of themselves just to be right with God.

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

There are quite a few Dems that support big oil as well.

How come they are not as loud as some Repubs? I hear more about them reversing Obama's policies on shit like this than any Dem.

 

[Majine]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/265895292191248385

Hah, almost as good of a troll account as @KazHiraiCEO.

Spoiler

Oh god.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Well, biofuels certainly won't be replacing fossil fuels anytime soon if ever. I think our only viable options at this point are with hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles. I'm glad the Pope feels this way, but he is just one of many voices that have been saying this for years.

 

[Vanillalite]

So how will all of my conservative Catholic friends peform the mental gymnastics to get around this one? Should be hilarious.

 

[Sayter]

How come they are not as loud as some Repubs? I hear more about them reversing Obama's policies on shit like this than any Dem.

Probably because there not as many. But, still quite a few.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-increasingly-backing-oil-and-gas-industry-1407790617

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/01...crats-voted-approve-keystone-xl-pipeline.html

 

[Drifters]

I've read quite a bit of the text and talked to long time devote Catholics on this; It's really interesting in context of framing this as a "moral" judgement on his part that most Catholics have an issue with. Either way I'm also somewhat in awe that this has gone beyond politics now.

 

[womfalcs3]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I love how the republicans can literally say "We will undo the policies enacted to protect the planet" and people will STILL VOTE FOR THEM.

Our dickhead PM here in Australia is trying to do the same. Shameful.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

I for one am shocked that Jeb Bush is a greedy industrialist first and a devout Catholic second. To be fair, it was so much easier when being a good Catholic meant overlooking institutionalized molestation and being morally hypocritical. All this goody good save the world bullshit Pope Francis keeps spouting is a real bummer for opportunistic vultures who have amassed their fortune on the backs of the rest of the world's suffering population.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

So how will all of my conservative Catholic friends peform the mental gymnastics to get around this one? Should be hilarious.

If they act like Polish ones, they won't - they just deny it. Various major Polish right-wing journalists are already calling Pope a "leftist" or say that they are "going back to read encyclicals of John Paul II and Benedict XVI".

Some representatives from various religious-nationalist parties also tried to spin things around, or were simply saying that Pope can be wrong sometimes, when the Pope said that it is Christians' responsibility to help all those immigrants from other countries/continents.

It's really hilarious to watch the butt hurt.

 

[teruterubozu]

So how will all of my conservative Catholic friends peform the mental gymnastics to get around this one? Should be hilarious.

Liberal Pope. Pretty easy, actually. They've already been doing it.

 

[LogicStep]

When our reality turns into what we saw in Interstellar maybe then people will admit all of this and stop being greedy and blind.

 

[teruterubozu]

When our reality turns into what we saw in Interstellar maybe then people will admit all of this and stop being greedy and blind.

I think doom and gloom make people more selfish and greedy.

 

[gutter_trash]

I for one am shocked that Jeb Bush is a greedy industrialist first and a devout Catholic second. To be fair, it was so much easier when being a good Catholic meant overlooking institutionalized molestation and being morally hypocritical. All this goody good save the world bullshit Pope Francis keeps spouting is a real bummer for opportunistic vultures who have amassed their fortune on the backs of the rest of the world's suffering population.

JEB is just Catholic for pandering for votes from the Spanish speaking community.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

But America just became worlds leading natural gas producer ushering in a new era of us making and using our own fuels. Researching more efficient, hybrid, and cleaner byproducts of fossil fuels would be better and more feasible to the countries population needs than a total abandonment immediately.

 

[CadetMahoney]

So weird seeing him using scientific consensus to argue a point.

Whatever suits the argument.

Kind of like pro-lifers using science when it suits them, or presenting just outright false science then hand-wave the ones that don't suit their argument away as irrelevant.

Just reverting back to their moral argument when things don't go their way.

 

[Foffy]

When our reality turns into what we saw in Interstellar maybe then people will admit all of this and stop being greedy and blind.

If only. Look at the world you're in, dominated by greed caused by blindness. That requires an internal change, because the external world is a bridge to one's ideas and projections, and if anything, is a public display of the madness humanity has about things. I don't think the world going to shit will change anything, but the thinking that produced this must change, first. That won't happen with laws, but with internal inquiry.

“It is not enough to change strategies, structures, and systems, unless the thinking that produced those also changes.” - Senge

Somehow we keep forgetting the thinking part...

 

[thefro]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

I wouldn't call him ignorant about physical sciences... he studied chemistry post-high school, was certified as a chemical technician and worked as a chemist before he became a priest.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

 

[antonz]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

Oh you got us Catholics there. We don't believe in dinosaurs or any of that stuff./s

Idiot posts as expected anytime religion is mentioned

 

[WedgeX]

Good job, Pope Frank.

Still not much easier being a liberal catholic but some steps are nice.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

Catholics don't take a literal interpretation of the creation myth.

 

[Pillville]

I live in a conservative town full of Catholics. The cognitive dissonance this pope creates for them is awesome to watch.

This pope is the Jon Snow of popes.

 

[teruterubozu]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

Someone needs a course in world religions.

 

[willow ve]

This pope just keeps getting better and better.

 

[antonz]

I live in a conservative town full of Catholics. The cognitive dissonance this pope creates for them is awesome to watch.

This pope is the Jon Snow of popes.

What most dont realize is Francis is not that different from the last 2. Media reporting has painted Francis as some renegade when he is more or less a friendlier face of the last 2 Popes ideology and teaching wise.

 

[Vagabundo]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

lol comment backfire.

 

[Ahasverus]

Hey, quit using those dinosaurs that don't exist to go faster.

He's catholic, not evangelical/whatstheirname

 

[joedan]

What's an "encyclical"?

 

[wildfire]

I love how the republicans can literally say "We will undo the policies enacted to protect the planet" and people will STILL VOTE FOR THEM.

You fail to appreciate that people see these threats to the planet as exaggerations.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Oh you got us Catholics there. We don't believe in dinosaurs or any of that stuff./s

Idiot posts as expected anytime religion is mentioned

Catholics don't take a literal interpretation of the creation myth.

Someone needs a course in world religions.

lol comment backfire.

He's catholic, not evangelical/whatstheirname

Y'all need

Spoiler

sarcasm

Jesus.

 

[Jackpot]

So how will all of my conservative Catholic friends peform the mental gymnastics to get around this one? Should be hilarious.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...joins-republican-backlash-pope-climate-change

At least five of the Republican presidential contenders are Catholic. Two so far – Bush and Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and devout Catholic – have come out against the pope on climate change.

Bush converted to Catholicism when he got married 20 years ago, and regularly cited church teachings when he was Florida governor – even enacting a law to introduce anti-abortion “Choose Life” car license plates.

But when it comes to climate change, Bush said he would not be guided by the church.

“I hope I’m not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don’t get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinal or my pope,” the former Florida governor said. “I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm.”

Santorum told a Philadelphia radio station earlier this month: “The church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we’re good at, which is theology and morality.”

Other Republicans have come forward, however, including the Oklahoma senator James Inhofe, who bluntly told reporters that Francis was out of line – “The pope ought to stay with his job” – at a conference of the climate change-denying Heartland Institute.

Lol at Santorum saying we have to listen to scientists on global warming (98% of whom say it is man-made).

 

[afternoon delight]

I for one am shocked that Jeb Bush is a greedy industrialist first and a devout Catholic second. To be fair, it was so much easier when being a good Catholic meant overlooking institutionalized molestation and being morally hypocritical. All this goody good save the world bullshit Pope Francis keeps spouting is a real bummer for opportunistic vultures who have amassed their fortune on the backs of the rest of the world's suffering population.

This is in itself a grotesque beauty of a critique, I said gotdamn.

Much like everything else this Pope has done (besides clean house in the Vatican Bank) makes for great words and absolutely no change. Maybe we'll see the effects in a decade or so just by exposing his audience to such RADICAL BELIEFS.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

What exactly is your issue here?

 

[Aureon]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

He's also the head of an organization that includes universities and research centres.

We're somewhat quick to forget that, for nearly a millennium, science and knowledge in general were pretty much the Catholic Church's exclusive dominion.

 

[Azih]

As a non catholic I'm pretty firm in the belief that Pope Francis = Best Pope. How does Catholic GAF feel about him?

 

[Lagamorph]

Won't the Pope saying this resonate quite heavily with a good chunk of Republican voters? This could end up being quite significant.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

....we're going nuclear!

 

[wildfire]

As a non catholic I'm pretty firm in the belief that Pope Francis = Best Pope. How does Catholic GAF feel about him?

Still the best.

 

[Foffy]

Won't the Pope saying this resonate quite heavily with a good chunk of Republican voters? This could end up being quite significant.

Mainstream Republicans seem very anti-Pope in terms of what he's talked about. Climate change, poverty, income inequality, all of these topics have popular Republicans saying "b-but!" about it.

It's absolutely saddening to see, if only because those against some of what Francis has said are coming from a position of conditioned ignorance, which America and the world over has a disease of.

 

[Zaptruder]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

Is there a point you want to make, or should we merely take your dismissive, arrogant, throw-away comment as a sign of your own insecurity and ignorance?

 

[Kurdel]

That's cute. An old man ignorant about energy markets and physical sciences wants to say something.

What's the difference with other heads of state who also rely on expert opinions?