This month the Pope asks us to pray ‘that all of us, especially those in positions of worldly power, commit ourselves to care and concern for all creation.’
This month’s intention could not be more timely. In a matter of weeks political leaders from around the world will gather in Copenhagen to agree a new treaty to contain climate change. If they fail, humanity faces dramatic climate changes with much more severe flooding, droughts and storms. In Africa, it will become even more difficult to eke a living from the land. In Asia, drinking water will become scarce for the millions who depend on the meltwater from the Himalayan glaciers. In Latin America, the Amazon rainforest could dry out and turn to grassland.
The good news is this. There is a real commitment to getting a deal. The election of Barack Obama in the US has changed the dynamic of the international negotiations. With history’s largest polluter now seen as ready to play its part, the big polluters of tomorrow such as China and India are much more likely to come on board as well. And all the major polluters, both developed and developing countries, have now accepted the scientific view that we should limit global warming to less than 2°C to avoid dangerous climate change.
The bad news is that none of them is proposing actions that are strong enough to achieve the two degree goal. Why is this?
Well, it can only be one of two things. Perhaps they are in denial. They’ve been told often enough by scientists and environmentalists but they have their fingers in their ears and they’re shouting ‘la la la la’ very loudly, like you do when you don’t want to hear someone reveal the end of a film you haven’t seen yet. Or else our leaders know the truth but they are afraid to tell us for fear of how we the voters, already battered by economic troubles, will react.
This may be an understandable human reaction but we need more from those in positions of power. After all, it’s exactly this approach that got us into the current economic crisis. Thanks to poorly understood risk, weak regulation and short-termism our leaders drove society off the road and into the economic ditch. Now, as we crawl from the wreckage, they are scrambling to get the economy ‘back on track’ and speed away again. But that would be to haul us from the economic ditch and career instead over the ecological cliff, taking a large chunk of creation with us. If we return to business as usual, we will not be heading for a challenging two degrees of global warming but a catastrophic five degrees plus.
It is very striking that while the Pope singles out those in positions of worldly power, his intention is ‘that all of us commit ourselves to care and concern for all creation’. We cannot leave something so important to those with power. So far, scientific understanding, moral obligation and long-term economic self-interest haven’t been enough to spur them to adequate action. It seems we-the-people need to press them to take the radical steps required to safeguard human civilization and the diversity of creation.
That’s why Friends of the Earth has joined with the likes of Trócaire, Christian Aid and the ecumenical eco-congregation network in the Stop Climate Chaos coalition. Together with over 20 other organisations, we are working to make sure our elected representatives know they have ‘permission to lead’.
We’ve had some success – the Government has promised a climate change law to make sure all Departments across government, and all governments across time, take climate change seriously and take action consistently. And as leaders head to Copenhagen at the beginning of December, you can join with us and tens of thousands of others around the world to send a message that only a deal strong enough to ensure the planet’s safety, and that delivers justice to all, will do. Traditionally, we are asked to pray for the Pope’s intentions. This time there is a clear opportunity to act as well.
Remember too that the atmosphere’s ability to absorb greenhouse gases is not the only natural system that we, collectively, are straining. In 2005 the UN published a landmark study called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Firstly, it reiterated the obvious but often ignored reality that ‘everyone in the world depends completely on Earth’s ecosystems and the services they provide, such as food, water, disease management, climate regulation, spiritual fulfillment, and aesthetic enjoyment.’ It found that we were using 60% of these services unsustainably, notably fresh water and marine fisheries. And it concluded ‘over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.’
And there’s the rub, as we reflect on the Pope’s intention this month. Biologists are now of one mind – we are on course for the sixth great extinction and the first since the one 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs. On current trends 20% of all species alive in 2000 will be extinct by 2030. And there’s no argument about the cause. It’s us. Humanity’s insatiable consumption has put increasing strain on creation over the last 50 years. Consumption of natural resources per person has tripled since 1960. Thankfully, the endpoint is not predetermined, there is still time for us to think again and change direction.
The bottom of a recessionary trough is not the most comfortable place to pause and reflect on the world and our place in it. But it does give us a perspective that was not available during the boom, when to question the economic model of ever increasing consumption was to invite ridicule. The biggest question this month’s intention raises is whether infinite growth is possible on a finite planet. If the answer is no, then humanity has to get a lot more creative as we climb out of this recession. 2009 may have seen the extinction of the Celtic Tiger, but the fate of much of creation rides on what we do next.
You can find out more about the Copenhagen climate summit and the Stop Climate Chaos campaign at www.foe.ie.