Informed Voting Matters- Second Focus

Written on: June 1, 2020

Informed Voting Matters

To have a bigger impact on our care for Earth, our common home and its resources, consider the politicians you vote for and the companies you support with your wallet:

• What are their values?

• What do their actions say about their commitment to caring for our common home?

(From: EarthBeat, an exploration of Laudato Si’ through a social, political and spiritual lens)

The second focus is on Ecology

Earth Charter

Principle II ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
7. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive

In Laudato Si, Pope Francis reminds us of the leadership that Pope Paul VI and John Paul II took concerning our home, the earth.

In particular: In 1971, eight years after Pacem in Terris, Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological concern as “a tragic consequence” of unchecked human activity: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation”.

Pope Benedict asked us to recognize that the natural environment has been gravely damaged by our irresponsible behaviour.

Bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”.

Pope Francis wrote, Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.  He reminded us that the Earth Charter asked us to leave behind a period of self-destruction and make a new start…

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century.

Temperature rise and melting ice caps are causing sea-level rise.

We know in large part that temperature rise is due to our use of fossil fuels. South Pacific Islanders have already been resettled due to sea-level rise.

In 2020, an article in the New York Times identified 100 roll-backs during the past 3 years of the Trump’s administration some of which include: Repealed limits on carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, repealed a requirement of oil and gas companies to report methane emissions, repealed a rule to limit toxic emissions from major industrial polluters, repealed a requirement to track tailpipe emissions, lifted a ban in drilling in the Arctic,  approved  construction of the Dakota Access pipeline less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, revoked orders to preserve ocean, coastal  and Great Lakes waters in favor of non-renewable energy production, loosened offshore safety regulations, reversed a freeze on new coal leases, and proposed opening most of America’s coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling.

All of these and more increase the dangers to people and their homes around the world.

Increased carbon dioxide in the ocean (acidification) affects sea life as well. Washington State has documented creatures with shells are already being affected. The following are images of shell degradation due to a small increase of carbon dioxide in their environment.

Our homes, our food, and our way of life are at stake.

To understand further the climate change background join Sister Bridget via zoom addressing the following little known, but easily understood topics:

1. Milankovitch cycles
2. Keeling Curve
3. Why 350 ppm?
4. Ocean Temperature/Acidification

This entry was posted in Laudato Si' (LSAP) and tagged: Arctic, bishops, consequence, Dakota Access pipeline, deegradation, Earth Charter, ecological concern, ecological integrity, environmental protection, exploitation, fossil fuels, human abuse, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, irreversible harm, knowledge, Laudato Si!, melting ice caps, our earth, our home, Pacem in Terris, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, sea-level rise, Southern Africa, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation