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St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint
of animals and ecology, respected the
links among all of God’s creation. Following
a rebirth experience, Francis,
whose feast day is October 4, made a
drastic change in his lifestyle, striving for
less so that Christ could become more in
his life.
No doubt, he would take the warnings
about global warming seriously and
find additional ways to simplify his life.
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 Check the Facts
During an Alaskan vacation last year, I
witnessed evidence of shrinking glaciers
and other symptoms of global
warming: It’s not a joke, as some say.
There were naysayers who didn’t
believe Rachel Carson when she warned
about the toxic effects of DDT and other
poisons in Silent Spring, published in
1962. That classic book is now credited
with spurring revolutionary changes in
government policy and launching the
environmental movement.
Instead of believing in hearsay, check
out the facts about global warming
from credible sources. For example, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
brochure on global warming (www.epa.gov/globalwarming) reports the
assessments of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (www.ipcc.ch) and recent scientific literature.
Although many greenhouse gases
occur naturally, “Human activities are
adding greenhouse gases—pollutants
that trap in earth’s heat—to the atmosphere
at a faster rate than at any time
over the past several thousand years,”
explains the EPA. “Burning coal, oil
and gas, and cutting down forests are
largely responsible.”
IPCC projects an unprecedented rate
of climate change “likely to have wide-ranging
and mostly adverse impacts
on human health, with significant loss
of life.” IPCC explains that some potential
impacts of global warming include
worsened air pollution, damaged crops,
depleted water resources and more
intense storms.
In addition, “Melting of polar ice
and land-based glaciers is expected to
contribute to the one-half-foot to three-feet
sea-level rise projected by the IPCC
for the 21st century.”
Sizzling Summer
This past July, scientists released a startling
conclusion about wildfires: “Higher
temperatures over 34 years—rather than
land-use changes—have led to more
blazes,” reported the Los Angeles Times.
“Rising temperatures throughout the
West have stoked an increase in large
wildfires over the past 34 years as spring
comes earlier, mountain snows melt
sooner and forests dry to tinder,” researchers
stated.
Wildfires aren’t the only problem.
This past August, National Geographic published “Super Storms: No End in
Sight,” by Thomas Hayden. “Think
recent hurricanes were bad? Monster
storms could become routine,” writes
Hayden. “Because of a tropical climate
shift that brought warmer waters and
reduced wind shear, the Atlantic has
spawned unusual numbers of hurricanes
for nine of the past 11 seasons.”
How long this cycle will last is uncertain.
In August, many of us were paying
over $3 a gallon for gasoline when BP
said it was shutting down one of its
biggest oilfields in Alaska to replace 16
miles of corroded pipeline.
That doesn’t mean it’s time to haul
oil-drilling equipment into the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, if anyone can
find a stable path where the permafrost
hasn’t thawed because of global warming.
Rather, it’s time to imitate St.
Francis out of concern for the caribou
and all of God’s creation.
What We Can Do
“The U.S. presently emits more greenhouse
gases per person than any other
country,” reports the EPA. Yet our country
has not ratified the United Nations’
Kyoto Protocol, a commitment to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
ratified by 164 countries.
“Frustrated by stalling on the federal
level, local leaders are moving forward
with innovative energy solutions
that cut our dependence on oil, benefit
public health and save taxpayer dollars,”
reports Sierra Club (www.coolcities.us). “The biggest single step we
can take to curb global warming is making
our cars, trucks and SUVs go farther
on a gallon of gas.”
Churches are becoming increasingly
involved in environmental issues. Interfaith
Power & Light (IPL) educates
churches, including many Catholic
parishes, on how to make a dent in
global warming while promoting
renewable energy, energy efficiency
and conservation.
During the first week in October, IPL
is asking congregations across the country
to screen the DVD of Al Gore’s film
An Inconvenient Truth and distribute materials
to viewers. (More information is
available at www.theregenerationproject.org/inconvenient.htm.)
Tim Kautza, science and environmental
education specialist for the
National Catholic Rural Life Conference,
says IPL’s focus is “making congregations
more energy-efficient, and
then having it filter down to the individuals
to make changes in their
lifestyles and make their lives more
energy-efficient,” reports Catholic News
Service.
For a list of 10 simple things you
can do and how much carbon dioxide
(CO2) you will save doing them, go to
www.climatecrisis.net.
Global warming is more than an economic
issue: It’s a moral issue that we
have an obligation to take seriously.
Like St. Francis, we need to make drastic
changes out of respect for the links
among all of God’s creation.—M.J.D. |
