Discussions of Pope Francis’ encyclical (one of the highest impact announcement a Pope can make) has been going viral, but there has been little discussion of the science or reason behind what he had to say.
The Pope, who picked the name of Saint Francis because “he is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology… he was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself,” emphasizes the unbalance of man’s current connection with nature.
The relevance of his pick and his encyclical couldn’t be greater, an increasing number of studies point towards our way of life being less than unsustainable: it is likely suicidal if left unchecked. The Pope is right to say that “we need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”
Unfortunately, for a conversation/issue that concerns every human on the planet, it gets very little actual attention. When American citizens were asked by GALLUP which issues they thought politicians need to focus on the most, only about 1% thought to mention the environment compared to 2% who thought that Ebola was the most pressing issue and the majority who listed the economy as their number 1 concern.
The irony of the majority selecting the economy as the most important issue is that our current system has almost no sectors which would make any profit at all (or even break even) if they were actually paying for the ecological costs that they normally externalize (which is a fancy way of saying that they make it someone elses’ problem). Our inability to live in harmony with the natural world is pushing us over one natural boundary after another.
I find it slightly reassuring that someone in such an influential position as Pope Francis is taking his time to call attention to such a pivotal global issue. There is reason to believe that society at large has its values backwards, prioritizing finance above all and pushing environmental concerns to the periphery. Failure to involve oneself in this issue, or to deny its existence, is akin to obstruction. In the words of Pope Francis: “Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity.”
Pope Francis is right: we require a new and universal solidarity. The reasons why I care about this planet, and humanity, are as accessible to the average human as they are to the neurobiological psychopath. This is something that I believe we all feel on a visceral level, and it might be the reason that “we see increasing sensitivity to the environment and the need to protect nature, along with a growing concern, both genuine and distressing, for what is happening to our planet.”
Unfortunately, this awareness does not seem so far sufficient to change the direction we are moving, and the global extinction continues to hover around 1000x the background rate (adding further evidence that we are living in the 6th mass extinction), and we have lost around 52% of wild animals within the last 40 years. Keep in mind that is only among the populations we are measuring (spanning from birds to insects to shellfish), and that as the Pope writes “Some less numerous species, although generally unseen, nonetheless play a critical role in maintaining the equilibrium of a particular place.” We are, as a species, burning the candle from both ends.
It is unclear whether we have irreversibly overstepped biosphere boundaries and are simply waiting for the consequences, or if we still have time to pivot and change our path. Certainly, there is no harm in doing our best in the hope that we are living in the latter, and not the former, situation.
We live in a “throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish.” We largely fail to seek inspiration from incredibly efficient natural systems, which are incredibly efficient in recycling and reusing to enable maximal life and prosperity. The issue is that “we have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them.”
Most academics are aware of this situation, and probably most of us would gladly see a shift to more ecologically sound systems if presented the chance. Pope Francis hits the nail on the head when he wrote “Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change.”
When approximately 80 people have as much wealth as half of all humans, it is embarrassingly ignorant to suggest that we can save the planet by taking shorter showers. Although we must all make changes in our lifestyle for a sustainable planet, we need to see real substantial investments in technologies like plant microbial power and organic batteries. We need to see a divestment of funds from some of the most profitable, but least ecologically sound, industries in the world.
In a world where sustainability and investing in our collective future was seen as the highest form of good, then people would be embarrassed to be sitting around with billions in their bank accounts. When those of us with so little still find the ability to give much of what we have towards improving the world, why does this act seem so impossible for those with far more resources?
Myself and Aaron spent some of our very limited funds to help an orphanage in Uganda get access to clean water, by buying them a water purifier. We did this because, as the Pope correctly points out in his encyclical, access to clean water is not universally available to everyone. A new survey by NASA actually shows that fresh water is becoming increasingly rarer, and current problems will only worsen unless we do something about it.
Environmental and social issues are frequently bound at the hip, and solving environmental problems will help improve the lives of billions all over the world. We can all make a difference, even if just in the world of ideas, and we all have work to do to become better activists.