Papal/Academy of Sciences on Climate and Biodiversity Crises:
Pope Francis declares a climate emergency: In a June 2019 meeting with fossil fuel CEOs and major institutional investors, Pope Francis issued a stern warning: “Faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations.”
Catholic Ecology, “Biodiversity Lost,”
https://catholicecology.net/blog/data-series-3-biodiversity-lost
Climate Change and Biodiversity, Convention on Biological Diversity:
It is now widely recognized that climate change and biodiversity are interconnected. Biodiversity is affected by climate change, with negative consequences for human well-being, but biodiversity, through the ecosystem services it supports, also makes an important contribution to both climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Consequently, conserving and sustainably managing biodiversity is critical to addressing climate change.
https://www.cbd.int/climate/intro.shtml
- Take action on what we can all do
Become part of the solution by helping conserve precious natural resources that will help protect the planet. Find solutions at Drawdown https://www.drawdown.org - Become Environmental Advocates in your community and neighborhood – if you see something, say something – educate neighbors not only on what they can individually do to avoid spreading pollutants and waste, including single-use plastics, but also teach others to speak up when they feel nearby businesses are contributing to the problem. Support local farms and regenerative agriculture. Adopt a diet that helps your family’s health and the planet. Advocate for composting of food and reuse of items to help reduce trash. For details on composting, visit https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
- Become the voice for change by demanding action on climate change and biodiversity preservation from your political representatives. Talk about the issues with everyone.
https://www.momscleanairforce.org/pope-environmental-justice-climate-change/ - Sign the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration https://www.tfaforms.com/4668211
- Join or support a Catholic environmental group that is working on solutions.
Pope Francis:
Pope Francis Message on September 1, World Day of Prayer for Creation [Link]
Global warming as sin/protecting creation as 8th work of mercy [Link]
Pope Francis address to Pontifical Academy:
On sustainable development of human societies and their environments [Link]
Biological Extinction: How to Save the Natural World on Which We Depend [Link]
3/19/13, Pope Francis, Inauguration
"I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be 'protectors' of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment."
Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis on Care for our Common Home
[Link]
Boston College website videos:
Opening lecture by John Holdren and The Canisius Lecture by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson
[Link]
5/21/14
“The first chapter of Genesis, at the very beginning of the Bible, shows us that God delights of His creation, by repeatedly emphasizing the beauty and goodness of all things. At the end of each day, it is written: "God saw that it was good" ( 1,12.18.21.25 ) …but if God sees that Creation is something good and beautiful, we too must have this attitude, we must see that Creation is something good and beautiful.”
[Link]
8/31/14
“I hope,” said Pope Francis, “that everyone – institutions, associations and citizens – will strengthen their efforts, so as to safeguard the life and health of people by respecting the environment and nature.”
[Link]
9/24/14
“The Holy See has often stressed that there is a moral imperative to act, for we all bear the responsibility to protect and to value creation for the good of this and future generations. Pope Francis, from the beginning of his Pontificate, has underlined the importance of “protecting our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment”
[Link]