J.I. Nelson - QUOTES FROM POPE FRANCIS on the ENVIRONMENT

POPE QUOTES
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The Encyclical Letter "Laudato Si", of 25 June 2015, "On Care for Our Common Home",
is more than a statement about the environment. It is a warning from a moral person with compassion for all of humanity.
The mythology of the free market made it onto Climate March signs in Washington, 29 April 2017,
and so did "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us?".
Here is the full text of those, and other calls to be big and not act small.
We wouldn't have to call these Catholic Church officials "father" if we didn't act like children.
--Jerry Nelson, WashingtonDC Metro.

THE MYTHICAL MARKET
SHORTENED: "We need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that the problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals."
LONGER:
Environmental protection cannot be assured solely on the basis of financial calculations of costs and benefits. The environment is one of those goods that cannot be adequately safeguarded or promoted by market forces....we need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals. Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximizing profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations?

CHILDREN
"What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? The question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal."

FILTH
SHORT: "The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish."
LONGER:
Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected.

200 YEARS OF MISTREATMENT
SHORT: "Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years."
LONGER:
Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. ... We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of the present ... [without a] legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems ... the new power structures based on the techno-economic paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics but also freedom and justice.

WE ARE NOT GOD
"We are not God. The Earth was here before us and it has been given to us."

INFINITE GROWTH
SHORT: "The idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology ... is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth's goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry at every limit."
LONGER:
... [it is] easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit. It is the false notion that an infinite quantity of energy and resources are available, that it is possible to renew them quickly, and that the negative effects of the exploitation of the natural order can be easily absorbed.

GLOBAL WARMING FROM CARBON DIOXIDE
"A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. ... A number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity."

DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
SHORT: "The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty."
LONGER:
[there is] depletion of natural resources. We all know that it is not possible to sustain the present level of consumption in developed countries and wealthier sectors of society, where the habit of wasting and discarding has reached unprecedented levels. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty. Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life . . .

THE RAMPANT INDIVIDUALISM OF THE POSTMODERN WORLD IS DESTROYING US
SHORT: "Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain."
MUCH LONGER:
Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now.

We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

Our difficulty in taking up this challenge seriously has much to do with an ethical and cultural decline which has accompanied the deterioration of the environment. Men and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification. We see this in the crisis of family and social ties and the difficulties of recognizing "the other" [JIN: Muslims, LGBTQIA]. Parents can be prone to impulsive and wasteful consumption, which then affects their children who find it increasingly difficult to acquire a home of their own and build a family. Furthermore, our inability to think seriously about future generations is linked to our inability to broaden the scope of our present interests [JIN: beyond Self] and to give consideration to those who remain excluded from development. Let us not only keep the poor of the future in mind, but also today’s poor,

THE CLIMATE IS OUR "COMMONS"
SHORT: "The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all."
LONGER:
The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life. A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon.

WE ARE FAMILY
SHORT: "We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family."
LONGER: We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide . . .

SHORT: "We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."
LONGER:
We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment.

THE BREAKDOWN OF THE ENVIRONMENT IS A BREAKDOWN OF HUMAN SOCIETY
"We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental."

THE DIGITAL MEDIA
SHORT: "When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload."
LONGER:
... when media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. ... Real relationships with others ... now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim . . . thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today’s media ... shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. ... alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.

A LIFE OF SELFISHNESS
SHORT:"What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?"
LONGER:
It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars, albeit under the guise of noble claims. War always does grave harm to the environment and to the cultural riches of peoples, risks which are magnified when one considers nuclear arms and biological weapons. ... powerful financial interests prove most resistant to this effort, and political planning tends to lack breadth of vision. What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?

RICH VS POOR NATIONS
The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them.

JIN: This encyclical does not address the failure of modern religion to teach man humility before something bigger then he is. This failure is the foundation of our arrogance.
Why can't we do better? For centuries since Medieval times, the church has not seemed concerned with the inherent failings of man.
--end
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Rev 9May2017a.m.