Pope’s encyclical highlights moral imperatives on climate

Friday, 19 June 2015, 2:03 pm
Press Release: Generation Zero

Pope’s encyclical highlights moral imperatives for climate action

Friday 19 June 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Youth climate change movement Generation Zero has welcomed Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, released last night New Zealand time, which calls for urgent action to cut carbon pollution in order to protect young and future generations and the world’s poor.

The 184-page encyclical letter, entitled Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home, is a wide-ranging assessment of the moral and spiritual dimensions of the climate crisis.

Generation Zero spokesperson Paul Young says: “Pope Francis has brought a much-needed focus on the moral imperatives for climate action, at a time when several governments including our own are singularly focused on short-term economic cost and political gain.”

“Not only is this chronic short-termism damaging from an economic perspective, the Pope’s message is that it is morally bankrupt. The costs of inaction today will be imposed on young people tomorrow and will fall largely on the world’s poorest.”

“We urge leaders throughout New Zealand to read Pope Francis’ encyclical and reflect on his words.”

The Guardian reports that “Senior Catholic figures in the US and UK have said the Pope’s central message is: what sort of world do we want to leave for future generations?”

The following quotes are excerpts from the encyclical:

“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.”

“Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.”

“Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.”

“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.”

“International negotiations cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries which place their national interests above the global common good. Those who will have to suffer the consequences of what we are trying to hide will not forget this failure of conscience and responsibility.”

ENDS

Pope Francis’ encylical, Laudato Si’: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Coverage from The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/live/2015/jun/18/pope-encyclical-climate-change-live-reaction-analysis#block-5582c4ebe4b073d6e6cb9cac

About Generation Zero

Generation Zero is a nationwide youth-led movement founded in 2011 to advance solutions to climate change and help put New Zealand on track towards a zero carbon future. www.generationzero.org.nz

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