Environment

From Staying Connected:

More than two million deaths worldwide occur on a yearly basis due to human-caused changes in air composition, according to a recent Working Group report commissioned by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The world’s “bottom 3 billion” – those too poor to withstand the dangers of industrialization – face particular threats to water and food security.

This dangerous geological epoch that we are living in, characterized by human exploitation of fossil fuels and natural resources, has been given the name “Anthropocene” by Nobel Laurete Paul Crutzen.

The 1,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere each year have led to rapidly shrinking glaciers. Their disintegration threatens local communities near the Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain region of Tibet, as well as others who depend on mountain water. Humans have made changes to the climate resulting in losses of forests, coral reefs, and wetlands, which cause food and water shortages for vulnerable persons. The Working Group is committed to making sure that all people “receive their daily bread” as well as fresh air and clean water.

Protecting the environment is an issue of peace and justice, as its devastation is deadly to the human race. To address this issue the Working Group has made the following recommendations:


I. Immediately reduce carbon dioxide emissions to meet international global warning targets. Nations should transition to renewable energy sources, stop deforestation and develop technology to take excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

II. Slow down climate change this century by decreasing the amount of air pollutants (including dark soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons) by half. This will prevent millions of deaths caused by respiratory disease and millions of tons of crop damages each year.

III. Make a plan to deal with chronic and abrupt climatic changes that society cannot mitigate.


The Working Group advocates for climate policy that stabilizes greenhouse gas emissions to stop dangerous human interference with the climate and ensure that food production is not threatened. The group says policies relating to air pollution and climate change should be made in conjunction. In addition to efforts to mitigate environmental destruction, the Working Group calls for a plan to assess and adapt to damage that has already been done.

“We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home. By acting now, in the spirit of common but differentiated responsibility, we accept our duty to one another and to the stewardship of a planet blessed with the gift of life,” the Working Group states in its report.

The 15-page report, entitled “Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene” was put together by a group of glaciologists, climate scientists, physicists, meteorologists, hydrologists, mountaineers and lawyers whose meeting was organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican from April 2-4, 2011.  It serves as both a warning and a call to action and can be found online at http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/05/Pontifical-Academy-of Sciences_Glacier_Report_050511_final.pdf.


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