{"id":2289,"date":"2009-12-17T11:04:51","date_gmt":"2009-12-17T15:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2009-12-17T11:04:51","modified_gmt":"2009-12-17T15:04:51","slug":"green-pope-says-environmental-stewardship-is-a-moral-obligation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2009\/12\/17\/green-pope-says-environmental-stewardship-is-a-moral-obligation\/","title":{"rendered":"“Green Pope” says Environmental Stewardship is a Moral Obligation"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was contributed by Piper Corp, ESA Science Policy Analyst.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XVI has received his share of criticism from the scientific community, most recently because of his <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> that condoms increase the risk of HIV transmission.\u00a0 But in his December 15 message for the Catholic Church\u2019s annual World Day of Peace, he gave ecological scientists and environmentalists something to celebrate, presenting environmental stewardship as a moral duty and calling for an international effort to embrace a more environmentally sustainable way of life:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The environment must be seen as God\u2019s gift to all people, and the use we make of it entails a shared responsibility for all humanity, especially the poor and future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The theme of this year\u2019s celebration \u201cIf You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation\u201d speaks to the connection between ecological health and social justice, a matter of particular importance when, according to Benedict, \u201clarge numbers of people in different countries and areas of our planet are experiencing increased hardship because of the negligence or refusal of many others to exercise responsible stewardship over the environment.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Sustainable living was first positioned as a moral imperative by Pope John Paul II in the 1990s. Pope Benedict has been dubbed by some as \u201cThe Green Pope\u201d by furthering this theme. In 2008, he named \u201cpolluting the environment\u201d one of seven new sins now requiring repentance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0The Vatican recently outfitted its buildings with solar panels and is working to build Europe\u2019s largest solar power plant. When the plant goes online in 2014, the Vatican will be the world\u2019s first solar powered sovereign state (admittedly, its tiny size and population place it at something of an advantage). The country is already the first to go carbon-neutral-thanks to a donation from an eco-restoration firm, its emissions are offset by trees planted in a Hungarian national park.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0In his World Day of Peace message, Benedict underscored the humanitarian aspects of current environmental problems, asking:<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions? Can we disregard the growing phenomenon of \u201cenvironmental refugees\u201d, people who are forced by the degradation of their natural habitat to forsake it \u2013 and often their possessions as well \u2013 in order to face the dangers and uncertainties of forced displacement? Can we remain impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources? All these are issues with a profound impact on the exercise of human rights, such as the right to life, food, health and development.<\/span><\/p>\n

With more than a billion members, the Catholic Church has tremendous influence around the globe. As a champion of environmental stewardship and international cooperation, the Pope could be central in broadening support for sustainability, particularly as world leaders struggle to reach a climate agreement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The full text of the message is available <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was contributed by Piper Corp, ESA Science Policy Analyst.\u00a0 Pope Benedict XVI has received his share of criticism from the scientific community, most recently because of his statement that condoms increase the risk of HIV transmission.\u00a0 But in his December 15 message for the Catholic Church\u2019s annual World Day of Peace, he gave ecological scientists and environmentalists something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[424,425,426,296],"class_list":["post-2289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecology-and-society","tag-environmental-stewardship","tag-green-pope","tag-religious-leader","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}