 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
March
5, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 5Oakland,
CA
Church’s
social teaching
backs up advocacy on climate change
 |
Workers stream out of the TXU Monticello Steam
Electric Station power plant near Mount Pleasant, Texas. TXU Corp.
plans to scrap the construction of several new coal-fired power
plants, an action seen as an important step in the battle against
global warming because such plants emit greenhouse gases. In a Feb.
20 statement, the Catholic bishops of Texas urged moral guidelines
for expanding energy resources in the state. |
WASHINGTON
(CNS) -- Climate change is an issue that not only has appeal to Catholics,
but is one for which Catholics have a lot to back them up when they make
their pitches to Congress, regulatory agencies or their counterparts at
the state level for action on the issue.
Dan Misleh, head of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, said there
are several “Catholic assets” Catholics can call upon when
pushing lawmakers or regulators for effective climate-change containment
policies.
Among them are the Church’s size and scope. In the United States,
there are 19,000 parishes, 195 dioceses and 63 million members, and organizations
such as Catholic Charities USA, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development,
the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Relief Services. And there
is the universal Church with its emphasis on serving those in need.
Misleh, speaking Feb. 13 at the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in
Washington, also cited a “Gospel tradition” of discipleship
and stewardship, and more than a century of social teaching, including
the U.S. bishops’ 2001 statement, “Global Climate Change:
A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good.”
There is also the “human interest” in climate change, Misleh
said, noting that “there are actually houses that are crumbling”
in Alaska as a result of the permafrost melting. He also pointed to an
increase in the number and severity of large-scale weather events and
the “mass migration” that results from them -- including 400,000
displaced from the New Orleans area and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast
after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina -- as well as vector-borne illnesses.
“Malaria is on the increase where malaria had never been before,”
Misleh said.
Environmentalists point out that President George W. Bush reneged on a
2000 campaign pledge to reduce power-plant emissions, and in 2001 withdrew
from the Kyoto Protocol that would have committed signatory nations to
reducing greenhouse gases to 6 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012.
The U.S. was a signatory but the treaty has never been ratified by the
U.S. Senate.
But federal officials recently called the polar bear a threatened species,
noting its habitat was being reduced because of the effects of climate
change.
In Canada, the House of Commons passed a bill Feb. 14 that gives the federal
government 60 days to detail the measures Canada would take to meet its
Kyoto obligations. The Canadian Senate was expected to follow the House
of Commons’ lead on the bill. Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions
are 27 percent above 1990 levels.
And Stephane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party, Canada’s main opposition
party, had been the nation’s environmental minister before the Conservatives
took power last year. Dion has a dog named Kyoto, but greenhouse gases
in Canada were not cut during his tenure. It is unclear whether, should
Dion become prime minister after some future election, he would use federal
power or work through private groups to achieve his environmental aims.
While the U.S. federal government has been accused of dragging its feet
on the issue of climate change, most states have taken initiatives --
some in tandem with other nearby states -- to reduce greenhouse gases
and promote alternative fuel sources. The United States accounts for 25
percent of the world’s emissions.
Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions at the Pew Center on
Global Climate change, took note of a 10-state compact by New York, New
Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the six New England states to cut greenhouse
gases 10 percent by 2019.
“It’s a potential model for national policy,” Greenwald
said, since it allows states to both cap emissions levels and trade unused
emissions to other states in the compact who need more time to meet their
caps.
Other states are taking matters into their own hands, according to Greenwald.
Illinois wants a 6 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2010. New Mexico
aims to reach 2000 greenhouse gas levels by 2010, and cut that amount
10 percent by 2020.
California is waging a legal battle against automakers to maintain its
right to set vehicle greenhouse gas emission levels. If California prevails,
“one-third of our vehicles will be affected,” Greenwald said.
In renewable energy, 23 states and the District of Columbia have set goals
for renewable energy, topped by Maine’s goal of 30 percent. Moreover,
“more than half the states have climate action plans. Some have
more teeth than others,” Greenwald said. “Everybody’s
worried about something,” she added, whether it’s water availability
in the Southwest, warming in the North or hurricanes in the Southeast.
“There are also a lot of businesses and corporations that are on
the right side of the issue,” Greenwald said.
Jeremy Symons, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s
Global Climate Change Initiative, said a significant shift in public attitudes
has taken place on the subject. Even a 2003 poll among the federation’s
members had climate change ranked sixth. Today, Symons said, “it’s
by far the top issue.”
