Pope Criticizes Global Warming Prophets
The Daily Mail reports that Pope Benedict has “has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.”
His remarks “will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks” the Daily Mail explains.
Pope Benedict also believes that “fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.”
Sure, concerns about global warming are based on reason, and science, but some alarmists greatly overdo it, the leader of approximately one billion believers says. “Efforts to protect the environment should seek ‘agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances’,” according to the Pope.
In the message entitled “The Human Family, A Community of Peace” the Pope says:
Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow. It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.
If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.
Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken.
It’s difficult to argue with anything the Pope says. He’s right. Global warming is a serious issue, and we must deal with it, but some groups are greatly overdoing it, one, and two, they’re proposed solutions sometimes cause more harm than good. What’s more, sometimes ’solutions’ aren’t solutions at all.
Just think about the ludicrous ’solution’ of some people - I linked to this a couple of days ago - to let new parents pay $5000 for every new born child as a penalty, basically, and $800 annually after that in carbon taxes.
More at:
Blue Crab Boulevard: “The fact is, as I have documented over and over again on this site, that more environmental damage is being done right now than is tolerable. Rainforests burned, orangutans slaughtered, humans put into virtual serfdom by western global warming zealots. I think the Pope just threw a monkey wrench in Al Gores little money-making machine.”
The Democratic Daily: “The wingnuts are having a heyday over that one.”
Don Surber: “One does not have to be a Catholic to appreciate his grace and poise. That which we do not know about this Earth still outweighs that which we know.”
Hot Air: “Your exit question: What’s motivating this? Is the Pope really a righteous skeptic? Or, per what the Mail has to say about his warning not to privilege the lives of animals over humans, is he trying to head off the green fundies at the pass?”
Oliver Willis: “It is times like this that I’m glad that I’m not tied in to any of these official churches and their inevitably flawed human leadership. My Life, The Universe And Everything is tied in to my own Deity.”
This is the best encapsulation of the argument of why Al Gore’s brand of AGW rhetoric (and the solutions he endorses) should not have earned him a Nobel Peace Prize. Not only is it a stretch to tie his initiatives to world peace, it’s actually counterproductive to that cause because his advocacy of carbon cap and trade policies harm developing countries in their quest for energy resources.
One probably should read the actual notes and not what the Daily Mail reports that he will say… For those who doesn’t want to read it all, skip to point 7 and 8. His message and what the Daily Mail reports that his message will be differs a lot…Obviously the truth has a liberal bias.
I fully agree that seeking balance in our response is as important as matching the severity of our situation with a a broad, fact-based movement. It also seems as if Hot Air and BCB sound as unimaginative as always.
No, under no circumstances will I have the happiness of human beings set aside, but at the same time I will never accept the notion that we can sacrifice entire species just because we are so durn important. I want the middle-ground while there still is one, and I don’t think the pope is helping much.
I mean, Sweden and many other European countries are progressing nicely while the US is hesitating to the point of childishness. I mean, when are people going to realize that their wasteful lifestyle has direct connections to worsening weather that will ruin the lives of third-world citizens?
The pope also says that gay people marrying causes international conflict. So I have "shenanigans" on speed-dial the instant he opens his mouth.
I think Adam has this right. The Mail was engaging in Catholic-bashing here. The Pope’s comments are very moderate. But, hey, what the good of being a confirmed bigot if you don’t get to flex the old anti-papist line?
I thought the Daily Mail was anti-everything.
Yeah, the Catholic Church has a great record on acceptance of science.
And Tech has a similarly great record on acceptance of religion as a province that is separate from science.
And actually, Tech, if your statement is read without sarcasm, it’s quite true. The Catholic theologians have presented an admirable body of work which reconciles science and reason with our faith.