Pope Francis shamed and challenged world leaders on Wednesday to commit to binding targets to slow climate change before it's too late, warning that God's increasingly warming creation is fast reaching a 바카라point of no return바카라.
In an update to his landmark 2015 encyclical on the environment, Francis heightened the alarm about the 바카라irreversible바카라 harm to people and planet already under way and lamented that once again, the world's poor and most vulnerable are paying the highest price.
바카라We are now unable to halt the enormous damage we have caused. We barely have time to prevent even more tragic damage,바카라 Francis warned.
The document, 바카라Praise God바카라, was released on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the pontiff's nature-loving namesake, and was aimed at spurring negotiators to commit to binding climate targets at the next round of UN talks in Dubai.
Using precise scientific data, sharp diplomatic arguments and a sprinkling of theological reasoning, Francis delivered a moral imperative for the world to transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy with measures that that are 바카라efficient, obligatory and readily monitored바카라.
바카라What is being asked of us is nothing other than a certain responsibility for the legacy we will leave behind, once we pass from this world,바카라 he said.
As it is, Francis' 2015 encyclical 바카라Praise Be바카라 was a watershed moment for the Catholic Church, the first time a pope had used one of his most authoritative teaching documents to recast the climate debate in moral terms.
In that text, which has been cited by presidents, patriarchs and premiers and spurred an activist movement in the the church, Francis called for a bold cultural revolution to correct a 바카라structurally perverse바카라 economic system where the rich exploit the poor, turning Earth into an 바카라immense pile of filth바카라.
Even though encyclicals are meant to stand the test of time, Francis said he felt an update to his original was necessary because 바카라our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point바카라.
He excoriated people, including those in the church, who doubt mainstream climate science about heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, sarcastically deflating their arguments and showing his impatience with their profit-at-all-cost mentality.
Shaming them for their reliance on 바카라allegedly solid scientific data바카라, he said the doubters' arguments about potential job losses from a clean energy transition were bunk. And he cited data showing that increased emissions and the corresponding rise in global temperatures have accelerated since the Industrial Revolution, and particularly in the last 50 years.
바카라It is no longer possible to doubt the human 바카라 anthropic' 바카라 origin of climate change,바카라 he asserted.
While acknowledging that 바카라certain apocalyptic diagnoses바카라 may not be grounded, he said inaction is no longer an option. The devastation is already under way, he said, including with some already 바카라irreversible바카라 harm done to biodiversity and species loss that will only snowball unless urgent action is taken now.
바카라Small changes can cause greater ones, unforeseen and perhaps already irreversible, due to factors of inertia," he noted. 바카라This would end up precipitating a cascade of events having a snowball effect. In such cases, it is always too late, since no intervention will be able to halt a process once begun.바카라
The document was unusual for a papal exhortation and read more like a UN scientific report or a speech to a 바카라Fridays for Future바카라 youth climate rally. It carried a sharp, no holds barred tone and its footnotes had far more references to UN climate reports, NASA and Francis' own previous encyclicals than Scripture.
바카라Praise God,바카라 was issued ahead of the next round of UN climate talks which begin on November 30 in Dubai. Just as he did with his 2015 encyclical 바카라Praise Be바카라, which was penned before the start of the Paris climate conference, Francis aimed to cast the issue of global warming in stark moral terms to spur courageous decisions by world leaders.
In the 2015 landmark Paris Agreement, countries of the world agreed to try to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) or at least 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. It's already warmed about 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-1800s.
Francis said that it was clear that the Paris target will be breached and will soon reach 3 degrees Celsius, and that already the effects are obvious, with oceans warming, glaciers melting and the world registering record heat waves and extreme weather events.
바카라Even if we do not reach this point of no return, it is certain that the consequences would be disastrous and precipitous measures would have to be taken, at enormous cost and with grave and intolerable economic and social effects,바카라 he warned.
Since 2015, the world has spewed at least 288 billion metric tons (317 billion US tons) of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air, not including this year's emissions, according to the scientists at Global Carbon Project.
In August 2015, there were 399 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air and in August 2023 it was up to 420 parts per million, a 5 per cent jump.
The record-hot summer of 2023 is one-third of a degree Celsius (six-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) warmer than the summer of 2015, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Antarctica and Greenland have lost more than 2,100 billion metric tons (2,300 billion US tons) of land ice, since the summer of 2015, according to NASA.
And in the United States alone, there have been 152 climate or weather disasters that caused at least USD 1 billion in damage since the pope's first climate message, with costs adjusted for inflation, according to NOAA.
바카라Once and for all, let us put an end to the irresponsible derision that would present this issue as something purely ecological, green,' romantic, frequently subject to ridicule by economic interests,바카라 Francis wrote.
바카라Let us finally admit that it is a human and social problem on any number of levels. For this reason, it calls for involvement on the part of all.바카라
