- Pope Francis gave Trump a copy of his encyclical on global environmental protection during the president’s visit to Europe in May. A week later Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
- While the majority of U.S. Catholics voted for Trump, and polled less favorably toward the pope after publication of Laudato Si, his bold plea to save the earth continues to energize leaders of all faiths.
- Examples abound: in May, 55 “emerging faith leaders” from 17 countries met in Brazil to identify realistic renewable energy and sustainability projects for their nations. Also in May, nine large Catholic organizations from around the globe announced divestment from coal, oil and gas stocks.
- Hindu spiritual leaders are urging the jettisoning of coal for alternative energy, and reducing pollution around temples. Morocco committed to converting 15,000 mosques to renewable energy by 2019. Jordan spiritual leaders have committed to going solar. Change could be faster, many agree, but it is ongoing.
Pope Francis greets First Lady Melania Trump with a smile. The pope and the U.S. president are worlds apart on climate change, with the pontiff seeing it as a looming threat to civilization and especially to the world’s poor, while Trump has called global warming “a hoax” and pulled out of the Paris Agreement. White House photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States license.
A week later, Trump announced plans to yank the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, whose prologue was influenced by the principles embodied in Laudato Si. In doing so, Trump repudiated 195 nations’ pledges to reduce their carbon footprint to mitigate the worst effects of climate change; he repudiated Pope Francis and his encyclical as well.
Two years after the release of Laudato Si — and long after its intense global attention has faded — it’s worth asking: is the uncompromising and unprecedented Catholic teaching document fulfilling Vatican expectations by uniting leaders of all faiths, along with their billions of congregants, to take decisive climate action “in care for our common home”?
The answer is a qualified, “yes” — based on evidence from interviews with a range of faith leaders, recent conferences, signed pledges and a host a concrete actions, large and small, in congregations and seminaries around the world.
Ghana Cardinal Peter Turkson, the church’s guiding force behind the writing of Laudato Si, On Care for Our Common Home. This picture was taken on the day the document was released. Photo by Justin Catanoso
“There is an assumption that if religious leaders let the pope talk about [environmental protection], it will usher in rapid, large-scale change,” said Fletcher Harper, executive director of GreenFaith, a U.S-based interfaith environmental activism organization with an international reach.
“That’s magical thinking. It’s not how the world works. What matters is discipline in determining long-term work by faith groups. It’s not happening as fast as I’d like it to, but it’s underway,” he said.
Harper offered up his own organization as an example of incremental progress. GreenFaith conducted a training session in Brazil in May with 55 “emerging faith leaders” from 17 countries. The goal: promote environmental awareness and identify realistic renewable energy and sustainability projects that can be achieved in each country. But harvesting the fruits of the seeds planted at that international meeting will take considerable energy and time.
Push and pull among Catholics
Nana Firman, co-founder of the Global Muslim Climate Network: “We were discussing how to bring our position to the forefront. Then the pope released Laudato Si [in June 2015] and we were, like, perfect! It stimulated and inspired us. Two months later, we released the Muslamic Declaration on Climate Change.” Since then, she stressed, “a lot has been going on, even if it hasn’t received much media attention.” Photo courtesy of the Global Muslim Climate Network
“We were discussing how to bring our position to the forefront. Then the pope released Laudato Si [in June 2015] and we were, like, perfect! It stimulated and inspired us,” Firman said. “Two months later, we released the Muslamic Declaration on Climate Change.”Since then, she stressed, “a lot has been going on, even if it hasn’t received much media attention.”
“We are launching a campaign of clean-energy mosques in the Middle East and North Africa,” she said. “The government of Morocco committed to transforming its 15,000 mosques around the country to renewable energy by 2019. Jordan has the same commitment to transform to solar energy.”
Firman described hardware (projects) and software (Muslim leaders) that are being mobilized to help the poor and those most vulnerable to climate change. She spoke of joining the battle to fight rampant deforestation in Indonesia, and of the need to take action in low-lying Bangladesh, which is threatened by sea-level rise. More challenges await in drought-prone sub-Saharan Africa, she acknowledged.
“We are training imams as environmental scholars to speak from the pulpit to the community and to the public,” she said. “When people come to the mosque, they see solar panels and they learn about why they are important. All of this is connected to our faith. We are stewards upon this earth.”
Faith and the pace of change
For all the anecdotal evidence of progress, an undertone of impatience resonates in the faith-based community, just as it does among environmental leaders. Carbon emissions are still increasing; the Earth experiences record temperatures year after year; sea-level rise and extreme weather are the norm.
Almost everywhere, the scale of investment and the pace of social change trails the quickening march of climate change.
In the United States, dozens of seminaries — mostly Protestant — are integrating environmental education into their theological training. A younger and bigger generation of clergy is being urged to ramp up the urgency in their parishes for local and governmental climate action.
But the hope and promise of Laudato Si could remain beyond human reach without even more aggressive and engaged faith leaders mobilizing the billions they represent in all corners of the globe to pressure their governmental leaders and to act on their own.
“My students are excited and they want to take this on, but the challenges are so big,” said Tim Van Meter, an associate professor of ecology and justice at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. “People are just tired. It seems inevitable that we will drive ourselves to collapse.”
Then, in an instant, Van Meter shook off that gloomy perspective: “One of the core understandings of what it means to be a person of faith is that you can’t give in to despair. You have to live out of hope. As tired as we might get, I know we are working toward a greater good. And we will continue in this work.”
Originally published on Mongabay.