{"id":146953,"date":"2015-07-05T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T18:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=146953"},"modified":"2015-07-05T00:01:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T18:31:22","slug":"combating-climate-change-can-lankas-religious-top-order-rise-to-a-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/combating-climate-change-can-lankas-religious-top-order-rise-to-a-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Combating Climate Change: Can Lanka\u2019s Religious Top-Order Rise To A Challenge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kumar David<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Prof.<\/a>

Prof. Kumar David<\/p><\/div>\n

Combating Climate Change Needs \u201cBold Cultural Revolution\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The end of June was a week of high theatre. First came <\/span>Pope Francis<\/a>\u2019 passionate petition on behalf of the Earth, our common home, followed by US Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage (the judgement is resonating far beyond American shores) and its decision putting Obamacare beyond challenge. The week was topped off by Obama\u2019s searing rhetoric in Charleston; relaxed eloquence of amazing self-assurance. My subject today is limited to the first of these.<\/span><\/p>\n

If it is not sacrilegious for a hard-boiled Marxist to confess secret admiration of a Pontiff and if buttonholed in a discreet corner of a darkened room, I will own up: \u201cThis Francis is a splendid chap!\u201d About six years ago I watched an hour long interview of Lee Kuan Yew<\/span><\/a> by pre-eminent interlocutor Charlie Rose; the final question was \u201cWhat do you consider the greatest concerns of the Twenty-first Century?\u201d In a flash came the answer: \u201cManaging Sino-American relations and dealing with Climate Change\u201d. If the facts and the science are not new, and if the damage human activity is doing to the planet is now hardly disputed, what is it that a Papal missive can add? Answer: The influence it can bring to bear on global decisions, and secondly its moral dimensions and their consequences; I will deal with both.<\/p>\n

\"Pope\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*Pope Francis arrives in Sri Lanka Jan. 13. Photo courtesy: Alan Holdren \/ CNA.<\/em><\/p>\n

The effects of the Encyclical will be immense if clergy and laity pursue it with commitment and courage; otherwise it will be a damp squib. Its influence is spreading; Protestant pastors and 300 rabbis in the US have declared allegiance to this call for environmental justice. If pressure is sustained, Catholic political leaders will be on notice and businessmen will no longer be able to live in two compartments. Jesus made a slip when he quipped \u201cRender unto Caesar the things which are Caesar\u2019s; and unto God the things that are God\u2019s\u201d (<\/span>Mathew22:21<\/em>). This sensible advice to nurture a balanced dialectic of life has ever since Adam Smith been twisted by capitalism to mean \u2018Go to church on Sunday and mumble your chants; for the rest of the week, exploit, extract surplus-value and worship mammon\u2019. In one scorching section the Pope (not <\/span>Karl Marx<\/a>) equates laissez faire economists to mobsters, drug lords, organ harvesters and human traffickers for whom humanity is just another commodity to exploit.<\/span><\/p>\n

I fear that if the Encyclical threatens power and profit, Pope Francis will not be safe; external forces may conspire with the inside to rid the world of this tumultuous monk. Henry II cried \u201cWill no one rid me of this turbulent priest?\u201d to dispatch Thomas Becket a millennium ago. The habit has caught on. In recent decades, in Catholic country\u2019s, Patrice Lumumba 1961, Salvador Allende 1973 and Benigno Aquino (Ninoy) 1983, leaders who were troublesome to wealth and power, have had their dispatch papers summarily served. If physical removal is out of fashion these days, this intrepid prelate can be gently eased into early retirement, can he not? A big-time American TV media-pig, Rush Limbaugh, has already denounced Francis for his \u201ccommunist way of doing things: Controlling mankind through governments backed by police and military power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laudeto Si<\/strong><\/p>\n

The title of the Encyclical, \u201cLaudeto Si\u201d is taken from a line (Laudato si, mi Signore<\/em> \u2013 Be praised, my Lord) from a beautiful canticle composed by St Francis of Assisi in 1224 in praise of god\u2019s creation; the earth, the sun, nature and what in modern parlance we call the ecosystem. Laudeto Si<\/em>, was more than a year in the making and draws on the best scientific and environmental studies and on scholars and theologians. It is 180 pages long, divided into 246 paragraphs; too long for me to summarise here. Therefore I am giving you a synopsis of a five point overview by Christopher Hale dated 18 June in the Time Magazine website.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Climate change is real, and it\u2019s getting worse.\u00a0\u201cClimate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political, and in the distribution of goods. It is one of the principal challenges facing humanity. If present trends continue, this century may well witness extraordinary climate change and an unprecedented destruction of ecosystems with serious consequences for all of us.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Human activity is a major contributor to climate change though reactionary politicians, mainly in the US dispute it; science says they are wrong. The Pope argues that humans are despoiling the Earth: \u201cWe see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will\u201d.<\/li>\n
  3. Climate change disproportionately affects the poor and its worst impact \u201c(is) felt by developing countries. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by warming, and their means of subsistence are dependent on natural reserves and ecosystem services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry.\u201d Environmental inequality creates an economic phenomenon: Poor countries are financially indebted to rich ones. The Pope calls for policy reversal and payment of a \u201csocial debt to the poor \u2026 because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity.\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. We can and must make things better; the process is not irreversible, we should not lose hope. \u201cHuman beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of good and making a new start\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. Individuals can help, but politicians must lead. While personal responsibility counts, political and structural transformations are essential for lasting change. \u201cEvery effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and new structures of power\u201d. Nothing short of a “bold cultural revolution” can save humanity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Look, I am not making any of this up; go read it yourself; the full text is all over the web. I do admit I was astonished by the mighty sternness of the tone; as CNN said \u201cPope Francis knows how to deliver a stern lecture; on Thursday, he gave one for the ages\u201d.<\/p>\n

    The moral dimension<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The core of a Papal encyclical cannot be science, environmentalism, not even social justice; it has to be its moral dimension. In his message Francis asserts a moral vision shaped in the slums of Buenos Aires which he knows first-hand, but it goes well beyond a demand for justice for the poor. Laudeto Si questions certain values and behaviours of modern society. A few sound bites are better than attempts at restatement in my words.<\/p>\n