Pope speaks forcefully on climate change and the environment

In his message for the World Day of peace he writes…“If you want to cultivate peace, take care of creation” – a deliberate play on Paul VI’s famous injunction, “If you want peace, work for justice.” Benedict pope called for “a profound and farsighted revision of the model of development,” based not only on the needs of today’s “living beings, human and non-human,” but those of generations to come. At the level of specific policy measures, Benedict XVI advocated:

• A new mode of calculating the cost of economic activity, which would factor in environmental impact;
• Greater investment in solar energy and other forms of energy with a reduced environmental footprint;
• Strategies of rural development concentrated on small-scale farmers and their families;
• Progressive disarmament, including “a world free of nuclear weapons.”

While saying that primary responsibility for taking action must fall to wealthy industrialized nations, Benedict pointedly added that less developed nations “cannot be exonerated from their own responsibility.” Exactly how much less developed nations should be expected to curb emissions, and to take other steps potentially limiting their economic growth, has been a major sticking point at the Copenhagen summit.Pope speaks on climate change

Full story