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CARITAS-CLIMATE Oct-15-2009 (590 words) With photo. xxxi
Climate change requires ethical solutions, says Caritas
By Sarah Delaney
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Climate change and its devastating effects on the world's poorest countries can be mitigated only with an ethical approach based on solidarity and justice for all, Caritas Internationalis warned.
"The answer to climate change lies in the hands of humanity -- in a revived sense of solidarity and a realization that we all have a duty to work toward the common good," said Lesley-Anne Knight, secretary-general of Caritas, in the introduction to a major report titled "Climate Justice, Seeking a Global Ethic."
Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella organization of Catholic charities around the world, is focusing on the ethical, moral and theological aspects of climate change because "scientific and economic arguments are important, but they are not enough," the report said.
The report was released Oct. 12 with a view toward the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, scheduled for December.
Effective responses to the problems wrought by an unpredictable climate must include changes in individual and community behavior, the report said. Solutions "must respect the integrity of creation and offer special assistance to the poor and vulnerable, who suffer disproportionately the effects of climate change," it said.
While climate change affects the whole planet, it exacerbates the poverty that persists in developing countries, and is one of the principal causes of the increase in humanitarian emergencies, the report said.
Knight said that it is only fair that industrialized, wealthy nations bear "the lion's share" of the economic and technological burden in dealing with the problem, since they are largely responsible for producing the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming.
"It is a structural injustice that those who have contributed least to the problem of climate change, because they live in less developed and less industrialized regions, are the first to feel the effects," the report said.
Because of their "significant wealth, technological sophistication and entrepreneurial creativity," developed countries must not only make greater efforts to find solutions and advocate more sustainable lifestyles, but they must show poorer countries how to develop in environmentally healthy ways, it said.
Hard-won improvements in poor countries' economies will be at risk if their development is not sustainable, the report said. The migration of desperate people who must leave their countries because of drought or because borders are erased by rising waters is a problem that governments will have to face, it added.
Christians must keep in mind the creation story as told in the Book of Genesis, and remember that people have the "God-given responsibility to care for creation." But they must be practical as well as ethical in their actions to find solutions "compatible with common sense and appropriate to the context," it said.
The document said that the excesses that have marked the recent past in the developed world must be curbed and replaced with a sense of limited resources.
But, Knight said, "the idea of accepting a reduced standard of living is not, however, going to be a vote-winner for governments. It will take courageous leaders to promote a culture of lower consumption. And they will need the support of the people."
A Caritas survey conducted in developing countries showed that 90 percent of respondents said that they had experienced significant changes in weather and 95 percent reported changes in rainfall quantities.
Caritas Internationalis, which represents 162 national Catholic charities, is working to mitigate the effects of climate change on many levels, including trying to effect policy changes through education and awareness campaigns that urge the reduction of carbon footprints and promote resource conservation.
END
Copyright (c) 2009 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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