Cardinal Wuerl's Talk on Environment | National Catholic Reporter

Cardinal Wuerl's Talk on Environment | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Any sane environmental paradigm must be homo-centric. The entire earth below the first mile or so of crust does not notice. Pella connot be appeased.  Of course, even ZPG advocates are about resources available in the future, particularly to the poor, but seem to have no imagination redistrubution to them.  The Church does not suffer from that short sightedness.  The first principle is vital because environmental racism is real thing.



The second principle of protecting the natural order is not so important.  In a scientific paradigm featuring evolution rather than creation and a fossil and ice core record that shows the Saharah and Greenland fertile plains at several points in human history and beyond, any recent warming seems just a blip.  Helping our family in need is essential.  Preserving the current status quo is not. Change is not as gradual as the scientists predict and oddly the rich have much more to lose - although they are better able to lose it. This is not Pompei, but it is a situation where a lot of neat stuff owned by rich people will wash away quickly - and guess who is going to come forward asking for a bailiout? I'll trade that bailout for the keys to their nice cars - all of them. Amazingly, the Church is still stuck in a creationist paradigm, believing the first parents myth still is valid (it isn't). while the fundamentalists believe God will do a miracle to stop the flood, which is even siliar and totally unmerited.



The third principle is human ecology for future generations. As I said, stopping tragic change is not desirable because the progress our children deserve, coming in the form of desalination technologhy and advances in individual home hydroponics and perfecting that stem cell burger (currently they are horid because they took bloodless and fat free a bit too far), as well as a decent ability to travel in space, might not happen without some drought or flood.  The thing we develop in climate change may save us in a nuclear or biological war. We might also use these events to buy out the capitalists or fund He3 fusion, which makes the Koch family fortune a much smaller thing consisting of a controlling interest in Georgia Pacific (and a later reference to an ever young cartoon named Beevis).  If carbon taxes fund alternatives, the rich suffer - make them. If other taxes eventually fund buying out the rich (not over global warming but on general principle), all the better, since once they realize their green paper cannot be recyled, they can put it in bags to trade for food.



The global warming issue will not bring the Millenials back to Church.  Democratizing the leadership might - as in we select, not Rome - and I mean we very broadly. What most will is having kids - and if the Church fights for an adequate child tax credit for each kid paid with wages, that might be attractive.  Especially if we do that habitat stuff I mention above so that population pressure is no longer a thing.



The conclusion of MSW's piece is interesting, as the worry seems to be some of the bishops singing out of the Ayn Rand hymnal instead (or at least the Burke hymnal). Lets hope that this issue is like immigration, no explicit right wind dissent (although sticking to a creation line is still archaic in an evolutionary world).