To my discredit, I’ve been something of an armchair environmentalist. I trifle with recycling and composting. Yet, I’ve mostly lived as if the grim effects of global warming would impact my children’s children, not me. I’ll be long gone when the worst of it hits.
Except, it looks like I may not be. The United Nations recently released a disturbing report on the threats—coming in the next twenty years—of climate change. Its findings are so dire and its call-to-action so dramatic that readers might be tempted to dismiss them or despair over them. Neither is an option for people of faith who have such powerful resources, theological and spiritual, for responding.
But first that report. Scientists from around the world on the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) argue that it is still possible to keep global temperature within a manageable range, but it will be very difficult.
The U.S. has actually reduced its greenhouse emissions over the last decade while the world’s emissionshave increased. Yet, the U.S. remains the second-largest emitter (after China) and produces more than twice as much as the third-largest (India).
In south Louisiana, we, painfully, know the cost of climate change—sea level rise and stronger hurricanes.
And there’s a justice component. Failure will lead to droughts and floods and fires that will harm food production, increase migration, and hurt the poor and vulnerable most of all.
One temptation is to reject the science. But Catholicism is about truth, no matter its source. Catholicism, like any good scientist, has revised its positions in light of scientific evidence to the contrary. We no longer reject evolution or locate ourselves at the center of the universe.
Yet, there is more to Catholicism than thought—scientific, biblical, or theological. It also suggests practices for responding to the dramatic actions urged by the IPCC. Catholics are good at abstinence. Lenten fasting is, in part, practice at saying “No” when the stakes are lower so that we can do so when they become higher.
And then there’s the Eucharist. The Third Eucharistic Prayer depicts all creation as singing God’s praise. The simple fruits of the earth and vine are means of the most intimate encounter with the Incarnate One. As part of the Sacrament of the Sick, the Eucharist was traditionally called “Viaticum,” literally “provision for the journey.” This term illuminates the Eucharist as a source of nourishment and strength along the way. Only with such divine support can we make the changes required.
Catholics today are achingly aware of human finitude. Yet, hope is a key Catholic virtue—hope not in ourselves but in God who fortifies us against the dismissiveness or despair that the IPCC report can trigger. This hope enacted in lives and laws can help us act for environmental justice not only for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children.[1]
Tom Ryan is Professor in and Director of the Loyola Institute for Ministry.