David Quinn
A ‘Green Pledge’ could be an important step forward, writes David Quinn
What should the Church itself do about climate change? Some parishes now have climate change committees and various religious orders have long had a strong commitment to preserving the environment. Pope Francis has made it a central theme of his pontificate.
The last time concern for the future of the planet was so great was probably in the 1970s. Back then, there were warnings that resources were about to run out, hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation and hundreds of thousands of species would become extinct. Fortunately, none of these predictions came to pass.
Some scientists in the 1970s even warned that the planet was cooling, not heating, and that a new Ice Age might be on the way.
Now we have scientists warning that unless we take drastic action to reduce carbon emissions the planet will continue to heat up causing extreme weather, droughts, rising sea levels, mass extinction and food shortages.
It is hard to defy a scientific consensus. It seems we must believe them.
Industrial revolution
Carbon emissions are, of course, caused by the burning of fossil fuels like coal and gas and oil. Fossil fuels have given us the energy that drove forward the industrial revolution. They have created our prosperity and drastically reduced poverty in countries like China and India over the past few decades alone as they modernise their economies.
But the downside is that the planet is heating up as a result of the CO2 released by the burning of fossil fuels and the consequences are potentially catastrophic.
So, we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The very difficult trick will be to do this quickly without severely damaging the economy.
To return to the first question, what can the Church do, beyond preaching? It is obviously very easy to speak against global warming. It is much harder to do something concrete that will actually make a difference.
One thing parishes (and religious orders) could do is start a climate change version of the Pioneers”
The Government is encouraging us all to insulate our homes, to move to renewable energy and to switch to electric cars. Presently, it offers subsidies to help us. There is also a small carbon tax on fuel, and this is set to increase in the coming budget and then again in subsequent budgets. This will make it even more expensive to heat our homes and drive our cars unless we move to renewable energy.
If parishes are serious about fighting climate change, then they need to think about doing the same thing. As this paper reported a few weeks ago, some are already (literally) putting their money with their mouth is. That is, they have installed renewable heating systems in their churches and improved their insulation.
But even with subsidies, it is an expensive business, running into tens of thousands of euro. Many parishes in poorer areas will never be able to make this transition.
And if it is expensive for churches to reduce their carbon footprint, it is obviously also expensive for individual households to do it, or to switch to electric cars. For the time being, only the affluent can afford to make the switch unless a family is willing to make big financial sacrifices.
Something else parishes may need to look at are overseas pilgrimages. Air travel emits lot of carbon thereby contributing to global warming. Can a parish both preach against climate change and organise several pilgrimages a year that send so much CO2 into the atmosphere? That is a hard square to circle.
One thing parishes (and religious orders) could do is start a climate change version of the Pioneers. The aim of the Pioneers, in common with other temperance organisations was (and is) to reduce alcohol consumption.
The aim of a climate change version would be to encourage Catholics to reduce their carbon emissions. In a way, it would be another temperance movement. This time, we would be moderating behaviour that harms the planet. There could even be a new version of the Pledge.
Those taking the Pledge would consider whether they really need to go on that foreign holiday, or could they holiday in Ireland instead?
They would look at their mobile phone usage. The more powerful a smartphone is, and the more you use it, the more electricity it burns. The burgeoning mobile phone data processing centres use vast amounts of electricity.
Pledgers would commit to using public transport as much as possible.
They would change to renewable energy heating systems and better insulation as soon as they could afford to, and maybe economise in other areas of their lives to let that happen.
The temperance movement of the past is considered now to have been a failure, but actually that is not the case because it had great success in reducing levels of alcohol consumption.
Many who claim to be ‘Green’ are not practicing what they preach”
In fact, in a way the movement became too successful for its own good. It overreached, and in the US introduced Prohibition which lasted throughout the 1920s.
But even after Prohibition was lifted at the end of 1933, alcohol use in America remained at half what it had been before Prohibition resulting in many saved lives. Consumption of alcohol in the US did not reach its pre-Prohibition level until the 1970s.
If an entire society can be persuaded to change the way it consumes something as radically embedded in our culture as drink, perhaps we can also dramatically reduce our carbon footprints?
At present, a great many of those who claim to be ‘Green’ are not practicing what they preach. Clearly, self-professed environmentalists are going to have to lead the way by living Green and showing the rest of us it can be done. The Church can help by launching a new, Green temperance movement aimed squarely at practicing Catholics.