This is Democracy Now democracy now.org the war and peace report I
mean Goodman with their main chair.
We turn now to the Vatican where Pope Francis has called for swift
action to save the planet from environmental ruin
urging world leaders to hear a quote
the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
Earlier today,
the Vatican published the pope's long awaited encyclical on the
environment and climate change,
Pope.
France has called for a change of lifestyle and rich countries
steeped in a quote
throw away consumer culture
and an end to obstructionist attitudes that sometimes put profit
before the common good.
NASDAQ.
Our house is going to ruin
and that harms everyone had expressed through the poorest
my is therefore an appeal for responsibility,
based on the past,
the guy has given to many crescendo
to and keep the
in which he was placed
I invite everyone to accept with open hearts
stock you know I've which follows the church's social document.
Hope Francis said.
Protecting the planet is a moral and ethical imperative
for believers and nonbelievers alike
that should supersede political and economic interests.
He also dismissed those who argue
that technology will solve all environmental problems in the
global hunger and poverty will be resolved simply by market growth
. A major 3 theme of the encyclical as the disparity between rich
and poor,
he said.
Quote
we fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading
poverty with no way out.
While others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their
possessions
vainly showing off their supposed superiority
and leaving behind them so much waste which
if it were the case,
everywhere
would destroy the planet.
Environmental groups have welcomed the pope's action on climate
change
just settle on a free oil is the executive director of Greenpeace
in Italy
on the globe isn't.
As Greenpeace.
We have already expressed our gratitude to his holiness because we
need to see climate change as a mostly moral and ethical issue
climate change is already happening
and its effects have already been disastrous on the poorest
countries
and the poorest people who don't have the means to defend
themselves from it.
There are also part of the human population who,
at the least responsibility for what is happening.
Being that they consume less fossil fuels.
So we are absolutely grateful for this in cyclical
that for us is a source of inspiration.
We're joined now by 2 guests Naomi Klein is the author of this
changes everything,
capitalism versus the climate.
She's been invited to speak at the Vatican,
where she will speak at the people and planet first the imperative
to change course conference
she's joining us by Democracy Now video stream
from Canada
and here in New York.
Nathan Schneider joins us columnist in America magazine a national
Catholic weekly magazine published by the Cheshire.
Thank you both
Naomi let's begin with you
respond to the Pope's encyclical
on climate change and the environment.
Yes,
you know.
Good morning.
Iranian and
and
before I you know I would really like to
express my deep deep sadness and outrage
at The Hague crime
in Charleston.
This is
a grief-stricken warning there were having this conversation.
And it was an attack on a religious institution,
which is also worth bearing
as well as an attack
on an African Americans.
I
you know I think that this you know in the quicker we cannot
overstate the importance of it,
the impact that it will have.
It's hard to respond to a document that runs a close to 200 pages
. When it was just released,
you know I'm right forum
few hours ago
where are still
dangerous
to hear
anybody
is
very clear.
A
door has just been opened and
and
I've got strong wind
is blowing through
where it
is now possible to
to
say some very powerful truth about that the real implications
of climate change,
it really the root causes.
And I think a lot of
discussion about and
cyclical
in the US media cycle
has
focused and will continue to focus
on the impact on Republican,
and
while it's not heroes,
many of whom are Catholic,
and it is certainly
a challenge
to that demographic.
In the United States because the pope is coming out so clearly
on the side of climate science and saying this is real,
and this is happening,
but I think it's too easy to say that this is just a challenge
to
Rick Santorum.
But
frankly,
it is also a challenge to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
large part of the green movement
because
it is a rebuke of a slow action
very specifically
says that
climate denial is not just about denying the science is also about
denying the urgency of the science.
The document is
very strong into journey
delays half measures
so-called market solutions it very
specifically criticizes
carbon markets a carbon offsetting
an inadequate
measure that will encourage speculation and rapid consumption
everything.
Probably the most significant parliament
that the picture
is the foreign grounding
of
the culture
of frenetic
consumption
in the wealthy world among the wealthy,
and this is a really significant because I think large parts
of the climate change discussion
trial they have it all ways and say no,
we just will just have a green growth.
Well just how
well it will consume green products
and
you know this goes a lot deeper than that and says no.
We need to get at the
underlying there are used
there are
feeling this cultural frenetic conception that is entirely
unsustainable.
Now like you mentioned the fact that the pope calls repeatedly in
the encyclical for radical change,
I want to ask you about a specific
citation from the leaked document
that period earlier this week,
he said.
And in a corrupt
culture
we can't believe that laws will be enough to change behaviors
that affect the environment,
could you talk specifically about that about the laws that he may
be referring to there.
Well,
I think that
when he referring to corruption
and I believe he referring to the influence of
polling companies and multinational corporations which we also put
out
the encyclical
and I think this is one of the most significant thing about the
darkness.
One might expect
of a religious talking about climate change
you erased
difference right say
we're,
we're all in this together
and certainly a possibility.
Earth has our common home
but it also recognizes
explicitly the power dynamics
in
capitalism,
which is to say that there are forces witnesses
and they're
actively working against
change
and
and that is probably well he's referring to when he's talking
about
how there may be lots that the laws are enforced.
And you know I do you know the laws are also inadequate,
which is also addressed
in the in the dark
and it has a very specific
calls for
know I'm not aware of all the environmental law.
I wish to pay the darkness.
I haven't been able to look at,
look at
you know closely enough
and another thing I have to say if you know I am.
You know I
have accepted and this invitation to
seek a confidence
which
is a
do you more deeply into the darkness.
Because
there is an understanding that it does take time to digest a
document
at this
this multi-layered
and it
requires
that kind of deeper
and I think that this intervention
5 months ahead of the UN climate
conference in Paris
is tremendously significant,
it's going to push political leaders
should go further.
It's gonna be a tool for social movements,
a lot of the language of the kind of justice movement has just
been adopted by the pope and you you know phrases like ecological
debt.
The pub is talking about the death
well world owes to the poor.
This is a frightening
that comes,
originally
from Ecuador
from the
against drilling in the Amazon
and you know that he's he's.
This is a phrase that was
you never heard in mainstream circles.
Until
now,
just now actually,
I mean,
I've never seen such a mainstream
use of that term.
So it is very important
in that way,
but I mean I have to say on a personal level,
that
as as thrilled as I am
that the,
that that that the Vatican is leading in this way,
you know this pope is leading this way
and bringing together the fight against poverty with
the fight
on climate change.
That doesn't mean
there's a
complete merger between the crime and justice movement in the
Vatican,
you know,
I mean obviously there are huge differences that remain over
issues
like
is quality
a reproductive rights and freedom
to name just a few.
Nathan Schneider your columnist
with the Catholic weekly America
you've been covering Catholic engagement with climate change.
Talk about the scope of this,
I mean just for people to understand what this encyclical is the
number of languages.
It's been released and how large it is
and what it means for the Catholic community.
Well,
this is really the first 3rd world and cyclical
you know this is coming from a pope
who was shaped
in really significant ways by economic crisis during the Cold War
in Argentina
and
being in the middle of a battleground between
between the first and second world powers
it was drafted by
a cardinal from Ghana,
so this is coming from
the side of the world that we don't normally hear from
and
it's
very much in line with things that popes have been saying
for decades.
You know,
going back to Paul.
The 6th and John Polis second
Benedict,
the 16th,
so a lot of
the content is actually not so new for Catholics
but the emphasis and that
that
that that
that the language of climate debt
the language is the recognition that there is a
a divide here between the rich countries in the poor
and this is a cry
from
the developing world from
what has been
labeled the 3rd world
for change.
We're gonna break and when we come back,
we'll hear
the words of Cardinal
Peter Turks and himself of Ghana.
We urge you to stay with us.