Here we are, friends. As promised, Draft 2 of the Realist Catholic Climate Declaration. Draft 1 is at the bottom, with a summary of critiques.

The goal is to have something short, sweet, certain, and Catholic. Short came first for a good reason. This statement is to be in contradistinction to the hyperbolic and inaccurate “U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration“.

We’re much closer now. Please indicate any suggestions or edits in the comments, or use the Contact page to email me.

We need this done lickety-split to counter the curiosities of the Amazon synod. End of this week, I mean.

I rarely ask this, but please share this around today, as widely as you can. There are standard sharing buttons beneath the post. Thanks.

What’s next? The next draft will be the last, then I’ll set something up for grand public participation. Chime in on this, too, below. These kind of declarations are meant to be discussion points. Virtue signaling we are not interested in.

Draft 2

The Magisterium of the Catholic Church has no, and should not have, an official position on the earth’s optimal atmospheric mean temperature, nor on the best rate of change of this temperature. Neither optimum is known to anybody.

The earth’s climate has always changed, is changing now, and will never cease changing. There is no earthly force capable of stopping climate change.

Mankind influences the atmosphere, as does every creature and thing. The extent to which man is responsible for climate change is not known, only surmised.

Extreme caution, even skepticism, is warranted in any statement about global warming given the decades of failed and overreaching forecasts and hyperbole from official and interested sources. Beyond individual prudent stewardship, no Catholic is obligated to support any environmental measure.

There is no evidence any particular global temperature will cause fewer or more souls to descend into Hell. Pray to God and pray for your neighbor, not to the planet.

Draft 1

Too wordy, too specific, not sufficiently Catholic.

The earth’s climate has changed in the past, is changing now, and will ever continue to change. Some of the changes are due to man, some changes are due to other life, and some are due to inanimate forces.

Since man lives on earth, and thus man interacts with the earth, it is impossible for him to not influence the climate.

Therefore, it is impossible to stop the climate from changing, and impossible to eliminate man’s influence.

This being so, it is best to understand how man influences the climate. Scientists have made progress in these investigations, but there is still much to be learned. The predictions of future climate conditions based on this scientific knowledge are as yet poor, which means the extent of man’s influence is not yet perfectly known.

It is important to separate effects on things due to changes in climate and changes in the climate itself. The effect of food production is uncertain even knowing what the climate will be; therefore there must be greater uncertainty about food production given there is uncertainty in the future climate. Keeping these uncertainties separate has been rare, meaning environmental predictions are typically too-certain.

We must therefore be cautious in approaching any environmental prediction of the future because the track record of these predictions has been poor.

There is no scriptural or Magisterial reason to prefer any particular climate over another; and, even stronger, there is no such authority to say man has a duty to stop the climate from changing, which is in any case impossible.

To support this site and its wholly independent host using credit card or PayPal (in any amount) click here

Share this: Facebook

Reddit

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

More

Tumblr

LinkedIn



WhatsApp

Print



