on the environment -- Part 1

An integral ecology includes taking time to reflect on our lifestyle and our ideals

Pope Francis is calling for an “ecological conversion” for the faithful in his sweeping new encyclical on the environment. The Pope warns of harming birds and industrial waste and calls for renewable fuel subsidies and energy efficiency. Here are some of the key passages people will read closely, everything from climate change and global warming to abortion and population control. (1) Climate change has grave implications. “Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever,” he writes.

(2) Rich countries are destroying poor ones, and the earth is getting warmer. “The warming caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming.”