Big week in the US for climate diplomacy when the Pope visits

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t’s a huge week coming up for climate diplomacy, centring around New York and Washington DC.

We’ll start in DC, where Pope Francis will address US lawmakers on September 24 and warn what could be a hostile audience they need to open their eyes to global warming.

Many Republicans were left deeply unimpressed by the Pontiff’s encyclical on the environment this June, with its pointed critique of capitalism and what he suggested was a lack of compassion from rich countries.

Read the RTTC story - “Pope primed for US Congress climate warning”.

Pope urges us to be ecological citizens - but how?

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ope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment has attracted plenty of attention since it was published last week, and indeed it caused a significant stir even before it was released to the public.

Those familiar with the current teachings of the Catholic Church on environmental matters and the statements of Pope Francis in this area were able to anticipate much of the content of Laudato Si'.

But one aspect of the encyclical has so far gone largely unnoticed, and it has the potential to influence environmental behaviour around the world, particularly among those who might resist calls for environmental action couched in religious terms.

Read the piece by on The Conversation by the Lecturer in Politics at University of Adelaide, Benito Cao - “Pope Francis wants us to be ‘ecological citizens’, but how?”

Young activists, climate change and carbon bombs

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iuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez was six when he gave his first speech about climate change.

“I wanted to go to all the factories with my brother and shut them down. And when I turned six, I found out that it was us that were supporting the factories. We’re the ones fuelling the destruction of our environment with our money.”

Now he is 14, Roske-Martinez, indigenous environmental eco hip-hop artist and activist running the environmental organisation Earth Guardians. He raps, he lectures and when he has the time, he speaks at the UN.

Read the full Guardian story - “Pope's encyclical, young activists of climate campaign and carbonbombs”.

Pope sets the stage and others ponder whether or not they should walk on

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s translated bits of the draft of a major Vatican document on the environment seeped out Wednesday, figures from the Dalai Lama to presidential hopeful Jeb Bush were already debating whether and how to follow the pope’s call for humans to reframe their relationship with “our sister, Mother Earth.’ ”

Politicians, environmental activists and theologians across the spectrum were busy highlighting various aspects of the draft, which was leaked Monday to the anger of the Vatican. The official version of the document, called an encyclical, was to be made public 6 a.m. ET Thursday. The Vatican said that the draft was inaccurate in places.

Some environmentalists were thrilled by the draft’s dramatic framing of climate change as the moral issue of the day, one that reflects a human race blinded by consumerism and individualism, a Northern Hemisphere divorced from its other, needier half.

Read Michelle Boorstein and Chris Mooney’s Washington Post story - “On the eve of its release, Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate change is already stirringcontroversy”.

Understanding the question is as important as giving the correct answer

Beneath the Wisteria supporter Dave Glover frequently turns our attention to the exponential growth of the world’s population, our voracious use of the world’s finite supplies of oil and lately his focus has been on the shrinking artic ice shelf.



The melting artic ice shelf.

Dave, for all his seriousness does like a joke, particularly when that joke has a punch line that is relevant to anyone considering their response to climate change.

We really need to understand the questions before were proffer an answer.

This joke sent in by Dave about the drunk and the  priest illustrates through metaphor why we should clearly understand the question before leaping in with an answer.

What causes arthritis?

A drunk man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick,

And a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.   

He opened his newspaper and began reading.

After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say Father, what causes arthritis?"  The priest replies, "My Son, it's caused by loose living and being with cheap, wicked women.

Too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of hygiene and a bath."

The drunk muttered in response, "Well, I'll be darned, then returned to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologised. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

The drunk man answered.  "I don't have it, Father, I was just reading here that the Pope does."

MORAL:   Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer.