October 15, 2015
While Pope Francis discussed many issues during
his September visit to the United States, ranging from abortion to war,
the issue he raised most consistently was mankind’s responsibility for
global warming.
In speeches at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the
United Nations, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Francis said
governments had dual obligations to act to protect the environment while
improving conditions for the world’s poor.
Francis repeated the plea he made in his papal
encyclical “Laudato Si” for governments to prevent harms to future
generations from the use of fossil fuels in the pursuit of profits. He
praised President Barack Obama for his actions to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions and urged Congress and the United Nations to do more.
In his speech before the United Nations, Francis said “a
true ‘right of the environment’ does exist” and argued Earth’s climate
is threatened by “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material
prosperity.”
‘Gets the Science Wrong’
Responding to the pope’s message, Craig Idso,
chairman of the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Climate
Change, says the pontiff’s concern about human-caused climate change is
misplaced and his call to reduce the use of fossil fuels and give
governments more control over the world economy will only exacerbate the
plight of the world’s poor.
“The pope simply gets the science wrong,” said Idso.
“The biosphere is not rapidly spiraling downward toward planetary
Armageddon.
“None of the computer models upon which predictions of
disastrous human-caused climate change are based predicted the current
plateau in global temperature that has continued for nearly two decades
now,” Idso said. “In addition, contrary to claims of
global-warming-caused crop failures, the recent increase in carbon
dioxide has been a boon for staple crops.”
Carbon dioxide is the major building block of nearly all life, Idso says.
Idso’s research shows when plants are exposed to higher
concentrations of carbon dioxide, “they produce greater amounts of
biomass, become more efficient in using water, and are better able to
cope with environmental stresses.”
Environmental Harm from Renewables
James Rust, a retired nuclear engineer with Georgia
Tech University, says Pope Francis’ push for the expanded use of
renewable energy sources actually harms the environment.
“Renewable energy sources require vast land areas in
order to produce significant amounts of energy, usually requiring the
destruction of millions of square miles of forest land that cleans our
air and water and helps cool the planet,” Rust said.
Commenting on Francis’ dual support for the poor and
Obama’s climate policies, Heartland Institute Senior Fellow Peter
Ferrara said, “Pope Francis leaves America to long-term stagnation and
decline based on the anti-growth overregulation of Obama’s
[Environmental Protection Agency], which Francis supported.
“The pope claims to want to help the most vulnerable—the
poor, blacks, Hispanics, and working people and their families,”
Ferrara said. “Yet President Obama’s policies harm these people the
most. How Francis can praise these policies is inexplicable.”
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. (hsburnett@heartland.org) is a research fellow with The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News.
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