His Holiness Pope Francis Our moral imperative to act on climate change Italian
Translator: Elena Montrasio
Reviewer: Bruno Giussani
[His Holiness Pope Francis
Filmed in Vatican City
First shown at TED Countdown
Global Launch, October 2020]
Hello!
We are living during a historic moment,
marked by difficult challenges,
as we all know.
The world is shaken by the crisis
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,
which highlights
another global challenge:
the socio-environmental crisis.
And this requires us, all of us,
to face a choice.
The choice between what matters,
and what doesn’t.
The choice between continuing to ignore
the suffering of the poorest
and to abuse our common home,
our planet,
or engaging at every level
to transform the way we act.
Science tells us, every day,
with more precision,
that urgent action is needed –
and I am not dramatizing,
this is what science says –
if we are to keep the hope of avoiding
radical and catastrophic climate change.
And for this we must act now.
This is a scientific fact.
Our conscience tells us
that we cannot remain indifferent
to the suffering of those in need,
to the growing economic inequalities
and social injustices.
And that the economy itself cannot
be limited to production and distribution.
It must also consider
its impacts on both the environment
and on the dignity of people.
We could say that the economy
should be creative
in itself and in its methods,
in the way it acts.
Creativity.
I would like to invite you
to go on a journey together.
A journey of transformation and of action.
Made not so much of words,
but rather of concrete
and pressing actions.
I am calling it a journey because
it requires a shift, a change.
From this crisis none of us
must come out the same –
we cannot come out the same:
from a crisis, we never
come out the same –
and it will take time,
and hard work, to overcome it.
We will have to take it
one step at a time;
help the weak; persuade those in doubt;
imagine new solutions;
and commit to carry them out.
Our goal is clear:
to build, within the next decade,
a world where we can meet the needs
of the present generations,
including everyone,
without compromising the possibilities
of future generations.
I would like to invite
all people of faith,
Christian or not,
and all people of good will,
to embark on this journey,
starting from your own faith,
or if you do not have a faith,
from your own intention,
from your own goodwill.
Each one of us, as individuals,
or members of a group –
families, communities of faith,
businesses, associations, institutions –
can make a substantial contribution.
Five years ago I wrote
the encyclical letter “Laudato Si’,”
dedicated to the care of our common home.
It proposes the concept
of “integral ecology,”
to respond together
to the cry of the Earth,
as well as to the cry of the poor.
Integral ecology is an invitation
to an integral vision on life,
starting from the conviction
that everything in the world is connected
and that, as the pandemic
made sure to remind us,
we are interdependent on each other,
as well as on our Mother Earth.
From such a vision stems the need
to find new ways
of defining progress and measuring it,
without limiting ourselves
to the economic,
technological, financial
and gross-product aspects,
but rather, giving central relevance
to its ethical, social
and educational dimensions.
I would like to propose today
three courses of action.
As I wrote in “Laudato Si’,”
the change and the right orientation
for our journey of integral ecology
require first that we all take
an educational step.
So, my first suggestion
is to promote, at every level,
an education geared towards
the care of our common home,
developing the understanding
that environmental problems
are linked to human needs.
We must understand this
from the beginning:
environmental problems
are tied to human needs.
An education based on scientific data
and on an ethical approach.
This is important: both of them.
I am encouraged by the fact
that many young people
already show a new ecological
and social awareness,
and many of them fight generously
for the defense of the environment
and for justice.
As a second proposal, we must focus
on water and nutrition.
Access to safe and drinkable water
is an essential and universal human right.
It is essential
because it determines
the survival of people
and therefore is a condition
for the exercise of all other
rights and responsibilities.
Providing adequate nutrition for all,
through non-destructive farming methods,
should become the main purpose
of the entire cycle of food
production and distribution.
The third suggestion
is about energy transition:
a gradual replacement, but without delay,
of fossil fuels with clean energy sources.
We only have a few years.
Scientists estimate approximately
less than 30 –
we have a few years, less than 30 –
to drastically reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
into the atmosphere.
Not only must this transition be quick
and capable of meeting
present and future energy needs,
it also must be attentive
to the impact on the poor,
on local populations,
as well as on those who work
in the energy production sectors.
One way to encourage this change
is to lead businesses
towards the urgent need
to commit themselves to the integral care
of our common home,
excluding from investments
those companies that do not meet
the parameters of integral ecology,
while rewarding those
that work concretely,
during this transitional phase,
to put, at the center of their activities,
sustainability,
social justice
and the promotion of the common good.
Many organizations,
Catholic and of other faiths,
have already taken on the responsibility
to act in this direction.
In fact, the Earth must be
worked and nursed,
cultivated and protected.
We cannot continue
to squeeze it like an orange.
And we can say that this –
taking care of the Earth –
is a human right.
These three proposals
must be considered
as part of a larger group of actions
that we must carry out
in an integrated way
in order to find a lasting solution
to these problems.
The current economic system
is unsustainable.
We are faced with the moral imperative,
and the practical urgency,
to rethink many things:
the way we produce; the way we consume;
our culture of waste;
our short-term vision;
the exploitation of the poor
and our indifference towards them;
the growing inequalities
and our dependence
on harmful energy sources.
We need to think about
all these challenges.
Integral ecology suggests a new conception
of the relationship between
us humans and Nature.
This leads to a new economy,
where the production of wealth
is directed to the integral well-being
of the human being
and to the improvement –
not the destruction –
of our common home.
It also implies a renewed politics,
conceived as one
of the highest forms of charity.
Yes,
love is interpersonal,
but love is also political.
It involves all peoples
and it involves Nature.
I invite therefore all of you
to embark on this journey,
that I proposed in “Laudato Si’”
and also in my new encyclical
“Fratelli Tutti.”
As the term Countdown suggests,
we must act with urgency.
Each one of us can play a valuable role,
if we all begin our journey today –
not tomorrow – today.
Because the future is built today,
and it is not built in isolation,
but rather in community and in harmony.
Thank you.