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There is no greater threat to life, both human and non-human, than global climate change. As I have argued before, advocacy on behalf of discrete human populations, such as the unborn or the elderly, will prove futile if there is no habitable planet on which those people can live and on which all living creatures depend to live. Such an uncritical defense is like being “pro-fish” by pulling them out of a lake in which a predator has threatened their survival only to dump them on the shore, leaving them suffocated and dying in an environment that is unable to sustain its life.
While the outgoing Trump administration has shown nothing but disdain for human and non-human life other than its own, the incoming Biden administration offers us a small hint of pro-life hope when it comes to climate change, that Catholics should support and celebrate. .
The stark contrast between the two approaches to governance is seen in numerous areas, including the opposing views each administration has of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The Trump administration provided the required written notice with one year of its intent. to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, an action that took effect on November 4, 2020, the day after the presidential elections. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to rejoin the agreement on his first day as president.
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres recently stated in an interview that given the disproportionate power and impact of the United States, humanity’s survival would be “impossible” without American participation and leadership in the global effort against change. climate. In addition, the United States is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, further underscoring its international responsibility to shape alternative policies and practices to reduce carbon emissions.
One of the most promising signs of the Biden administration’s seriousness in resuming America’s global leadership role has been the announcement of former Secretary of State John Kerry as a “special presidential envoy for climate,” which is a newly created position. at the cabinet level which also includes a place on the president’s important National Security Council. The election of Kerry, who is, like Biden, also a Roman Catholic, reflects the incoming administration’s prioritization of the existential threat that climate change poses not only to the future of life on this planet, but also to national security risks. that such changes represent in the world. provisional.
While serving as Secretary of State to President Barack Obama, Kerry helped negotiate the Paris Agreement. Since his departure from public office in 2016, Kerry has worked to organize a national and international bipartisan coalition called “World War Zero” designed to raise awareness of the growing threat of climate change while recruiting experts to help design the best answers.
Unlike the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose elected leadership signaled a continuing desire to push forward a contradictory and partisan culture war agenda in their collective commitment to the Biden administration, Pope Francis, in his congratulatory call to Biden last month emphasized areas of common concern. terrain between the church’s social teaching and the priorities of the Biden administration, including “addressing the climate change crisis.”
Francis, who played an important spiritual and non-governmental role in promoting the Paris Agreement in 2015, issued his influential encyclical letter “Praised, in Care for Our Common Home “the same year. The Pope recently renewed his call on nations to adhere to the Paris Agreement, declaring in September,” We need to do everything in our ability to limit the rise in temperature. global average below the 1.5 ° C threshold enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement, as going further will prove catastrophic, especially for poor communities around the world. “
The incoming Biden administration appears poised to implement many of the policies and practices that align with Francis’ repeated calls for personal and collective “ecological conversion,” as expressed in Praised. With Kerry as the chief American diplomat tasked with overseeing and implementing the administration’s proposed climate plan, I am hopeful that progress will be possible in response to this existential threat, provided climate deniers, anti-intellectual Republicans, and industries of fossil fuels are kept at bay. .
Last week, the economist and journalist Nishan Degnarain wrote a lengthy article in Forbes in which he listed 10 actions the climate envoy can take to win the climate war. The article is well argued and describes both the opportunities and dangers facing the incoming climate envoy.
It got me thinking about the Catholic perspective and the many ways the impending administrative changes align well with the vision outlined in Praised. There are many resonances, but here I want to offer an illustrative set of five key alignments.
Taking science seriously: One of the hallmarks of Praised it is the way in which he frankly and responsibly relies on the best scientific evidence for “what is happening in our common home,” as the first chapter describes it. The Biden administration shares with Francis a commitment to take scientific research and data seriously. Unlike the Trump administration’s open antagonism toward science and the promotion of a dangerous culture of anti-intellectualism, the incoming Biden administration embraces scientific research and experience to formulate policy and respond to crises.
Environmental justice for the poor and marginalized: One of the key themes of Praised it is that of “integral ecology”, which requires a paradigm shift in the way we approach the problems of society and the natural environment, recognizing their inherent relationship and interconnectedness. The climate plan proposed by the Biden administration is titled “Blueprint for a clean energy and environmental justice revolution.” Citing recent atrocities like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, the plan explicitly recognizes how climate change and pollution disproportionately affect poor and minority communities and the need to correct such injustices.
Intergenerational solidarity: Francis draws on the work of his pontifical predecessors when he writes in Praised: “Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.” Anyone who has seen the powerfully symbolic image of then Secretary of State Kerry signing the Paris Agreement on behalf of the United States will recall that he held his 2-year-old granddaughter on his lap, indicating the importance of this global compact as a matter of justice for future generations.
International collaboration: The Biden administration’s plan and Kerry’s appointment mark another resonance with Francis’ repeated call for “dialogue on the environment in the international community.” The outgoing Trump administration has spent four years dislodging the United States from international collaborations, from the Paris Agreement to the World Health Organization, to the detriment of both the United States and the world. Returning the United States to the international stage will strengthen the partnerships necessary to respond to the existential climate threat, as well as other crises that will inevitably arise.
Economy in dialogue for human fulfillment: Finally, in PraisedFrancisco once again emphasized the centrality of the common good as the fundamental principle of governance and international cooperation. He has written that “profit cannot be the only criterion” when making decisions, but that concern for the environment and “the most vulnerable members of society” must be key. The Biden administration has proposed a series of economic and “clean energy” initiatives aimed at maintaining the dialogue between the economy and the environment, striving to connect our coordinated response to climate change with economic justice and growth.
[Daniel P. Horan is the Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where he teaches systematic theology and spirituality. His recent book is Catholicity and Emerging Personhood: A Contemporary Theological Anthropology. Follow him on Twitter @DanHoranOFM, and join him for a free Facebook Live event for a discussion about the column at 11 a.m. CST on the day a new column is published.]
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