Pope Francis delivers a blessing to an empty St. Peter's Square on April 13. Vatican Pool / Vatican Media / Vatican Pool via Getty Images
"We have sinned against the earth," Pope Francis said in a forceful Earth Day message Wednesday that reinforced the religious leader's commitment to environmental action.
<p>Francis delivered the remarks during his general audience, which he broadcast from his library because of lockdown measures put in place to stop the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, as <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20200422104126-w4mdr" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>. The speech in honor of Earth Day's 50th anniversary comes around two weeks after the pope <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-coronavirus-climate-crisis-2645677364.html" target="_self">suggested in an interview</a> that the pandemic might be part of nature's response to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>In his remarks Wednesday, Francis warned that harming the earth put human life at risk.</p><p>"There is a Spanish saying that is very clear about this," he said. "It goes: 'God always forgives; we humans sometimes forgive, and sometimes not; the earth never forgives.' The earth does not forgive: if we have despoiled the earth, its response will be very ugly."</p>
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<p>First, he praised local and international environmental movements and highlighted youth-led climate strikes. But the pope's message was not only a warning. He also proposed solutions.</p><p>"[S]till it will be necessary for our children to take to the streets to teach us the obvious: we have no future if we destroy the very environment that sustains us," he said.</p><p>He also held up the knowledge of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">indigenous</a> communities as an example of an alternative way of interacting with the planet.</p><p>"They teach us that we cannot heal the earth unless we love and respect it," he said. "They have the wisdom of 'living well,' not in the sense of having a good time, no, but of living in harmony with the earth. They call this harmony 'living well.'"</p><p>He concluded with a call to action both for world leaders and ordinary citizens. He urged leaders to prepare for two major upcoming international conferences: COP15 on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">Biodiversity</a> in Kunming, China and COP26 on Climate Change in Glasgow, United Kingdom, which <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cop26-postponed-coronavirus-2645616746.html" target="_self">has been delayed</a> because of the coronavirus.</p><p>For everyone else, he encouraged joining the environmental movement.</p><p>"It will help if people at all levels of society come together to create a popular movement 'from below,'" he said. "The Earth Day we are celebrating today was itself born in precisely this way. We can each contribute in our own small way."</p><p>Francis' Earth Day remarks build on his efforts to use his office to promote a theology that honors the earth. They come five years after he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-encyclical-urges-swift-action-on-climate-change-ahead-of--1882051686.html" target="_self">published a landmark encyclical</a> on climate change called "<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" target="_blank">Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home</a>," which gave the official Catholic Church seal of approval to the pope's environmental concerns.</p>
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<p>Since then, he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-big-oil-2577109671.html" target="_self">has urged oil executives to lead the clean energy transition</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-synod-of-amazon-2641015876.html" target="_self">spoken out</a> for indigenous people threatened by the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. He also has suggested he would add a definition of "ecological sins" to the Roman Catholic Catechism, Reuters reported.</p><p>In his Earth Day message, the pope revisited key themes from his encyclical of caring for the earth and the most vulnerable.</p><p>"Today we celebrate the fiftieth Earth Day," he began. "This is an occasion for renewing our commitment to love and care for our common home and for the weaker members of our human family. As the tragic coronavirus pandemic has taught us, we can overcome global challenges only by showing solidarity with one another and embracing the most vulnerable in our midst."</p><p>Francis wasn't the only climate leader to offer an Earth Day call to action in the time of coronavirus.</p><p>Swedish climate activist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greta-thunberg" target="_self">Greta Thunberg</a> said the response to the virus that causes COVID-19 showed what could happen when world leaders listened to scientists.</p><p>"Whether we like it or not, the world has changed," she said in a digital conversation Wednesday with Potsdam Institute Director Johan Rockström, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/22/earth-day-greta-thunberg-calls-for-new-path-after-pandemic" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. "It looks completely different now from how it did a few months ago. It may never look the same again. We have to choose a new way forward."</p>
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<p>UN Secretary-General <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/antonio-guterres" target="_self">António Guterres</a>, meanwhile, used the occasion to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-earth-day-coronavirus-climate-crisis-2645802263.html" target="_self">endorse</a> a green recovery from the economic toll exacted by the pandemic.</p><p>"On this Earth Day, please join me in demanding a healthy and resilient future for people and planet alike," he said.</p>
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Pope Francis delivers his homily on April 9, 2020 behind closed doors at St. Peter's basilica in the Vatican. ALESSANDRO DI MEO / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
Pope Francis spoke about the novel coronavirus, suggesting that the global pandemic might be one of nature's responses to the man-made climate crisis.
<p>In an interview published Wednesday in The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines, the leader of the Roman Catholic church said the world should take stock of what damage the rate of production and consumption has caused to the natural world, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>"There is an expression in Spanish: 'God always forgives, we forgive sometimes, but nature never forgives,'" the pope said in an interview published Wednesday in <a href="https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/17845/pope-francis-says-pandemic-can-be-a-place-of-conversion-" target="_blank">The Tablet</a>, a United Kingdom-based Catholic weekly, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The pontiff's answers came in response to a question about whether the global pandemic might lead to ecological conversion, where people lead more environmentally conscious lives with the understanding that the natural world is part of God's creation, according to <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a>.</p><p>"We did not respond to the partial catastrophes. Who now speaks of the fires in Australia, or remembers that 18 months ago a boat could cross the North Pole because the glaciers had all melted? Who speaks now of the floods?" the pope said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "I don't know if these are the revenge of nature, but they are certainly nature's responses."</p><p>"This is the time to take the decisive step, to move from using and misusing nature to contemplating it," he added, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/pope-says-coronavirus-could-be-a-reaction-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The Vatican closed Saint Peter's Square and Basilica to the public in early March as the outbreak's effects became more pronounced throughout Italy, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/491734-pope-says-coronavirus-outbreak-may-be-one-of-natures-responses-to" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. The Vatican has reported seven confirmed cases of the virus in its ranks.</p><p>On Palm Sunday, the pope celebrated mass in an empty church.</p><p>The pope, 83, said in the interview that the "Curia is trying to carry on its work, and to live normally," using shifts to avoid crowding.</p><p>Pope Francis has been tested twice for coronavirus. As an elderly man, with a damaged lung from an infection in his 20s and recovering from bronchitis, he is particularly vulnerable to the most severe symptoms associated with COVID-19. Therefore, he is taking particular precaution, according to The Vatican press office. He eats his meals in private, keeps a distance from anyone who might be carrying the virus, and uses hand sanitizer before and after meeting any guests, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>In the interview, Pope Francis addressed what he sees from world leaders. He denounced "the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons," as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/491734-pope-says-coronavirus-outbreak-may-be-one-of-natures-responses-to" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>In particular, he highlighted the callous way the homeless were treated in Las Vegas.</p><p>"A photo appeared the other day of a parking lot in Las Vegas where they [the homeless] had been put in quarantine. And the hotels were empty. But the homeless cannot go to a hotel," the Pope said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/europe/pope-francis-coronavirus-nature-response-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. "This is the moment to see the poor," he said, adding that society often treats those in need as "rescued animals."</p>
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Pope Francis celebrates an opening Mass for the Amazon synod, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019. Massimo Valicchia / NurPhoto / Getty Images
Pope Francis, in an effort to reignite his influence as a global environmental leader, released an impassioned document Feb. 12 entitled Dear Amazon — a response to the historic Vatican meeting last autumn regarding the fate of the Amazon biome and its indigenous people.
<p>In a 94-page "<a href="https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/02/12/200212c.html" target="_blank">exhortation</a>," Francis argued for the ecological importance of Amazonia — the world's largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest — describing the ecosystem services the biome provides, the region's greatly beneficial weather, and the climate change mitigation the forest offers via carbon storage. The pope stressed that those best suited to protect the Amazon are the indigenous people who have lived there since time immemorial.<em></em></p>
<p>The document comes as the Amazon faces "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/world/americas/amazon-rainforest.html" target="_blank">deforestation at breakneck rates</a>," driven by illegal logging, mining, ranching and agribusiness in <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/record-levels-of-deforestation-in-peruvian-amazon-as-gold-mines-spreads/" target="_blank">Peru</a>, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/disaster-strikes-in-bolivia-as-fires-devastate-unique-forests/" target="_blank">Bolivia</a>, <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/for-colombia-2019-was-a-year-of-environmental-discontent/" target="_blank">Colombia</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/deforestation-in-brazil-continues-torrid-pace-into-2020/" target="_blank">Brazil</a>, a nation that has also seen a sharp <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/murders-of-indigenous-leaders-in-brazil-amazon-hit-highest-level-in-two-decades/" target="_blank">spike in killings</a> of indigenous activists.</p><p><em>Dear Amazon</em> isn't only addressed to Catholics, but "to all persons of good will." It sums up the findings of a three-week Vatican synod, a formal meeting held last October that brought together for the first-time hundreds of Catholic bishops, indigenous leaders and environmental activists from nine South American countries with territory in the Amazon. Francis' post-synod response is organized into four "dreams:" societal, cultural, ecclesial and ecological.</p><p>His plea in defense of the rainforest is at once scientific, humanistic, political, and spiritual: "If the care of people and the care of ecosystems are inseparable, this becomes especially important in places where the forest is not a resource to be exploited; it is a being, or various beings, with which we have to relate," Francis writes in the ecological section. "When indigenous peoples remain on their land, they themselves care for it best, provided they do not let themselves be taken in by the siren song and self-serving proposals of power groups."</p>
<p>Francis joins with Amazon scientists and activists in their alarm. Rapidly escalating deforestation in the biome is already <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/bolsonaros-brazil-unlikely-to-achieve-paris-agreement-goals-experts/" target="_blank">threatening the key goal</a> of the 2015 Paris Agreement — keeping the world from overshooting a 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) rise since the preindustrial era. The Paris accord specifically cites the carbon-sink-and-sequestration capacity, and vital importance, of large, intact forests as a reliable way to slow global warming.</p><p>Top scientists are already warning that climate change and deforestation could be causing the Amazon to cross a critical rainforest-to-savanna <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/the-tipping-point-is-here-it-is-now-top-amazon-scientists-warn/" target="_blank">tipping point</a>, at which time the biome could begin <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/impending-amazon-tipping-point-puts-biome-and-world-at-risk-scientists-warn/" target="_blank">releasing vast sums of stored carbon</a>, pushing the world toward climate catastrophe.</p><p>That warning comes as Brazil, which includes much of the Amazon basin, has been beset by <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/as-2019-amazon-fires-die-down-brazilian-deforestation-roars-ahead/" target="_blank">wildfires</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/bolsonaros-brazil-2019-brings-death-by-1000-cuts-to-amazon-part-one/" target="_blank">aggressive land grabbing</a>. The Brazilian Amazon lost 3,475 square miles of forest — seven times the size of New York City — in 2019, a staggering 85 percent increase over 2018.</p><p><span></span>But as <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/02/12/whats-pope-francis-apostolic-exhortation-amazon-synod" target="_blank">reported</a> in the Jesuit magazine <em>America, </em>"Pope Francis' words will certainly not please Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro who, on the eve of the exhortation's publication, sent a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/bolsonaro-sends-congress-bill-to-open-indigenous-lands-to-mining-fossil-fuels/" target="_blank">proposed law</a> to the Brazilian Congress that would permit mining activities within the reserves of indigenous peoples, including the Amazon region, without the people's consent."</p>
Defending Nature — Again
<p><em>Dear Amazon</em> stands as an emphatic complement to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/top-vatican-official-climate-change-action-is-a-moral-imperative/" target="_blank"><em>Laudato Si, On Care for Our Common Home</em></a>, a papal encyclical released in June 2015 with the express purpose of spurring a positive outcome to the United Nations negotiations that resulted in the landmark Paris Agreement that December. An encyclical is a Catholic teaching document of the highest order, possessing "moral authority."</p><p><em>Laudato Si</em> established Francis on the world stage as an ecumenical leader and advocate for environmental protection. He bluntly blamed human activity for global warming and castigated rampant consumerism and unbridled capitalism as hastening the destruction of the earth.</p><p>Myriad faith communities around the globe were inspired to organize and act on the pope's urgings. However, the controversial manifesto met with <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/08/popes-environmental-encyclical-arrives-in-peru-to-mixed-reviews/" target="_blank">mixed reviews</a> in Latin America where some see conservation as a hindrance to economic growth and the relief of the poor in developing nations. Vatican officials have since touted climate action as a "<a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/top-vatican-official-climate-change-action-is-a-moral-imperative/" target="_blank">moral imperative</a>."</p><p>The message of<em> Dear Amazon</em> seems even more urgent than the 2015 encyclical<em>, </em>coming in response to the rapidly worsening Amazon emergency: "We are water, air, earth and life of the environment created by God," Francis writes. "For this reason, we demand an end to the mistreatment and destruction of mother Earth. The land has blood, and it is bleeding; the multinationals have cut the veins of our mother Earth."</p><p><em>Laudauto Si </em>was released when the progressive pope was at the height of global popularity, and it was heralded and cited for months by international media. But the urgent call of <em>Dear Amazon</em> has so far been largely ignored. Mainstream media accounts in the past week instead focused almost exclusively on Francis' decision to not allow the marriage of priests serving in the Amazon as a way of boosting their dramatically diminished numbers.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/world/europe/pope-married-priests.html?searchResultPosition=1" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> — which like other accounts stressed the Catholic church's progressive and conservative political divide — went so far as to report that "his closest advisers have acknowledged that the pope's impact has waned on the global stage, especially on core issues like immigration and the environment."</p>People of Faith Respond
<p>Francis won't likely be standing down without a fight. He calls on Latin American governments to enforce their environmental protection laws, return land rights to indigenous peoples, and recognize that Amazonian rainforests are more than an economic resource to be monetized for "extraction, energy, timber and other industries that destroy and pollute."</p><p>"The equilibrium of our planet depends on the health of the Amazon region," Francis writes. "Together with the biome of the Congo and Borneo, it contains a dazzling diversity of woodlands on which rain cycles, climate balance and a great variety of living beings also depend."</p><p>Faith leaders contacted by Mongabay looked past Vatican politics and cheered the pope's message in <em>Dear Amazon, </em>saying that it is invigorating their conservation work and strategies.</p><p>"Protecting rainforests is fundamentally an ethical issue, where care for creation and the realization of social justice for indigenous peoples and forest communities are part of one moral fabric," said Joe Corcoran, the UN project manager for the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/interfaith-leaders-step-up-to-protect-the-worlds-sacred-rainforests/" target="_blank">Interfaith Rainforest Initiative</a> (IRI), an NGO which lobbies for governmental climate action in six rainforest countries.</p><p>"Through IRI, we are seeing that not only is the leadership of Pope Francis rallying Catholics to act, but [it is] also inspiring religious leaders from other faiths to protect rainforests around the world," Corcoran said.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc3NTY1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTM4NjI4M30.Y5pTtZz6P7myoTw2aH0NakqmBCrEZKzMsVPXFs7xkG0/img.jpg?width=980" id="fb23d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="762322d8e30b479449d744a68ac6644e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/pope-makes-impassioned-plea-to-save-the-amazon-will-the-world-listen/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Seeing the Amazon gravely at risk, the Vatican has called on governments and the people of the world to protect the world's largest remaining rainforest. Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay
<p>Laura Vargas leads IRI's <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/cop25-laura-vargas-inspires-with-power-of-faith-in-defense-of-forests/" target="_blank">initiatives in Peru</a>: "I believe <em>Dear Amazon</em> marks a turning point for the whole life of the church in the Amazon and beyond its borders. If we believe everything is interconnected, we realize that what happens to the largest tropical forest in the world affects the entire planet."</p><p>Meanwhile, at London-based Christian Aid, a global environmental activism organization, spokesman Joe Ware said, "The pope remains one of the most popular and loved pope's with significant influence not just over one billion Catholics, but of many others, too."</p><p>Ware stressed that 2020 is a crucial year, the year the Paris Agreement <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/" target="_blank">goes into force</a>. The agreement remains dangerously <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/cop25-self-serving-g20-spites-youth-humanity-world-at-climate-talks/" target="_blank">incomplete</a> as leaders of the industrialized world continue dragging their feet to establish aggressive carbon emission-reduction policies, even as time runs short to dramatically begin decarbonizing the global economy — the UN itself <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/" target="_blank">warned</a> in 2018 that the world's nations have just 12 years to act to avoid climate catastrophe.</p><p>"It's vital," Ware said, "that we have the voice of the Catholic Church and people of faith around the world pushing political leaders this year to make the boldest decisions possible."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Pope Affirms Catholic Church’s Duty to Indigenous Amazonians Hurt by Climate Change
18 October 2019
Climate
Pope Francis flanked by representatives of the Amazon Rainforest's ethnic groups and catholic prelates march in procession during the opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region at The Vatican on Oct. 07 in Vatican City, Vatican. Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis News / Getty Images
The Catholic Church "hears the cry" of the Amazon and its peoples. That's the message Pope Francis hopes to send at the Synod of the Amazon, a three-week meeting at the Vatican that ends Oct. 27.
<p><a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-10/amazon-synod-briefing-synthesis.html" target="_blank">Images from Rome</a> show tribal leaders in traditional feather headdresses alongside Vatican officials in their regalia. They are gathered with hundreds of bishops, priests, religious sisters and missionaries to discuss the pastoral, cultural and ecological struggles of the Amazon.</p><p>The densely forested region spans nine South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Its more than <a href="http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/basins/amazon/index.stm" target="_blank">23 million</a> inhabitants include <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/amazonsynod2019" target="_blank">3 million indigenous people</a>.</p><p>The Amazon meeting is part of Pope Francis's efforts to build a "<a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/october/documents/papa-francesco_20151017_50-anniversario-sinodo.html" target="_blank">Church which listens</a>." Since <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-succession-bergoglio/argentinas-pope-a-modest-man-focused-on-the-poor-idUSBRE92C15X20130313r" target="_blank">taking office in 2013</a>, Francis has revitalized the Catholic Church's practice of "synods" — a Greek word meaning "council" — expanding <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040563917698561" target="_blank">decision-making in the church</a> beyond <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/expect-north-american-church-learn-pan-amazonian-synod" target="_blank">the Vatican bureaucracy</a> to gather input from the entire church, including <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-asks-wide-input-2015-synod-not-based-doctrine" target="_blank">from lay people</a>.</p><p>Voting on synod decisions, however, remains restricted to bishops and some male clergy.</p><p>The Amazon synod is the first such meeting to be organized for a specific <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/amazonsynod2019" target="_blank">ecological region</a>. Media coverage of this event has emphasized its more controversial debates — such as the possibility of <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html" target="_blank">easing celibacy requirements in the rural Amazon</a>, where priests are in extremely short supply.</p><p>But its focus is much broader: listening to the suffering of the Amazon — particularly the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-is-burning-4-essential-reads-on-brazils-vanishing-rainforest-122288" target="_blank">environmental challenges facing the region</a> — and discerning how to respond as a global church.</p>
Amazon in Crisis
<p>After more than a decade of environmental policies that successfully slowed <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_blank">deforestation</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-deforestation-unrecoverable-tipping-point-2639358982.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">in the Amazon</a>, logging and agricultural clearing have begun to increase rapidly again. The fires in the Brazilian rainforest that captured headlines in early September are <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-brazils-rainforests-the-worst-fires-are-likely-still-to-come-122840" target="_blank">symptoms of much broader destruction</a>.</p><p>Up to 17 percent of the Amazon rainforest has already been eliminated — dangerously close to the 20 percent to 40 percent <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-deforestation-and-warming-push-the-amazon-to-a-tipping-point?" target="_blank">tipping point that experts say</a> would lead the entire ecosystem to collapse.</p><p>Stories of deforestation can seem insignificant against the vastness of the Amazon, a region two-thirds the size of the lower 48 United States.</p><p>But for the <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/synod-for-the-amazon/synod-for-the-amazon.html" target="_blank">390 indigenous ethnic groups</a> who inhabit the region, each burned forest grove, polluted stream or flooded dam site may mark the end of a way of life that's survived for thousands of years.</p><p>Deprived of their land, many indigenous Amazonians are forced into an exposed life on the edge of frontier towns, where they are prey to <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html" target="_blank">sex trafficking, slave labor and violence</a>. In Brazil alone, at least <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html" target="_blank">1,119 indigenous people have been killed</a> defending their land since 2003.</p><p>The Catholic Church recognizes that it still has to address the "<a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html" target="_blank">open wound</a>" of its own <a href="https://religionnews.com/2019/09/17/synod-for-the-amazon-about-more-than-married-priests/" target="_blank">role in the colonial-era violence that first terrorized the indigenous peoples</a> of the Americas, according to the synod's working document. The church legitimated the colonial confiscation of lands occupied by indigenous peoples and its missionaries often <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-pope-has-yet-to-overturn-the-churchs-colonial-legacy-39622" target="_blank">suppressed indigenous cultures and religions</a>.</p><p>For this reason, according to the Vatican, organizers of the synod have sought input through <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-amazon-synod-by-the-numbers-11205" target="_blank">260 listening events</a> held in the region that reached nearly 87,000 people over the past two years. Indigenous leaders have been invited as observer participants in the meeting itself.</p>Learning From Indigenous Peoples
<p>As a <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-theological-and-ecological-vision-of-laudato-si-9780567673176/" target="_blank">theologian</a> who studies religious responses to the environmental crisis, I find the pope's effort to learn from the indigenous people of the Amazon noteworthy.</p><p>The Vatican sees that the Amazon's traditional residents know something much of humanity has long forgotten: how to live in ecological harmony with the environment.</p><p>"To the aboriginal communities we owe their thousands of years of care and cultivation of the Amazon," the 58-page <a href="http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en/documents/pan-amazon-synod--the-working-document-for-the-synod-of-bishops.html" target="_blank">synod working document</a> reads. "In their ancestral wisdom they have nurtured the conviction that all of creation is connected, and this deserves our respect and responsibility."</p><p>Pope Francis has expressed his respect for indigenous peoples before.</p><p>At a meeting of indigenous leaders in <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2018/january/documents/papa-francesco_20180119_peru-puertomaldonado-popoliamazzonia.html" target="_blank">Peru in January 2018</a> he said, "Your lives cry out against a style of life that is oblivious to its own real cost. You are a living memory of the mission that God has entrusted to us all: the protection of our common home."</p>Global Problems, Local Solutions
<p>Environmental destruction isn't the synod's only concern.</p><p>Catholicism — long the dominant religion in Latin America — is rapidly losing members to evangelical Protestantism. Evangelicals are projected to eclipse Catholics in Brazil by <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2019/09/03/evangelical-missions-a-major-threat-to-amazon-culture-catholic-leaders-say/" target="_blank">2032</a>.</p><p>One advantage evangelical churches have in Amazonian countries is that they can appoint local indigenous pastors to minister to their communities. Meanwhile, with <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html" target="_blank">less than one priest per 8,000 Catholics</a> in the Amazon, some isolated communities might see a priest only once a year.</p><p>The scarcity of priests in rural Latin America is behind a proposal to the synod to <a href="https://www.axios.com/pope-francis-catholic-church-debates-celibacy-priests-8fb503a2-4d3b-4e00-aa12-f293f2e49d67.html" target="_blank">ordain older married men as priests in isolated Amazonian communities</a>.</p><p>In the the U.S., the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-views-on-priestly-celibacy-changed-in-christian-history-102158" target="_blank">celibacy question</a> is easily mapped onto a <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/editorial-status-quo-wont-save-planet-or-catholic-church" target="_blank">familiar divide</a>. Progressive Catholics argue that clerical celibacy should be optional, while conservative Catholics insist this discipline is fundamental to the faith.</p><p>The issue is far less politicized in the Amazon, where, in the words of one bishop, the Catholic Church remains a "<a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2019/09/03/evangelical-missions-a-major-threat-to-amazon-culture-catholic-leaders-say/" target="_blank">visiting church</a>" with limited day-to-day presence in indigenous communities.</p><p><a href="https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2019/10/04/a-high-noon-moment-for-pope-francis-over-the-amazon" target="_blank">Some</a> might dismiss this synod as just a meeting. But, in my judgment, it is an attempt to apply Francis' vision of a "listening Church" to the environmental crisis. The Synod of the Amazon marks a significant shift from high-minded papal exhortations about taking climate action to a global religious community that gives voice to those living on the front lines of ecological destruction.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Pope Francis Urges World to Act Fast on Climate Emergency Pointing to Increase in Extreme Weather
03 September 2019
Climate
Franco Origlia / Getty Images / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Pope Francis on Sunday — when Hurricane Dorian began pounding the Bahamas with record strength — urged the world to heed calls made by rising youth and indigenous peoples to take swift action to address the climate crisis and thereby ensure "our common future."
<p>"We have caused a climate emergency that gravely threatens nature and life itself, including our own," the pontiff said.</p><p>The pope's plea came in his <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190901_messaggio-giornata-cura-creato.html" target="_blank">message</a> for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, an annual celebration he <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150806_lettera-giornata-cura-creato.html" target="_blank">called for</a> in 2015.</p><p>In the new message, the pope denounced human exploitation of the environment and pointed to increasingly frequent <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" rel="noopener noreferrer">extreme weather</a> and water scarcity as well as "constant pollution, the continued use of fossil fuels, intensive agricultural exploitation, and deforestation [that] are causing global temperatures to rise above safe levels."</p><p>"In this ecological crisis affecting everyone," the pope continued, "we should also feel close to all other men and women of good will, called to promote stewardship of the network of life of which we are part."</p><p>The appeals for action — including ditching <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" rel="noopener noreferrer">fossil fuels</a> — were addressed at individuals and political leaders. He wrote:</p><blockquote>It is also a season to reflect on our lifestyles, and how our daily decisions about food, consumption, transportation, use of water, energy, and many other material goods, can often be thoughtless and harmful. Too many of us act like tyrants with regard to creation. Let us make an effort to change and to adopt more simple and respectful lifestyles! Now is the time to abandon our dependence on fossil fuels and move, quickly and decisively, towards forms of clean energy and a sustainable and circular economy. Let us also learn to listen to indigenous peoples, whose age-old wisdom can teach us how to live in a better relationship with the environment.</blockquote><p>While the pope didn't mention by name the Fridays for Future and School Strike for Climate movement, he made note of the young people "calling for courageous decisions." He said they remind all that Earth is "an inheritance to be handed down" and, in a possible <a href="https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/greta-speeches#greta_speech_jan25_2019s" target="_blank">reference</a> to teen activist Greta Thunberg, said that "hope for tomorrow is not a noble sentiment, but a task calling for concrete actions here and now."</p><p>Addressing political leaders, he said, "Let us say 'no' to consumerist greed and to the illusion of omnipotence, for these are the ways of death." Instead, said Pope Francis, leaders should undertake "farsighted processes involving responsible sacrifices today for the sake of sure prospects for life tomorrow."</p><p>"Let us not give in to the perverse logic of quick profit," he said, "but look instead to our common future!"</p><p>The upcoming U.N. climate action <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/" target="_blank">summit</a> later this month, the pope added, is an opportunity "to respond to the cry of the poor and of our earth."</p><p>The call for decisive action came as Hurricane Dorian unleashed <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/02/it-pure-hell-here-videos-bahamas-show-devastation-left-hurricane-dorian-category-5" target="_blank">devastation</a> on a climate-changed planet.</p><p>"No hurricane in Atlantic history has ever rapidly intensified from a high-end Category 4 to a high-end Category 5," meteorologist Eric Holthaus wrote on Twitter Sunday. "We are in a climate emergency."</p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="4a5b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5O9WUJ1576661523"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1168255509679333377" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">No hurricane in Atlantic history has ever rapidly intensified from a high-end Category 4 to a high-end Category 5.… https://t.co/vhNP6nBJBH</div> — Eric Holthaus (@Eric Holthaus)<a href="https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/statuses/1168255509679333377">1567368793.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>In a Monday morning advisory, the National Hurricane Center <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/02/%20https%3A//www.nhc.noaa.gov/#Dorian" target="_blank">said</a> that Dorian was "sitting over Grand Bahama Island with extremely dangerous winds and surge."<br></p><p>"For Grand Bahama," said disasterologist Samantha Montano, the situation "is about as bad as a hurricane can get."</p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="585b5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6URJXC1576661523"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1168491405125308417" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Hurricane speed is tricky. You want it moving fast enough that it doesn’t just sit on you (think Harvey) but slow e… https://t.co/CSXvmCN6s4</div> — Dr. Samantha Montano (@Dr. Samantha Montano)<a href="https://twitter.com/SamLMontano/statuses/1168491405125308417">1567425035.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Dorian is <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-09-02-hurricane-dorian-labor-day-bahamas-florida-georgia-carolinas" target="_blank">expected</a> to be a threat for several states along the U.S. East Coast as the week continues, and officials in nine Florida counties already <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2019-09-02-hurricane-dorian-florida-impacts-evacuations-cancellations" target="_blank">issued</a> evacuation orders. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina also declared states of emergency as the hurricane approaches.<br></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/02/category-5-dorian-devastates-pope-francis-urges-world-act-fast-climate-emergency" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>
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We are asking Pope Francis to go vegan for Lent to protect the planet | Million Dollar Vegan
Pope Francis is being challenged to go vegan for Lent in exchange for a $1 million donation to a charity or charities of his choice.
The aim of the Million Dollar Vegan campaign—led by 12-year-old activist Genesis Butler of Long Beach, California—is to inspire people to "help fight climate change with diet change," according to a press release for the initiative.
<p>
"Farming and slaughtering animals causes a lot of suffering and is also a leading cause of climate change, deforestation, and species loss," Butler, who went vegan at the age of six, wrote in an open letter to the pontiff. "When we feed animals crops that humans can eat, it is wasteful. And with a growing world population, we cannot afford to be wasteful."
</p><p>
Whether or not he accepts, it's a fitting challenge for Pope Francis, who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-climate-change-2479496671.html" target="_self">called on</a> the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics to join the fight against climate change in his groundbreaking 2015 environmental encyclical,<em> </em><em><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" target="_blank">Laudato Si': On the Care for Our Common Home.</a></em>
</p><p>
"In your encyclical letter, <em>Laudato Si',</em> you stated that every effort to protect and improve our world will involve changes in lifestyle, production, and consumption," Butler wrote. "I agree with all my heart and seek your support in tackling one of the largest underlying causes of the problems we face: animal agriculture."
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-trump-climate-change-2420569489.html" target="_self">You also might recall</a> that in May 2017, His Holiness gave <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">President Trump</a> a copy of his encyclical right as POTUS was considering whether the U.S. should exit from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a>. Francis has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-big-oil-2577109671.html" target="_self">also urged</a> the leaders of big oil companies to lead a clean energy transition.
</p><p>
"We are launching this deliberately bold, audacious campaign to jolt our world leaders from their complacency," Matthew Glover, Million Dollar Vegan CEO of and co-founder of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/veganuary-2019-number-2627643389.html" target="_self">record-breaking Veganuary campaign</a>, said in the press release.
</p><p>
"We are thankful that Pope Francis has spoken out on these issues and that is why we are humbly asking him to try vegan for Lent and set an example of how each of us can align our principles of caring and compassion with our actions," he added.
</p><p>So far, no word from the Vatican as to whether the challenge has been accepted. As for the Pope's current diet, this <a href="https://www.mashed.com/114380/pope-eats/" target="_blank">Mashed</a> article indicates that he already eats quite simply. His meals are prepared with home-grown, seasonal produce, but he also has non-vegan favorites such as classic Neapolitan pizza, alfajores (South American cookies traditionally made with milk, butter, eggs and filled with dulce de leche), and prefers meat over fish.</p><p><span></span>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/pope-francis-ask-pope-francis-to-try-vegan-for-lent" target="_blank">petition</a> for the campaign has already gathered more than 31,000 signatures from around the world since its launch on Wednesday. The effort is backed by celebrity advocates such as Paul McCartney, Moby, Chris Packham, Mena Suvari and Evanna Lynch. The $1 million was donated by the <a href="https://www.bluehorizon.org/" target="_blank">Blue Horizon International Foundation</a>.
</p><p>
A plant-based diet not only saves the lives of countless animals, it can be <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/vegan-diet-health-benefits-2608604362.html" target="_self">good for your health</a> and the planet's health. In a sweeping <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987" target="_blank">study</a>, researchers at the University of Oxford determined that the best way to minimize your environmental impact is to go vegan.
</p><p>
Lent this year runs from March 6 to April 18. If every one of the world's Catholics joined the 40-day vegan challenge, it will be equivalent to the whole of the Philippines not emitting carbon for a year, Dr. Joseph Poore of Oxford University said in the press release.
</p><p>
<span></span>Million Dollar Vegan hopes that more people will forgo meat and animal products for Lent and has a <a href="https://www.milliondollarvegan.com/vegan-starter-kit/" target="_blank">Vegan Starter Kit</a> that is free to download.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e734d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="KW0W1C1549665624"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="871474153651654658" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Watch This 10-Year-Old Explain How Going Vegan Can Save the Planet https://t.co/6NI1kBNZ4c @vegancook101 @TheVeganSociety</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/871474153651654658">1496610604.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Pope Urges Oil Companies to Lead Clean Energy Transition in Unprecedented Vatican Conference
11 June 2018
Energy
Pixabay
Pope Francis urged the leaders of big oil companies to see the light on climate change at a first-of-its kind conference held at the Vatican with oil executives, investors and Vatican experts, The Guardian reported Saturday.
"Civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation," the pope said during remarks at the end of the conference, according to The Guardian.
<p>The current pope, who has emerged as a leader in the fight against climate change following his groundbreaking <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" target="_blank">2015 encyclical,</a> urged the companies to lead the transition towards <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> and away from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a>. </p><p>He said they should strive "to be the core of a group of leaders who envision the global energy transition in a way that will take into account all the peoples of the earth, as well as future generations and all species and ecosystems," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/world/europe/pope-oil-executives-climate-change.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. </p><p>The pope also spoke with a great sense of urgency about the coming crisis. "There is no time to lose," he said, according to The New York Times. </p><p>"Will we turn the corner in time? No one can answer that with certainty," the pope said. "But with each month that passes, the challenge of energy transition becomes more pressing."</p><p>The meeting, held Saturday behind closed doors at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, included big names in the oil industry like the chairman of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/exxon" target="_self">Exxon Mobil</a>, the chief executive of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bp" target="_self">BP</a>, the chief executive of the Italian energy company Eni and representatives of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/shell" target="_blank">Royal Dutch Shell</a>, Norway's Equinor and Mexico's Pemex, according to The New York Times and the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44424572" target="_blank">BBC</a>. </p><p>In recent years, oil companies have switched from outright hostility to climate science to taking action on climate change. Exxon Mobil, for example, who <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-exposed-for-spending-millions-on-climate-change-denial-1882070620.html" target="_self">funded climate denial think tanks</a> between 1998 and 2005 to the tune of $16 million, has since endorsed the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a>. </p><p>But while the pope commended companies for the efforts they are making, he also said those efforts did not go far enough. </p><p>Pope Francis also focused on the social justice aspects of climate change, saying it would harm the poor disproportionately, and that clean energy was essential to bringing people out of poverty without disrupting the climate they depend upon. </p><p>"Our desire to ensure energy for all must not lead to the undesired effect of a spiral of extreme climate changes due to a catastrophic rise in global temperatures, harsher environments and increased levels of poverty," he said, according to The Guardian. </p>
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The Earth could use some climate-change-fighting superheroes right about now. And according to a new comic series by the nonprofit Amplifier, there are a few real-life ones in our midst.
Thirteen of them, actually.
<p style="">On Earth Day, April 22, Amplifier released the comic art series #MyClimateHero, portraying leaders of the modern <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-science">climate justice</a> movement. <a href="https://amplifier.org/" target="_blank">Amplifier</a> is a Seattle-based art design lab that facilitates art aimed at "amplifying the voices of social change," according to its website.</p><p style="">"#MyClimateHero tells the story of modern climate leaders building unprecedented cooperation, driving action and creating space for those most impacted to share their knowledge and perspectives," said Amplifier chief of staff Tamara Power-Drutis.</p><p style="">Comic artists designed the series, which also features interviews and excerpts of the superheroes. Amplifer released all artwork for free download on its <a href="http://amplifier.org/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p><p style="">Here is a look at the series.</p><p style=""><strong>1. Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright</strong></p><p style=""><em>Social and climate justice advocate</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODk1NDc2N30.nzxsMcvkDWYeLF5EOGbwK2S4GWZhBWmigGF6BiO1-s4/img.jpg?width=980" id="6c6d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8fedd901e768a8dbca136ca24229db44" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Jeremy Packer</small></p><p style="">"Leadership in itself must come from frontline communities, which includes Native American, Black, Brown and low-wealth folk," said Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright. "Leaders and everyone in this work understand that it takes a lot of work to better understand the needs of these communities and the need to support them more. … The frontlines are also our First Line of defense in the climate fight, [and] they are and must be the foundation. The Environmental community is also realizing, albeit slowly, the need to establish the nexus between racial justice and the climate struggle, and this is a good thing."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>2. Angel Hsu</strong></p><p style=""><em>Founder and director of <a href="https://datadriven.yale.edu/" target="_blank">Data-Driven Yale</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc1Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTg4OTY2M30.A1QJDeCuzbC11Q2IVI_GUdgYiab9L2ZNjaxIpxVcXhw/img.jpg?width=980" id="e3a99" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3137fa013f0f01061f02cba5643b967f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Pia Guerra</small></p><p style="">"Modern climate heroes are needed now more than ever because climate change is worsening and accelerating," said Angel Hsu. "In my field of work, modern climate heroes are those individuals, companies, organizations and governments who take actions to slow climate change while transparently sharing what it is they are doing. We don't have a good sense, collectively, of how well policies and initiatives designed to tackle climate change are working because there is not enough available data to assess these efforts."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>3. Neil deGrasse Tyson</strong></p><p style=""><em>Director of the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/our-research/hayden-planetarium" target="_blank">Hayden Planetarium</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTMxMjQzMH0.kVDhyhTqLKrbMUMuW1xno7qNwwuNlZG4q-tkBYs7XKU/img.jpg?width=980" id="77586" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0de16aa0ec3bb2a6448fc0f01c57e7fa" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Gan Golan</small></p><p style="">"As a voter, as a citizen, scientific issues will come before you," said Neil deGrasse Tyson in the film <em>Science in America.</em>"And isn't it worth it to say, 'Alright, let me at least become scientifically literate, so that I can think about these issues and act intelligently upon them.' Recognize what science is, and allow it to be what it can and should be: in the service of civilization. It's in our hands."</p><p style=""><strong>4. Adrianna Quintero</strong></p><p style=""><em>Executive Director of <a href="http://www.vocesverdes.org/" target="_blank">Voces Verdes</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODU1MjM4NX0._rTFqRL0NerzvNYyc6gttiEQGkb_5smtK123vqvyK5U/img.jpg?width=980" id="4ad80" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="66126b43245fc5f665c727ba08ea605e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Dan Goldman</small></p><p style="">"An open and inclusive movement with people of all types working together, not because we call ourselves environmentalists, but because we have a shared vision for a healthy environment and a better future for everyone is stronger than any polluter," said Adrianna Quintero. We just need to believe in ourselves and stand strong to fight for what's right. Our future depends on it."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>5. Patricia Espinosa Cantellano</strong></p><p style=""><em>Executive secretary of the <a href="https://unfccc.int/" target="_blank">United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc3My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTEyMjUyM30.E4yaNnNjGsuAKMQqg_pD5046WSEgB1wEcMW21uzSVK0/img.jpg?width=980" id="6b38a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="68b3f2844c595dd4a5698a7beb7f1b5d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Pia Guerra</small></p><p style="">"When it comes to climate change, we need women at the negotiating tables, in boardrooms and as the heads of businesses, in the streets and in the fields," said Patricia Espinosa at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn on November 13, 2017. "After all, we know that gender equality and empowerment of women and girls is key to successfully meet our climate and sustainable development goals. So, it is important that we work together to make sure that women's voices are heard, but furthermore, that women are involved in making the key decisions that will lead to a better tomorrow for all."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>6. Pope Francis</strong></p><p style=""><em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pope-francis">Supreme Pontiff</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTMyNDEwN30.hlLZEITUFBFifBhKaM51SaS0vooIV4pHHUO7BqFjRXQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="bfec0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a58e03638078177052c7ace7dc754f57" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Marty Two BULLS</small></p><p style="">"Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world's poorest," said Pope Francis in the <em>Encyclical Letter Laudato Si' of the Holy Father Francis on the Care for Our Common Home,</em> published June 2015. </p><p style="">"Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded. I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all."</p><p style=""><strong>7. Jane Kleeb</strong></p><p style=""><em>Founder of <a href="http://boldalliance.org/" target="_blank">Bold Alliance</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTMzMzAyOH0.O1ns3qABWp7pBeUmy1K78JoJ29E8k45C6kZOMSvIjgc/img.jpg?width=980" id="4538f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c2069dab8c04da37a95d13c39524cb47" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Dan Goldman</small></p><p style="">"Environmentalists are not only living on the coasts of our country or in big cities. Ranchers, farmers, Native Americans in rural states work every day to protect the land and water for future generations," said Jane Kleeb. "Some people think those of us that live in rural communities are 'backwards,' or don't care about climate change. However, the reality is, if we don't take care of the land and protect the water, we also can't grow crops or raise cattle. Pipelines are threatening not only climate change, but the very way of life in rural and small towns."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>8. The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.</strong></p><p style=""><em>President and CEO of the <a href="http://hiphopcaucus.org/" target="_blank">Hip Hop Caucus</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc4NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjgxMDMzN30.2VM-D1nEVEJ-ON_j1Z385I_he8ZFBCWTnVJ2xC0zoNY/img.jpg?width=980" id="2b9d0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="37996bc0cef3d93e54c7cfbba95ee3c9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Pia Guerra</small></p><p style="">"I also think of all the various efforts within the climate and environmental movement that are meant to broaden and grow the movement in numbers and diversity," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. for HuffPost. "And I think, all those efforts will not be as successful as they should be until there is true recognition of what it means to march for climate as a person of color, and until there are meaningful things put in place to create a multicultural movement that accounts for the different experiences we have even at the same climate march, let alone in the same country, and certainly on the same planet."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>9. Nathaniel Stinnett</strong></p><p style=""><em>Founder and executive director of the <a href="http://www.environmentalvoter.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Voter Project</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc5NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTkxMDI4M30.8zGq5n_32aXOWJvkbOYRbcbYKIU0HNXi7uYg4dG781c/img.jpg?width=980" id="2be6d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85bd7be460e04f3b7c278ad957bc91c0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Valentine De Landro</small></p><p style="">"The environmental movement's biggest enemy is complacency," said Nathaniel Stinnett. "We already know the solutions to most of humanity's great environmental problems (even climate change), but we're not yet implementing those solutions. … Without political leadership, we're never going to address the climate crisis. And we're never going to get political leadership on climate change unless voters force it to happen. So, every environmentalist needs to vote. You can no longer care about climate change and claim that voting doesn't matter.<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>10. Rogue Scientists</strong></p><p style=""><em>Who saved environmental data</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4Nzc5Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDI3NTE5NX0.ysW-ya4wYdepd-9K75FYmxhr6qaybwphtu1mqoLNfVM/img.jpg?width=980" id="63888" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1c60274f36a39d3d03a4db94eeeed020" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Valentine DeLandro</small></p><p style="">"Data Refuge launched November 2016 in Philadelphia to draw attention to how climate denial endangers federal environmental data," excerpted from the Data Refuge website. "With the help of thousands of civic partners and volunteers, the project has rapidly spread to over fifty cities and towns across the country."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>11. Paul Nicklen</strong></p><p style=""><em>Expedition lead and co-founder of <a href="https://www.sealegacy.org/" target="_blank">SeaLegacy</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4NzgwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDgyMzgyOX0.J4qERLvdAZa_Q2Wb40fRUZghbQ1G_l9FU-3OFdwu64k/img.jpg?width=980" id="6c67b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="740554a188ede6415b7edd75870726bd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Jeremy Packer</small></p><p style="">"At SeaLegacy, and through my own platforms, we can engage with millions of people, in real time, every day," said Paul Nicklen. "That is something that was unheard of even just two years ago. With this huge distribution channel comes an even greater responsibility to merge science with art and storytelling so that we can maximize this unprecedented opportunity to make the change we need to ensure this planet is going to survive—change that the majority of people want and know is necessary."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>12. 21 Kids v. Gov</strong></p><p style=""><em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/our-childrens-trust">Juliana v. United States of America</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4NzgwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzQxMTE3M30.9a6tWKAHPRh2qofgsyYlkApKmoql98MoqvHPM9ZDasI/img.jpg?width=980" id="d2fa2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a121799e79b56525933b821dac88efcd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Gan Golan</small></p><p style="">"I'm grateful that my fellow plaintiffs and I can have our voices heard, and that climate science can have its day in court," said Victoria Barrett, plaintiff from White Plains, New York, in a March 7, 2018 news release by Our Children's Trust. "The Trump administration tried to avoid trial, but they can't ignore us. Our future is our choice and I believe the courts will stand with our constitutional rights."<em></em></p><p style=""><strong>13. James Balog</strong></p><p style=""><em>Founder and president, <a href="http://earthvisioninstitute.org/" target="_blank">Earth Vision Institute</a> and <a href="http://jamesbalog.com/portfolio/portfolio-extreme-ice-survey/" target="_blank">Extreme Ice Survey</a></em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image" style="">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNzU4NzgwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzcyOTQxOH0.iB56te1YX_hDwrK9Y_Vn0vyIBreYQDzGQVNObjmB7nk/img.jpg?width=980" id="f8d76" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="339cd66c46d15b598e773fd357d4ce7e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Mark5</small></p><p style="">"I have found repeatedly that no matter what somebody's preconception was about climate change, if I could get them in the room and show them in a gentle and impartial way what our team has observed in the world, they realize through their intellect and their hearts that this is real," said James Balog in an interview by Stephen Lacey for ThinkProgress. "And I've had many audiences with climate skeptics or climate deniers in the room—in many cases the majority—and I still have wound up with standing ovations from those crowds. The witnessing that we've done is powerful and it seems to inspire people to know that there are others who risk their lives and their careers for this cause."<em></em></p><p style=""><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/13-climate-justice-leaders-imagined-as-comic-superheroes-20180421" target="_blank">YES! Magazine</a>.</em></p>
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Trending
This was a year of tug-of-war for the environment. With Donald Trump becoming president of the U.S. at a time when wildfires, hurricanes, and floods were devastating the country, it was challenging for scientists, activists and concerned citizens to get their voices heard. But several stood out as global leaders on climate and helped give rise to those who were silenced. Below are 14 of the most notable influencers of 2017 and how they fought for a cleaner, safer environment for all.
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1. Emmanuel Macron
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDIxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTA4NDAwOX0.ZUpgdaaSQJIDNGMTP2kqEiS98uLQCil6aGXqM5dXJiU/img.jpg?width=980" id="ed414" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="68291954c5d4c5102a1ac3f8082ca22f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
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After his inauguration as president of France, just a few months after U.S. President Donald Trump, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/emmanuel-macron" target="_self">Emmanuel Macron</a> made immediate waves. He started off by addressing Trump's withdrawal from the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> with a "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/macron-climate-scientists-france-2440280116.html" target="_self">Make Earth Great Again</a>" slogan and welcoming American climate scientists to France to continue their research. He forged on, offering <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/france-climate-awards-2516598161.html" target="_self">multi-year grants</a> totaling $70 million. Macron also hosted the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coal-companies-one-planet-summit-2517129095.html" target="_self">One Planet Summit</a> where 20 international companies announced they would phase out <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a>. With his continued criticism of Trump's decisions regarding the planet, Macron has proven himself a global leader on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a> and has set the stage for progress in 2018.</p><p>2. Elon Musk</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDQ2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjI1MjkyMH0.n2u25YHbM5PFoHZNO7YRvqvRPeWMDF5Yb3U5mqV2v9g/img.jpg?width=980" id="6de02" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="da4b4658cb0745b94c0c0bf476a92f8d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elon-musk" target="_self">Elon Musk</a>, entrepreneur and founder of several companies including SpaceX, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/tesla" target="_self">Tesla</a> and SolarCity, began 2017 with a seat on President Trump's economic advisory council. Musk made multiple attempts to reverse Trump's stance on climate change, but after Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement, Musk left the council on June 1, causing a huge media storm. Then in October, when <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-maria">Hurricane Maria</a> devastated Puerto Rico and left the islands without power, Musk swooped in and began building a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">solar</a> grid. He started with restoring a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-puerto-rico-solar-2501230169.html" target="_self">children's hospital</a> in San Juan and has continued delivering and installing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-puerto-rico-solar-battery-2515317653.html" target="_self">Tesla battery systems</a> since. Musk has also made huge strides in green technology with his push for electric vehicles and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> in the U.S., despite the Trump administration's favoritism towards the fossil fuel industry.<br></p><p>3. Angela Merkel</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDI5NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjY1MDI0NH0.PE9gIUFpZCA2HxLlWdXP1k866n-_j1Ut1eXHq0l7EHY/img.jpg?width=980" id="1802a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b30cc264e13f836290059200cfe3dfb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped up to the plate as one of 2017's female leaders on climate in a multitude of ways. Nicknamed the "Climate Chancellor," Merkel has outwardly expressed her differences with Trump, calling his stance on climate change "regrettable." She<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-putin-2454918187.html" target="_self"> reassured the UN</a> that Germany would uphold its targets for the Paris agreement, despite the U.S. change of heart. She has also made significant progress in ensuring sustainable growth in Germany with the G20 Hamburg Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth. Then, in November at the<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cop23" target="_self"> COP23</a> in Bonn, Germany, Merkel sent a strong message to all global leaders, saying "we will not be able to adhere to the 2°C or 1.5°C target with the current national commitments. That is why each and every contribution is incredibly important."</p><p>4. Bernie Sanders</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDI1MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzkzMDIzM30.B2vXZyPL2FsKW89ez-TkePXESFb_Hjb54kXy8_pQ27g/img.png?width=980" id="ecfd1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2e3e21ed81f4fb1a699ea84838ed808a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>
Senator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bernie-sanders" target="_self">Bernie Sanders</a> didn't let his loss in the 2016 presidential race stop him from speaking out on climate. In 2017, Sanders relentlessly criticized Trump's rejection of the Paris agreement and his outright denial of climate <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>. He is one of the few politicians who has spoke out about the<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sanders-energy-bill-2464667836.html" target="_self"> Energy and Natural Resources Act of 2017</a>, which aims to expand the fossil fuel industry. He also introduced a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/transformation-blueprint-puerto-rico-2513303662.html" target="_self">$146 billion recovery package</a> for Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria hit and Trump neglected to provide relief. The package would rebuild Puerto Rico's infrastructure with sustainable resources. He also helped to introduce the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-energy-bill-merkley-sanders-markey-2381516585.html" target="_self">100 by 50 Act</a>, which would support workers in the fossil fuel industry while simultaneously phasing out fossil fuels by 2050. </p><p>5. Pope Francis</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDI1NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDQ3MDgwMH0.6aXIpGTje_WM9IILSJNVQU0oaCh6JlXx4AatYpTtVRM/img.jpg?width=980" id="33fc4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0c91f6f4182382ca11da966add91d30e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>
Pope Francis has openly condemned <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" target="_self">climate change deniers</a> for years, but 2017 might have been the most radical year yet for the sovereign. In February, the Pope spoke up for<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-frances-dapl-2265564461.html" target="_self"> indigenous peoples</a> and their right to consent when it comes to government activities on their sacred lands. The strong words came shortly after President Trump signed two executive orders calling for the approval of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines in January, though the Vatican said the timing was coincidental. On <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-climate-change-hunger-2497286479.html" target="_self">World Food Day</a> in October, the Pope urged governments to mitigate climate change, as it is a lead driver of the increase in world hunger. And in November at COP23, he outlined four "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-cop23-2510283678.html" target="_self">perverse attitudes</a>" that are preventing climate action. To top it off, he also acquired an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-francis-nissan-leaf-2294820792.html" target="_self">electric car</a>.</p><p>6. Michelle Rodriguez</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDI1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxOTQyNzQ3MX0.0_BuMsiiUgIv1eGxC5ACSPvHKOM-vt-SPuW8BuSeWKA/img.jpg?width=980" id="b040c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0824cb85cc66bfa0409924c8e930ab05" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Actress and climate activist Michelle Rodriguez is one of the newer voices of the climate movement. In March, Rodriguez joined an all-woman survey team known as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/michelle-rodriguez-baby-seals-2336771103.html" target="_self">Operation Ice Watch</a> on an expedition to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada where the seal population is under siege by hunting and ice loss caused by climate change. Led by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/community/seashepherdconservationsociety/">Sea Shepherd Conservation Society</a> and <a href="https://www.animaljustice.ca/" target="_blank">Animal Justice</a>, the crew surveyed the ice, or lack thereof, while filming a documentary to raise awareness about the "ecological catastrophe." Rodriguez also partnered with <a href="https://my.seashepherd.org/OperationTSP" target="_blank">Operation Taino Spirit Promise</a> and <a href="http://www.seashepherd.org/" target="_blank">Sea Shepherd</a> to provide relief to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck and start a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/puerto-rico-sustainability-2515065901.html" target="_self">campaign</a> for a sustainable rebuild.</p><p><span></span>7. Michael Bloomberg<br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDI5MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDI3NTgzNX0.LU8u8DBtXeVCJoMgXZm998Ny5gCZkjxbj3ujTB5sVLU/img.jpg?width=980" id="9e2e5" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e9817bbcef0a909ddd85207f1e23dca5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also a notable influencer of 2017, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/cop-23-same-canoe-2509377631.html" target="_self">representing the U.S. at COP23</a> where he, alongside Governors Jerry Brown of California and Jay Inslee of Washington introduced the <a href="https://www.wearestillin.com/about" target="_blank">We Are Still In</a> coalition, a network of U.S. politicians who support climate action despite Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement. In October, Bloomberg also announced that his charity would donate $64 million to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bloomberg-coal-sierra-club-2495882707.html" target="_self">retirement of U.S. coal plants</a>, greatly impeding Trump's efforts to revive the American <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_self">coal industry</a>.</p><p><span></span>8. Patricia Espinosa<br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDMwMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMTA3NTk4OX0.bkqVMS5Yr4gSUrPww9GAQNONoSBakNB1oMOuyxeLOmA/img.jpg?width=980" id="b414f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3c19872c44cab799126158e2706068f4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Mexican politician and current executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa made significant progress on shifting the dialogue surrounding climate action in 2017. In<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/shell-climate-video-2290679999.html" target="_self"> February</a>, she said getting fossil fuel companies "on board" is a critical factor in combating climate change. She also used her position to direct the climate conversation away from technology and toward security, arguing that security officials "understand that our current crisis pales in comparison to what is coming if climate change is left unchecked." She also spoke about women's involvement at COP23 and introduced the Gender Action Plan to promote meaningful participation by women in the climate movement.<br></p><p>9. Al Gore<br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDMwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODQ3NzI5MH0.-_PWKiRPPIaFKJbMvBGdgclg2RQeIREPInQ-i1FkdAY/img.jpg?width=980" id="19e77" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="279647b1b892d7b8b584a94c3436e243" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Former vice president and environment activist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/community/al_gore/" target="_self">Al Gore</a> is known for his stance on climate change. But in 2017, with the release of his newest documentary "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power," Gore found another big spotlight. In July, he boldly <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/al-gore-paris-agreement-2456658881.html" target="_self">predicted</a> that the U.S. would still meet the targets of the Paris agreement, despite Trump's about-face in June. On Dec. 4-5, Gore also hosted the Climate Reality Project's "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/24-hours-reality-matters-2515687039.html" target="_self">24 Hours of Reality</a>," where he highlighted citizens taking action all across the globe to inspire others to do the same. The program reached more than half a billion viewers on TV and 32 million online, making it the world's largest social broadcast on climate to date.<br></p><p>10. Jerry Brown</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDM2MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzYwOTk0M30.87-_ssW-F7pvXp3mJ5S6xwicmnK4l0AVkM3vEoG3s4Q/img.jpg?width=980" id="d72d9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6eaee9c3dc801c069873f10188e59ce0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>At almost every turn for the past 365 days, California Governor <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jerry-brown" target="_self">Jerry Brown</a> has undermined President Trump. In June, almost immediately after Trump's withdrawal from the Paris agreement, Brown partnered with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brown-china-climate-deal-2435721752.html" target="_self">Chinese President Xi Jinping</a> to continue expanding green technology and trade. In July, Brown extended California's climate legislation to reduce <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/greenhouse-gases" target="_self">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. And as wildfires have raged through the state and region, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-brown-trump-climate-2500805926.html" target="_self">Brown said</a> he was "linking with other similar-minded people all over the world" and "pushing forward even as Trump blusters."<br></p><p>11. Noam Chomsky</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDM2MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDIwMTc4NH0.LMilPhdJDomKAiRwjnRFyIIK_zz9YIAonE_yz89-XzQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="bced1" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a11feaac20617ac2fab9fb0198a8601" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Well known linguist and scientist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/noam-chomsky-trump-2454319460.html" target="_self">Noam Chomsky</a> spoke out numerous times in 2017 for the sake of the environment. In an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/chomsky-trump-undermine-survival-2333432702.html" target="_self">interview with Truthout</a> in March, Chomsky called out the Trump administration for cutting federal spending to the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">U.S Environmental Protection Agency</a> and the Department of Energy, stating that his actions are an "attack against future generations." In May he spoke out again, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/noam-chomsky-gop-trump-climate-2404621379.html" target="_self">telling BBC Newsnight</a> that the Republican Party's denial of climate change has made them the most dangerous organization "in human history." Chomsky's criticisms opened up an intellectual dialogue for conservative voters and encouraged the scientific community to weigh in.<br></p><p>12. Leonardo DiCaprio</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDM2Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDU4Njk1Mn0.ADWC2PMXfzDplWntUXi3UeVnhKakVSiqs2xzmNYmrvM/img.jpg?width=980" id="5abfb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="09368c6b5c1100b70aff5033ef346aef" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>Actor and philanthropist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/leonardo-dicaprio" target="_self">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> made impressive strides on climate action in 2017, including investing in the entirely plant-based food company <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dicaprio-beyond-meat-2498081823.html" target="_self">Beyond Meat</a> and a farm-raised seafood company <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/leonardo-dicaprio-lovethewild-2307586570.html" target="_self">LoveTheWild</a>. In June, DiCaprio also partnered with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to conserve the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/dicaprio-vaquita-oceans-day-2436761026.html" target="_self">Gulf of California</a> for the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaquita">vaquita</a> porpoise, classified as the most endangered marine mammal in the world. Most recently, at the Yale Climate Change Conference in September, DiCaprio announced that his foundation will be awarding <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/leonardo-dicaprio-foundation-awards-2487597805.html" target="_self">$20 million in grants</a> to more than 100 environmental organizations.<br></p><p>13. Stephen Hawking</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDM2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MzAyOTQxNX0.aosjX4rOT_uI7Q-xIus9bFDSQmYKf-G9sSHqDU-nT5U/img.jpg?width=980" id="3c8b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="605025c746efa309e1b769c6798498b0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>World-renowned theoretical physicist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/stephen-hawking" target="_self">Stephen Hawking</a> represented the majority of the scientific community in 2017 on several occasions, urging Trump to stop denying evidence of climate change. In June, Hawking had a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/stephen-hawking-trump-2452539680.html" target="_self">few choice words </a>about the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement, warning that "we are close to the tipping point where <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">global warming</a> becomes irreversible." And in November, Hawking once again pushed Trump to stop <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hawking-trump-science-2513514825.html" target="_self">denying climate change</a> and take action. Hawking nearly gave up on Earth altogether, telling WIRED UK that "our Earth is becoming too small for us, global population is increasing at an alarming rate and we are in danger of self-destructing."<br></p><p>14. David Attenborough</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xNjk2NDM2NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzM1MDQ3MX0.0DolTBfyoHa8qhomzmTMRWVUfesEksDnYN3v3M6zSKU/img.jpg?width=980" id="54dd2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c0c54783d6958260742f4220e705134" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>English documentary filmmaker and naturalist David Attenborough, whose series <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-attenborough-blue-planet-ii-2490636664.html">Blue Planet II</a> began in October, spoke out several times on plastic pollution in 2017. In September, Attenborough told <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/community/greenpeace/" target="_self">Greenpeace</a> of the "heartbreaking" footage he recorded of mother birds feeding their babies plastic, an iconic moment for him that pushed him to speak up about <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic pollution</a> in oceans., and tell Trump to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-attenborough-plastics-2514828090.html">reconsider his withdrawal</a> from the Paris agreement. He emphasized that "never before have we been so aware of what we are doing to our planet—and never before have we had such power to do something about it."<br></p>
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Martin Schulz / Flickr
Pope Francis issued a strong message to negotiators at the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany on Thursday, warning them not to fall into "four perverse attitudes" regarding the future of the planet—"denial, indifference, resignation and trust in inadequate solutions."
Francis, who has long pressed for strong climate action and wrote his 2015 encyclical on the environment, renewed his "urgent call" for renewed dialogue "on how we are building the future of the planet."
<p>
"We need an exchange that unites us all," he said, "because the environmental challenge we are experiencing, and its human roots, regards us all, and affects us all."
</p><p style="">
The pontiff also said he hopes the COP23 talks would be "inspired by the same collaborative and prophetic spirit" of COP21, which led to the landmark signing of the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris agreement</a> to avoid global temperature rise well below 2°C.
</p><p>
"The Agreement indicates a clear path of transition to a low- or zero-carbon model of economic development, encouraging solidarity and leveraging the strong links between combating climate change and poverty," Francis said.
</p><p style="">
Although the pope did not call any countries out by name, the U.S. is the only country not in support of the Paris agreement due to
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">President Donald Trump</a>'s declared withdrawal from the pact. Syria and Nicaragua, which were the only other holdouts, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/syria-paris-agreement-2507449170.html">recently joined the accord</a>.
</p><p style="">
Trump, who notoriously said global warming is a hoax, has filled his administration with lawmakers who question the science of climate change or
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/scott-pruitt-climate-change-2307785184.html">reject mankind's role</a> in causing the global issue.
</p><p style="">
Francis has spoken against global warming skeptics
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pope-heal-our-creation-2480285190.html" target="_blank">several times before</a>. In September, during an in-flight press conference from Colombia to Rome, the pope said that those who reject <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change" target="_blank">climate</a> science remind him of a psalm from the Old Testament about stubbornness.
</p><p style="">
"Man is stupid, the Bible said. It's like that, when you don't want to see, you don't see," he
<a href="http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=16241" target="_blank">said</a> as the papal plane flew near Caribbean islands pummeled by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-irma" target="_blank">Hurricane Irma</a>. His statement was not addressed to any political leader in particular.
</p><p style="">
Meanwhile, the Trump administration used its only public forum at COP23 to promote
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" target="_blank">coal</a>.
</p><p style="">
According to the
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/11/16/world/europe/ap-eu-rel-vatican-climate.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>, the top American representative at the talks told other delegates that the U.S. is still committed to reducing greenhouse gas even though the Trump wants to exit the Paris accord.
</p><p style="">
Dozens of nations have joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance,
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/climate-change-minister-claire-perry-launches-powering-past-coal-alliance-at-cop23" target="_blank">launched Thursday</a> at the climate talks, to phase out the use of coal by 2030. The alliance involves more than 20 nations including Angola, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Portugal and Switzerland, according to Reuters. The states of Oregon and Washington have also joined.
</p><p>
The climate talks are expected to end Friday.
</p>
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On World Food Day, Pope Francis Says Link Between Climate Change and Hunger Is Undeniable
16 October 2017
Food
FAO / Giulio Piscitelli
By Andrew McMaster
Speaking at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on World Food Day, Pope Francis addressed the need for governments around the world to acknowledge that climate change and migration were leading to increases in world hunger.
Francis received a standing ovation after a stirring speech in which he said all three issues were interrelated and require immediate attention.
<p style="">"We are called to propose a change in lifestyle and the use of resources," <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pope-demands-response-hunger-climate-migration-50503659" target="_blank">Francis told the audience</a>. "We cannot make do by saying 'someone else will do it.'"</p>
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="132a6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="PWJIYO1576663540"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="919842857107804160" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Ensuring everyone’s right to food and nourishment is an imperative we cannot ignore. It is a right to which there are no exceptions!</div> — Pope Francis (@Pope Francis)<a href="https://twitter.com/Pontifex/statuses/919842857107804160">1508142601.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p>
<p style="">The Catholic leader's words came on the heels of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/15/alarm-bells-we-cannot-ignore-world-hunger-rising-for-first-time-this-century" target="_blank">recent UN report</a> that showed an increase in people suffering from chronic hunger on account of climate change-related disasters and conflicts.<br></p><p style=""><a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/" target="_blank">Global Citizen</a> campaigns on the <a href="http://www.globalgoals.org/" target="_blank">UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development</a>, including zero hunger and climate action. You can take action on these issues <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/action/world-leaders-extreme-weather/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p style="">For the first time in over a century, the number of chronically hungry people increased, rising by 38 million people between 2015 and 2016. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/15/alarm-bells-we-cannot-ignore-world-hunger-rising-for-first-time-this-century" target="_blank">UN report noted</a> that 815 million people fit the definition for chronic hunger in 2016, comprising about 11 percent of the world's population.</p><p style="">At the heart of this rise are climate change and human conflict, both of which <a href="http://www.fao.org/publications/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/" target="_blank">drive food insecurity</a> in poverty-stricken communities around the globe.</p><p>The Pope called on leaders to take immediate and cooperative efforts to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pope-demands-response-hunger-climate-migration-50503659" target="_blank">reduce resource consumption and waste creation</a>.</p><p style="">Greed and negligence on a planet with limited resources was harming the world's poorest people, Francis said. He warned against understanding these problems <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pope-demands-response-hunger-climate-migration-50503659" target="_blank">through the lens of pity</a>, noting that pity "is limited to emergency aid."</p><p style="">Instead, Francis proposed an integrative solution based on love, solidarity and fraternity. Love is a powerful tool for good Francis <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pope-demands-response-hunger-climate-migration-50503659" target="_blank">said</a>, because it "inspires justice and is essential to bring about a just social order."</p><p style="">In a visceral reminder to world leaders on just how devastating the effects of climate change and conflict caused migration can be, Francis commemorated his visit to the FAO by unveiling a marble statue of three-year old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian-Kurdish migrant who was found dead on the shores of Greece in 2015.</p><p style="">The statue depicts an angel wailing above the boy's corpse. The Vatican said the piece represents represents the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/pope-demands-response-hunger-climate-migration-50503659" target="_blank">tragedy of human migration</a>.</p><p style=""> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/pope-francis-united-nations-climate-change-hunger/" target="_blank">Global Citizen</a>.</em></p>
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Firefighters continue to battle against 17 wildfires that have burned more than 220,000 acres in California, Cal Fire announced in a Friday update.
The death toll from the Northern California blazes has risen to 31, the deadliest week for wildfires in the state's history.
<p>"We had series of statewide fires in 2003, 2007, 2008 that didn't have anything close to this death count," <a href="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/Californians-Under-Siege-Try-to-Fight-Fires-Find-Loved-Ones-450727423.html" target="_blank">said</a> Daniel Berlant, a deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.</p><p>The 31 deaths this week surpasses the single deadliest wildfire in state history—the Griffith Park fire of 1933 in Los Angeles which killed 29 people—according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/us/california-wildfire-deaths-napa-sonoma.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=Trending&version=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article" target="_blank">New York Times</a>. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"></p><div id="ef79e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="FI50ZL1576662946"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="918549255207321600" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">TMFPD crews are on the front lines of the #CascadeFire.
#CaliforniaWildfires https://t.co/ZSYBjCZVKM</div> — Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (@Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District)<a href="https://twitter.com/TMFPD/statuses/918549255207321600">1507834182.0</a></blockquote></div><p></p><p style=""><span></span>About 3,500 homes and other structures have been destroyed and thousand have been forced to flee. Hundreds of people have been injured or reported missing. The fires have also released devastating <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_blank">air pollution</a>. <span></span></p><p>"We are reporting the worst air quality ever recorded for smoke in many parts of the Bay Area," Tom Flannigan, a spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, <a href="http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/10/10/wildfires-have-created-worst-air-quality-ever-recorded-for-smoke-in-bay-area/" target="_blank">told the East Bay Times</a>. "This is similar to what you see in Beijing, China in bad air days there.</p><p>The wine country fires started Sunday and rapidly spread throughout the week due to the area's low humidity and high winds. Scientists have suggested <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> might <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-wildfires-air-2495879541.html">play a role.</a> </p><p>More than 8,000 firefighters are combatting the flames and many have become weary over the past week. </p><p>"We're pretty exhausted. It's pretty steep terrain. We've been dealing with trying to save the structures," Sonoma firefighter Steven Moore told <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/13/557521304/31-killed-in-deadliest-week-for-wildfires-in-californias-history" target="_blank">NPR</a>, adding he has gotten little little sleep in four days of fighting fires.<br></p><p>"The winds aren't helping," Moore says. "All we can do is get to the structures as fast as we possibly can and save what we can."</p><p><span></span>Pope Francis sent a <a href="http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/10/13/pope_francis_telegram_for_california_fire_victims/1342801" target="_blank">telegram</a> Friday to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone and Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez expressing his condolences and offered "heartfelt solidarity" and "prayers for all those affected by this disaster."</p><p style=""><span></span>Fire officials are preparing for conditions to worsen with high winds expected to return. </p><p style="">"Tonight the winds are forecast to be stronger than experienced Thursday with gusts up to 45 miles an hour," Cal Fire said.</p><p style="">A Red Flag Warning—the highest alert issued by the National Weather Service in which conditions are ideal for wildland fire combustion and rapid spread—has been issued for Friday night, when winds are expected to increase again.<br></p><p style="">"Hundreds of additional fire engines and firefighters have begun to arrive from several other states, not only to help relieve crews on the frontlines, but to be ready for the possibility of new wildfires that may ignite during the Red Flag Warnings," Cal Fire said. </p>
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Wednesday, a coalition of 40 faith institutions on five continents have jointly just announced their divestment from fossil fuels. This is a big moment for both the global divestment movement and faith community, and we need to keep this momentum going strong.
This commitment well and truly quadruples the one announced in May, when nine Catholic organizations divested. We need to celebrate it and also seize the opportunity to build upon this moment.
<p style="">In the words of Domenico Sorrentino, the bishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">St. Francis (Pope Francis) encouraged us to live humbly, simply, and with true reverence for the Creator and Creation. Divesting from fossil fuels and making new investments in clean energy sources is our way of following St. Francis's example.</p><p style=""><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a> has prominently voiced his concerns about <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> and the fossil fuel industry. But while Vatican officials have acknowledged the call for fossil fuel divestment, the Vatican has not committed to divest its money from the industry that is destroying Creation—yet.</p><p style="">In the wake of this announcement, people from all over the world are uniting during the Season of Creation and urging the World Bank to stop financing fossil fuels and support for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> instead. <a href="https://bigshiftglobal.org/" target="_blank">Please join and add your voice to the global call</a>.</p><p style="">Now more than ever we need institutions to stand together on the right side of history against an immoral industry whose climate impacts we see and experience daily.</p><p style="">As we celebrate this inspiring show of moral leadership, let's make sure the World Bank puts its mouth where its money is and <a href="https://bigshiftglobal.org/" target="_blank">stops funding the fossil fuel industry and climate disasters</a>.</p><p style="">A full list of all the institutions which have divested as part of this commitment can be found <a href="https://gofossilfree.org/divesting-institutions-october-4th/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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