IRELAND’S CATHOLIC bishops have urged the Government to support tougher policies to tackle climate change, and said the public should adopt “a simpler lifestyle” to help the planet.
While the bishops cited a number of positive elements in the 2007 programme for government, they said: “Between 1997 and 2007, very few policy decisions were taken to reduce Irish greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the opposite was often the case with regard to transport and building policies.”
They called on Government representatives to support a replacement treaty for the Kyoto Protocol at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen next month.
“With many others around the world, we hope and pray that the political leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December will take the courageous decisions needed,” they said.
Referring to Copenhagen, they drew attention to important moral dimensions involved in allocating emissions targets, internationally. “Care must be taken to ensure that the most economically, politically or militarily powerful nations of the world are not in a position to take advantage of those countries which have fewer resources,” they said.
The bishops make their observations in The Cry of the Earth, a pastoral reflection on climate change which will be launched by the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford in Dublin tomorrow. Archbishop Clifford studied science at Maynooth.
A total 85,000 copies of the pastoral and 1,750 parish packs have been printed, on recycled paper, and will be sent to every Catholic parish on the island by Sunday next, November 15th.
It is also available in Irish and Polish, and at www.catholicbishops.ie The longer version of the pastoral is accompanied by a DVD.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Archbishop Clifford emphasised that global warming was “a very serious issue for ourselves and especially for those coming after”.
All churches and all faiths were taking the issue very seriously, he said. “You have to have a more simple lifestyle,” he added.
He also hoped people would sign the Trócaire card which accompanied the pastoral. It calls on the Government to help ensure people in developing countries have a safe and secure future by cutting our national carbon footprint by 40 per cent by 2020.
Archbishop Clifford pointed out that, while Africa was responsible for just 3 per cent of carbon emissions, it was destined to suffer most from global warming.
He called on schools and parishes to act on recommendations in the pastoral where recycling and reducing their carbon footprint were concerned.
In their pastoral, the bishops point out that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, transport emissions in Ireland had increased faster than anywhere in Europe.
Between 1990 and 2003 such emissions in Ireland increased by 130 per cent, whereas the increase in the rest of Europe was 23 per cent.
The bishops praised the 2007 programme for government, however, noting the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 per cent each year, plans for a carbon budget each year as well as promises to introduce a carbon levy and a motor tax which favoured vehicles with lower emissions. They were also happy with the commitment to subsidise energy efficiency in the home.
“A life less focused on material gain and conspicuous consumption would contribute to a more just and sustainable economy,” they added.