"It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earth's orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the greater concentration of greenhouse gases(carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides and others) released mainly as a result of human activity. Concentrated in the atmosphere, these gases do not allow the warmth of the sun's rays reflected by the earth to be dispersed in space. The problem is aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels, which isat the heart of the worldwide energy system. Another determining factor has been an increase in changed uses of the soil, principally deforestation for agricultural purposes."
(I have typed the above quotation as two paragraphs here, but in the official text of the pope's eco-encyclical, the above-quoted text appears as one continuous paragraph.)
On page xiii, Oreskes correctly notes that Pope Francis does not use the term "capitalism" in his eco-encyclical. No doubt the pope was wise not to use the term "capitalism" in his eco-encyclical, because he is not advancing an alternative economic system to replace capitalism. Instead, he is expressing a wide range of criticisms of various problems that he sees as somehow connected with capitalism.
Instead of using the term "capitalism," Pope Francis refers to markets and the ideology of the marketplace.
Oreskes says, "The pope is not asking us to reject markets or technology. He is asking us to reject the (il)logic that insists that only markets can decide our future and that technology is politically and morally neutral. He is asking us to reject the creed of market fundamentalism" (page xxiv).
As Oreskes explains, Pope Francis is asking us "to recognize that the [economic] system has levers [and that] individuals, institutions, and governments . . . have the capacity to make different [choices regarding those levers]" (page xxiv).
No doubt Pope Francis has mastered the intricacies of climate change.
No doubt his call for action is well founded and reasonable.
A DIALOGUE WITH THE POPE'S ECO-ENCYCLICAL
Oreskes refers to the ideology that Pope Francis critiques as the ideology of no ideology (page xvi). She says, "Economists and other 'realists' insist that their worldview is non-ideological: that capitalist liberal democracy is the inevitable end point of human development, and that attempts to direct the economic system towards more equitable outcomes at best gum up the works, and at worst are fatally counterproductive" (page xvi).
But the pope's critique of how the current supposedly non-ideological economic system operates is based on how its operation has failed in three important ways (pages xvi-xxi). From the pope's incisive critique of its operation, he moves to a call for action to establish "'a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems'" (quoted by Oreskes on page xxii).
As Oreskes puts it, "we must move past the ideology of no ideology, [which is in effect the supposed] morality of amorality" (page xxiii).
Now, in the paragraph numbered 123, Pope Francis attributes "the sexual exploitation of children" to the so-called "culture of relativism."
But nowhere in his encyclical letter does he even mention the international priest-sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, which can be attributed to the church's culture of absolutism that exalts bishops and priests.
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