By H. STERLING BURNETT
It seems that Pope Francis has learned little since his 2015 papal encyclical calling on the world to fight climate change by limiting the use of modern technologies and fossil fuels.
At a recent Vatican meeting, he called many of the world’s leading oil company executives to the carpet. Francis told the executives they should shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to fight “global warming.”
Pope Francis has myriad misguided beliefs about climate science, almost all of which he holds based on faith alone as if they were holy writ.
Even worse, his belief that society can transition from fossil fuels while reducing hunger and poverty is downright dangerous.
Despite the false claims of climate alarmists, fossil fuels have been a boon to the world.
They supply affordable and abundant power for lighting, transportation, refrigeration, clean water, modern agriculture (including food delivery, storage, and protection from early decay and pests), indoor air-conditioning and heating, cooking, and the multitude of other technologies upon which modern societies are based.
In attacking fossil fuels, Pope Francis is undermining the very resources and technologies most responsible for raising literally billions of people out of poverty.
Coal, natural gas, and oil remain vital to increasing lifespans, decreasing infant mortality, and helping humans generally flourish.
In his brilliant book The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Alex Epstein wrote,
“Climate is no longer a major cause of death, thanks in large part to fossil fuels… Not only are we ignoring the big picture by making the fight against climate danger the fixation of our culture, we are ‘fighting’ climate change by opposing the weapon that has made it dozens of times less dangerous.
The popular climate discussion… looks at man as a destructive force for climate livability, one who makes the climate dangerous because we use fossil fuels. In fact, the truth is… we don’t take a safe climate and make it dangerous; we take a dangerous climate and make it safe.”
Pope Francis and many other world leaders ignore this important fact, putting the lives of the world’s most impoverished people at risk.
When espousing his energy doctrine, Pope Francis would do well to adopt the humility and intellectual honesty of William Alsup, the presiding judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
In a case in which oil companies are being sued by Oakland and San Francisco for causing climate harm, Alsup indicated if he is to consider the potential climate harms caused by the use of oil and gas, he must also examine the huge benefits their use has delivered.
Alsup succinctly stated, “We need to weigh in the large benefits that have flowed from the use of fossil fuels. There have been huge benefits.”
Below are a few facts Pope Francis should take to heart before he declares a twenty-first-century crusade against fossil fuels.
In a tutorial prepared for Judge Alsup by Joe Bast, director, and Peter Ferrara, Senior Fellow with The Heartland Institute, “The Social Benefit of Fossil Fuels,” they point out fossil fuels provided the energy that powered nearly all the technologies of the Industrial Revolution, as well as plastics, high-tech manufacturing, and mobile computer devices.
From 1850 to 2010, fossil fuels spurred a 550 percent increase in the world’s population, and they helped dramatically reduce poverty and hunger.
During this period, energy consumption increased fiftyfold and world per-capita energy consumption increased ninefold. Nearly all the world’s increased energy consumption came from fossil fuels.
Furthermore, fossil fuels are integral to mechanized farming (including gasoline- and diesel-powered tractors for planting, fertilizing, harvesting, storing, and for trucks to deliver crops to store shelves), irrigation systems, and in the creation of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that improve and expedite crop growth and prevent loss to weeds, insects, and other pests.
Ironically, the natural resources that environmentalists detest are actually responsible for the Green Revolution that saved billions of people from hunger during the twentieth century.
Besides increased food production and less global malnutrition, fossil fuels also allow for all the creature comforts that make life more enjoyable and improve health.
For example, air-conditioning is powered by electricity — primarily fueled by coal and natural gas. Pope Francis decried this technology in his papal encyclical, but air-conditioning has been an undeniable boon to public health everywhere it is widely used.
Air-conditioning prevents thousands of premature deaths from heat-related illnesses each year, saving millions of lives over the past several decades.
Refrigeration, also powered by fossil fuels, has kept food and medicine from spoiling, saving millions of additional lives.
Almost all home appliances and small devices rely on electricity, and the standard of living has vastly improved because of these devices.
Contra Francis, we can’t afford to have the air-conditioning, refrigeration, lighting, and other technologies in our homes, supermarkets, businesses, and hospitals work only when the wind blows or the sun shines.
Moreover, fossil fuels are important before, during, and after natural disasters, including hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.
They reduce the number of people ultimately injured or killed by powering the helicopters, boats, military, police, and utility vehicles sent to restore order and electricity after such devastating events.
They also power the vehicles and ambulances that evacuate people from disaster zones and the semi-trailer trucks that deliver water, food, blankets, and other relief supplies to those who remain.
When power lines go down in natural disasters, it is back-up generators, powered by diesel, natural gas, or liquid propane, not rooftop solar or wind turbines, that provide the electricity to apartment buildings, hospitals, nursing homes, and countless shelters.
Communication devices such as cell phones, computers, and radio equipment that keep people connected and informed on an everyday basis (especially during natural disasters) are all made from, manufactured with, and powered by oil and natural gas.
Fossil fuels have transformed communication and increased information access on a level unlike anything humanity has witnessed before.
A world without fossil fuels would be a much more brutal place. Until Pope Francis understands the vital role fossil fuels have and should continue to play around the world, he should stick to saving souls rather than pontificating over peoples’ energy choices.
Read more at American Thinker
LOOK global warming!!….(pay no attention to the pedophiles)
Latitude
Maybe I am wrong, but in religion and the position that pope Francis holds at this moment in time, is not as simply as you try to put it.
Is not an attempt to distract, is an attempt to mend and bring light in to the matter…if I am not wrong.
Dealing with the pedophilia within the catholic structure requires the papal excommunication power engaged…
That is at this time, from my point of understanding, as very hard to properly be executed by pope Francis…even when considering that pope Francis can try to get through it by its Bishop’s position… which will at that point contradict his pope position…!as
Complicated, I know, but that is how I see it.
Is not actually a move to distract… as it seems so simply being put in your comment… if I happen to not have misunderstood your point made.
cheers
My point was he’s plate is full of things he should be addressing that are his business
Latitude
Well said.
Easy answer to that, supply the Vatican only with renewable power.
The only job Jesus gave his followers was to preach the gospel, nothing else, Mark 16:15. He did not say to meddle in the affairs of the world.
Have you ever read the Sermon on the Mount? And the Bible is littered with references to looking after the poor.
But it seems as if it is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Some people say that the Church shouldn’t interfere in the affairs of the world and others complain when they think that it hasn’t interfered enough.
What does Mark say in 16:15?
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Where in that does it say, ‘Have nothing to do with the affairs of the world’?
he’s a dishonest POS.
simple.
Now there’s an intelligent, measured and well-considered statement for you. But the interesting question is: What kind of a person would make that kind of a statement?
The Pope will never really be accepted by the left as long as he does not accept abortion or gay marriage. Though he has urged the church to be more loving of the folks involved, these activities are still considered grave offenses in the eyes of the church and Pope. Not so AGW. These worldly pronunciations on his part carry no church authority, merely opinion on his part.
JimG1
Contraception. We could start there instead of moving straight on to abortion, which is frequently a result of not allowing birth control.
Meanwhile, virtually every catholic I know uses contraception. They just won’t confess it to their priest.
And if Donald Trump proposed marriage to Kim Jong Un in the interests of world love and peace, would the pope object?
You can add contraception to the list but I find it interesting that you know the sexual habits of your catholic friends as well as what they say in the confessional. Aetheism and agnosticism frequently are tied to pride and rebellion by the religious pros but I think they are more a function of the inability to accept that someone might know more than we do about something, like religion or God, for that matter. But then isn’t that skepticism at the bottom line?
JimG1
My first wife was a catholic, and I was a policeman. Discussions are brutally frank amongst the police (at least in the UK), not that discussing the use of condoms is particularly revealing of sexual activity. We might buy a pack of three for a pal when we bought ourselves cigarettes.
Confessional was a standing joke, even my wife laughed hysterically at the lies she told just to avoid saying a few hail Mary’s.
And with the greatest of respect, I think the rest of your post, up until the last sentence, is a load of pretentious bollocks.
I agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly.
Pretty much what I would expect. But admitting that one does not know everything and thereby adopting a religious point of view one can agree with to whatever dgree is less “pretentious” than thinking that one knows more than everyone else and is not therefore duped into compliance as all those religious folks seem to be.
Forgive me father for I have sinned. I burned a gallon of gasoline today so I could drive to work and back to feed my family and provide them shelter and clothing to protect them from the elements.
I washed my face and hands with water made hot by natural gas. I used soap produced from petrochemicals and I kept perishable food cold in my refrigerator powered by electricity from coal before transforming that food into a life sustaining meal by cooking it.
Unfortunately, the pope is a deeply flawed man. His world view is one of an Argentinian leftist. He reminds me of the 6 corrupt popes who were in Martin Luthers era. Completely misguided and living in a bubble.
Hopefully other Christian leaders will step in and right the ship. The last time we had such stupid popes we had the reformation wars followed by the inquisition.
History is clear on this: the Pope should spend his time policing the Catholic clergy rather than policing fossil fuel providers.
Developing countries would benefit from transfer payments made to them under the Paris Accord. So cardinals from those countries probably lobbied Francis to become an advocate for the Paris Accord. This is the likeliest “forcing” behind his activism, not his personal share-the-wealth attitudes.
Perhaps Benedict was lobbied to become an activist and he declined ….
I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the executives who was summoned to the Pope’s office to hear his lecture! What could you possibly say in response? You can’t contradict the Pope to his face and lose a few billion Catholic customers!
Surely the Catholic Church is has a vested interest in keeping the poor poor and uneducated, and producing babies and in their place for women as primitive cultures do, and religions prefer. The last thing reliogions want is the poor to get the cheap plentiful energy that will take them out of that condition and into a educated future. They loose their relevance to modern life, hence their power, their followers, and the income they bring. Prima face, controlling religion is the enemy of social equality and justice, irrelevant in the 21st Century, but hanging on at the expense of the yet to be liberated poor.
I find this comment to be profoundly incorrect, insofar as it regards christianity in general, and Catholicism specifically. I’m not Catholic, but can defend their efforts in many places as the exact opposite of what you describe. Furthermore, whether you prefer to acknowledge it or not, much of the western world has Christendom to thank for our mores and values and general equality of worth.
Honestly, this comment expresses a seriois misunderstanding of religion and their “vested interests”.
Respectfully,
rip
ripshin
Your response to Brian RL Catt was underwhelming.
Brian articulated a number of very specific points and all you did was say you could defend their (presumably Catholic) efforts, but you didn’t even make an attempt to actually do so.
To simply claim a comment expresses a “serious misunderstanding of religion” without any rebuttal is the same as having said nothing.
testing from linux 1 2 4
I suggest that the Pope sticks to the religion he knows…..
He appears to be assimilated into the Church of Omnipotent Greenhouse In Carbon. A pawn of the devil, so to speak.
Mr Burnett, I’d like to share a poem which a church bishop told me was “incoherent with the principal of climate change”…
An Ode to the Church
On Fighting Climate Change
Bureaucrats and Global Planners
Speak in agitated manners,
Predicating great disaster:
“Climate change we now must master!”
Human guilt and blame beseeching:
“Children, shame we should be teaching!
Man has sinned by overreaching
Fragile Gaia’s limit!”
Beware: this bold apostasy
Spins prophesy from vanity!
The firmaments will never be
Controlled by mortal hands.
So, use this world, as best you can,
To take care of your fellow man
And leave Earth’s destiny to God’s great plan!
This Universe is God’s, alone
Commanding elements He owns.
Perplexes any man’s control,
Yet, still provides for every soul!
We have had bad Popes before – unfortunately this one has no humility. He is uneducated and simply trails the zeitgeist like a lonely puppy. May the Good Lord have Mercy on His suffering Church. When we lose our way – the Divine seems to leave us to our own devices – that’s how we get nincompoops like OlBlame-0 and Pope Francis. God says “Forget Me? – How about I forget Thee – for a while?”
Pope Francis has most of the characteristics of a Marxist. But is he a Harpo or a Groucho?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/05/11/why-is-it-that-so-many-prominent-environmental-campaigners-turn-out-to-be-such-scumbags-sleazebags-hypocrites-or-frauds/#comment-2352790
“Why is it that so many prominent environmental campaigners turn out to be such scumbags, sleazebags, hypocrites or frauds?”
Easy to understand:
The self-styled “Progressives”, the US Democrats, the Canadian Liberals and NDP, the Socialist and Green Parties worldwide are pawns of the extreme left and have been so since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Here is some history:
“Surprisingly enough the second event that caused the environmental movement to veer to the left was the fall of the Berlin Wall. Suddenly the international peace movement had a lot less to do. Pro-Soviet groups in the West were discredited. Many of their members moved into the environmental movement bringing with them their eco-Marxism and pro-Sandinista sentiments.”
Source: “The Rise of Eco-Extremism”, by Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace (1994).
http://ecosense.me/2012/12/30/key-environmental-issues-4/
Many of these imbeciles don’t even know it, but they are following a covert Marxist agenda intended to damage our economies, cloaked in phony green rhetoric.
Marxism made simple:
The Groucho Marxists are the leaders – they want power for its own sake at any cost, and typically are sociopaths or psychopaths. The great killers of recent history, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot. etc. were of this odious ilk – first they get power, then they implement their crazy schemes that do not work and too often kill everyone who opposes them.
The Harpo Marxists are the followers – the “sheeple” – these are people of less-than-average intelligence who are easily duped and follow the Groucho’s until it is too late, their rights are lost and their society destroyed. They are attracted to simplistic concepts that “feel good” but rarely “do good”.
George Carlin said: “You know how stupid the average person is, right? Well, half of them are stupider than that!”
One can easily identify many members of these two groups in the global warming debate – and none of them are ”climate skeptics”.
Need more evidence? Read the quotations at http://www.green-agenda.com
Just a few examples:
“The goal now is a socialist, redistributionist society,
which is nature’s proper steward and society’s only hope.”
– David Brower,
founder of Friends of the Earth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If we don’t overthrow capitalism, we don’t have a chance of
saving the world ecologically. I think it is possible to have
an ecologically sound society under socialism.
I don’t think it is possible under capitalism”
– Judi Bari,
principal organiser of Earth First!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the
industrialized civilizations collapse?
Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
– Maurice Strong,
founder of the UN Environment Programme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the
United States. De-development means bringing our
economic system into line with the realities of
ecology and the world resource situation.”
– Paul Ehrlich,
Professor of Population Studies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Global Energy Primer for Pope Francis
Fossil fuels still provide 85% of Global Primary Energy, whereas Hydro is 7% and Nuclear has dropped to 4%. This “Conventional Power Generation“ totals 96%, and Renewables have increased to 4%.
Despite tens of trillions of dollars in squandered subsidies, Renewables still provide only 4% of global primary energy, and CO2 emissions have INCREASED in the countries that have introduced the most Renewables. This is because Renewables are not green and do not produce much useful (dispatchable) energy. Renewables are too intermittent and require almost 100% spinning reserve (backup) of Conventional Power Generation to fill-in when the wind does not blow or the Sun does not shine.
This “4% Renewables” would drop to near-zero if our idiot politicians did not force renewables into the grid ahead of useful, dispatchable power – this is another huge hidden subsidy for Renewables. Grid-connected wind and solar power are harmful, because they drive up energy costs AND also seriously destabilize the grid. South Australia has experienced two long outages caused by wind power.
In Alberta, our imbecilic politicians are phasing out our coal plants, and replacing them with natural gas-fired units. While gas-fired power plants are much better than wind power, our energy prices are going to increase sharply and become more volatile in the future, because gas prices are at historic lows and will almost certainly increase.
The NDP’s argument against Alberta coal is “air pollution” – but ALL our coal-fired plants have pollutions controls and all air pollutants from all these coal plants equal ~1/1000 of the air pollution we experience each year from forest fires. All we have to do is prevent ONE forest fire, and we can keep our coal plants and keep our electrical power costs very low.
The NDP also believe that CO2, essential for all plant and crop growth, is a pollutant. It is not, and it is not causing dangerous global warming. That falsehood is popular among the uneducated and green extremists. The only measurable impact of increased atmospheric CO2 is significantly increased plant and crop yields.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1710798208997734&set=pcb.1710800675664154&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1710798512331037&set=pcb.1710800675664154&type=3&theater
Religious “leaders” operate more on belief and less on rational thought. Once a position is taken, it’s harder to back down, which is why they should be slow to take hard positions.
“Francis told the executives they should shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to fight “global warming.””
Pope dream.
He might be misguided on climate change but he is definitely a liar when he said Islam is a religion of peace.