[NYTr] Pope condemns the climate change prophets

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Wonderful. Now this ignoramus is claiming expertise, if not
"infallibility," on global warming. "What, me worry?" The planet's
survival is up to the alleged god, apparently.  Pretty amusing to see
Alexander Cockburn in the same camp as Pope Rat on this issue. -NYTr]

sent by Tim Murphy - activ-l 


Daily Mail - Dec 11, 2007
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=501316&in_page_id=1811


The Pope condemns the climate change prophets

By SIMON CALDWELL

Attack:

Pope Benedict criticised climate-change prophets of doom

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change
prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming
must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears
over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of
unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it
was vital that the international community based its policies on
science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

His remarks will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on 
January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world 
convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change 
talks.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment
but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given
a greater priority than that of mankind.

"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of 
tomorrow," he said in the message entitled "The Human Family, A
Community of Peace".

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out
prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by
ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the
aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable
of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental
balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be
justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of
development of various countries and the need for solidarity with
future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and
postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint
decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."

Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of 
sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while 
respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.

He added that to further the cause of world peace it was sensible for 
nations to "choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of
unilateral decisions" in how to cooperate responsibly on conserving the
planet.

The Pope's message is traditionally sent to heads of government and 
international organisations.

His remarks reveal that while the Pope acknowledges that problems may
be associated with unbridled development and climate change, he
believes the case against global warming to be over-hyped.

A broad consensus is developing among the world's scientific community
over the evils of climate change. But there is also an intransigent
body of scientific opinion which continues to insist that industrial
emissions are not to blame for the phenomenon. Such scientists point
out that fluctuations in the earth's temperature are normal and can
often be caused by waves of heat generated by the sun. Other critics of
environmentalism have compared the movement to a burgeoning industry in
its own right.

In the spring, the Vatican hosted a conference on climate change that
was welcomed by environmentalists.

But senior cardinals close to the Vatican have since expressed doubts
about a movement which has been likened by critics to be just as
dogmatic in its assumptions as any religion.

In October, the Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of
Sydney, caused an outcry when he noted that the atmospheric temperature
of Mars had risen by 0.5 degrees celsius. "The industrial-military
complex up on Mars can't be blamed for that," he said in a criticism of
Australian scientists who had claimed that carbon emissions would force
temperatures on earth to rise by almost five degrees by 2070 unless
drastic solutions were enforced.