cross-posted from Fresh Energy blog

Posted May 5th on the Vatican website: “We
appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay,
effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate
change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and
their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home.“

The Vatican’s science advisory panel, the Pontifical Academy of Science, released a report in which they call for urgent global action on climate change. The Fate of the Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene
report details what climate change experts have been warning for years:
the Earth is getting warmer due to human activity, glaciers are melting
at an alarming rate, and urgent measures are necessary to stem the
damage. It was signed by independent glaciologists, climate scientists,
meteorologists and chemists. The scientists called for urgent reduction
of carbon dioxide emissions, reductions in methane and other pollutants
that warm the air and cause climate change, and preparations for climate
change adaptation.

The Vatican message is in
line with statements from every major religious denomination, calling
for reduction in the human causes of climate change, because it will
disproportionately impact the world’s poorest people.