An Irrational Climate

 “I’d like to talk to you about climate change sometime. I’m not sure we agree,” said a friend at this morning’s Bible study. 

Indeed, we probably don’t, I say as I just returned from a walk without a coat in northern Delaware the day before the start of the Great Antiphons. 

Pope Francis impeccably diagnosed the true cause of climate change, which is human sin and alienation from God, leading to idolization of earthly comfort and the exclusion of care for fellow man and for God’s creation. This is common sense, as is the solution: repentance from mindless consumption and a willingness to sacrifice comfort and sloth in favor of a more ascetic and dare I say traditional way of living. 

It doesn’t matter if Al Gore is lying, the hype behind recent wildfires and hurricanes is exaggerated, and climate models are fudged. 

What about fossil fueled suburban mediocrity is worth fighting for? 

If climate change is not real, it doesn’t matter. I still want to live in a walkable neighborhood where I don’t need to sit in an uncomfortable metal death trap and strap my kids into harnesses to access basic amenities or see my friends and family. When I do drive, I’d rather not release enough Carbon Monoxide to kill someone. I’d like to power basic amenities without releasing at least five well known toxins. I’d prefer to get most of my food from local farms rather than factories halfway across the country (or the world). We should all want decentralized energy sources so we don’t have to depend on utilities run by teamsters or suppliers like Enron. And what is so objectionable about, say, cutting payroll taxes (which are unavoidable) and shifting those taxes to carbon emissions (which are far more avoidable)? Or cutting the massive government subsidies handed out to oil and coal companies? 

What about the current energy infrastructure is in harmony with tradition? Which looks healthier and more traditional? When are we going to understand that the modern idolization of technology is precisely what destroyed traditional culture and ways of life? 

A German parish near me asserts that it was given a death blow when I-95 destroyed a chunk of its neighborhood and sliced the rest in half. This had to be extremely common and responsible for a huge share of the decay of the once proud jewels of urban church architecture and art. It did not help that this came right around the time of the liturgical reform. The ancient Israelites organized their tents around the tabernacle. We organize our tents around highways, garages, and parking lots. 

King Edward I banned the burning of coal in England, and for good reason, given that more people die from air pollution than from the covid bugaboo. Pope Gregory XVI banned trains in the Papal States, and the experience of ruined families, dispossessed natives, and runaway government expansion following the US railroads would seem to back him up. 

I know the typical arguments contra, from the deranged to the most compelling. They are not good arguments. Al Gore, Greta Thunberg, and climate scientists may lie. Melting ice caps do not. And it’s adorable when American conservatives pretend to care about poor Americans’ energy bills, miners’ livelihoods, and economic development in poor countries as an excuse to block action on climate change.

At a certain point, it’s time to move past the personal dislike for folks visibly identified with action on climate change and be cunning as serpents. Take the proffered opportunity to strike a blow at secular industrialism. Build up local agriculture and businesses especially those of the faith, find a walkable neighborhood with a strong parish if you can, get your energy from someone other than the state or a multinational corporation, and encourage your environmentalist friends to read the Pope’s encyclical. Maybe a short version that skips the awkward forays into climate science and rants about air conditioning. If you like that, you may also like other greatest hits such as Rerum Novarum, Humanae Vitae, and Quanta Cura.