On a trip to Indonesia in
early September, 2024, Pope Francis signed a declaration on religious harmony
and environmental protection at the Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta with the mosque’s
grand imam. The Pope said that our species was facing a “serious crisis” bought
about by war and the destruction of the environment.[1]
Of war, the tremendous destruction of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and
Gaza that had been taking place was doubtless on the cleric’s mind. Of the
environment, climate change was undoubtedly on his mind. In addition
to volcanoes and wild fires, human emissions of carbon into the atmosphere were
poised to push the global temperature increase above the critical threshold of 2.5
degrees C above the pre-industrial level. What connects the two problems at the
root—the source of the two problems—went unmentioned. In fact, the Pope made a
statement that, if acted upon, stood to exacerbate the underlying problem: the exponential explosion of growth of the human population in the twentieth century.
1. Joel Guinto, “Pope and
Top Indonesian Imam Make Joint Call for Peace,” BBC.com, September 5, 2024.
