On 23rd September the Pope addressed US Congress on several issues including poverty, weapons and immigration quoting his publication, Laudato Si. However, he did not directly talk about one of today's most pressing issues – climate change.
In a transcript of Pope Francis' speech, he refers to environmental degradation twice, asking us to "redirect our steps" in order to avoid "the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity". This does not necessarily mean climate change as an individual problem. The Pope has managed to encompass all of man's impacts on the environment in one sentence.
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
We as a species have changed the planet beyond recognition; ancient woodland has been pulled down in half the time it took to grow, our fisheries are dangerously depleted and the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now twice as much as it has ever been.
Senator James Inhofe was quoted as saying Pope Francis' speech "had nothing to do with climate change" in an interview with Washington Watch. As a climate skeptic, it is no surprise that Inhofe clung on to the interpretation that Pope Francis was referring to the 1990 Clean Air Act. Inhofe expresses that lots of people will be disappointed by the lack of focus on climate change, however I for one am not disappointed. Not at all. The Pope's decision to encompass all of humanity's effects on the environment is a stronger message than a single issue.
Pope Francis has drawn the media's attention away from climate change and in doing so has given the rest of the environment a higher billing on the global-political stage. Our urbanising society is becoming ever more detached from the environmental services that are vital to sustaining our cities; this message is equally important to our development over the next 20 years.
Written 22.10.15
