Axar.az presents an article, "Now, what must we do” by John Samuel Tieman.

I went to a conference at the archdiocesan seminary here, in St. Louis. The subject was Pope Francis' “Laudato Si”, the encyclical in which he denounces irresponsible behaviors that lead to environmental degradation and global warming. He writes that we must take "swift and unified global action".

The conference was in two parts. First, a theologian spoke of the Church's consistent teaching on the environment, a teaching that stretches back to St. Thomas Aquinas. That lecture was extremely informative. The second part discussed what actions to take. And that second part, well, yes and – I'd like to add this one other thing.

About that second part. I've heard for a long time that we need to educate folks about climate change. If we educate them, then they will come to see that there is a climate crisis and act accordingly. I applaud this effort. It's kind, generous, and could go a long way to ameliorate our troubles. It's reasonable. There is indeed a political center, let's we call it, that can be enlightened. But that's only one part of the problem. And it's not the worst part. The worst part is characterized by intransigence.

“The Economist” rates Donald Trump's overall approval at 40% That number is consistent. In my interactions with Trump voters, I find most of them impervious to reason or, to be blunt, facts. They generally believe that the climate crisis is a “con job” and a “scam”, as Pres. Trump recently said before the General Assembly of the United Nations. Their belief is impenetrable. Maybe someday such folks can be reasoned with. Maybe someday such folks can be enlightened. But now, today, in this political arena, such folks need to be defeated. In charity, in love, in kindness to our planet and our fellow beings, climate change deniers must be defeated. Now.

Consider the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change of the United Nations. The panel recently outlined five possible climate futures. In the first four, there is a presumption that world leaders, governments, and businesses act together to drive global temperatures toward pre-industrial levels. In the first, we get aggressive and successfully reduce emissions. The next three get progressively worse. Then there's the fifth scenario, the worst-case scenario. What if we do nothing? Nothing is pretty much what our federal and state governments are now doing in the United States. The answer to that question is another question. Who knows? No one has ever gone there. But there are projections. The polar ice caps will melt. This melting will lead to a sea level rise of 200-plus feet over a few thousand years. There will be mass extinctions. Extreme heat will become the norm. Farming, in what are today fertile areas, will become impossible. Fishing will become difficult because oceans will become acidic and lack oxygen. This list could go on and on. Note that the worst cast projection is not a wild guess. It's the likelihood if we do nothing.

Which brings us back to the intransigence of the MAGA world. They have the right to be wrong. But they are wrong. Their denial of climate change endangers the planet. And we have the right to defeat them. Indeed, we don't simply have the right to defeat them. We have a moral obligation. Our national government has abnegated its moral responsibility to deal with the climate crisis. Our state governments have abnegated their moral responsibility to deal with the climate crisis. Climate action thus falls to the region, to the county and the municipality, to the diocese and the parish. This is not tomorrow's problem. The planet is burning today.

In “The Year Of Living Dangerously”, Billy Kwan, quoting Leo Tolstoy, says “What then must we do? We must give with love to whoever God has placed in our path.” I applaud efforts at education. They're necessary. They're one approach. But we can't avoid the tough-minded realities of today's politics. Every effort must be made to defeat climate crisis deniers. Be it at the poll, be it at the protest, be it from the pulpit – for the sake of the planet, for the sake of the neighbor, for the sake of the love, climate crisis denial must be defeated.