Pope's views could shape Iowa's climate change debate

Pope Francis' call for global action to combat environmental degradation has sparked Bishop Richard Pates of the Diocese of Des Moines to summon Iowans to environmental advocacy.

"I think it's a clarion call for all of us," Pates said in an interview.

People should not only examine their own habits that cause environmental damage, but "become advocates for change."

"For us in Iowa, that would be in the caucuses — to raise the issues in the midst of the campaign on a significant level," Pates said. "We have the future of the Earth at stake. Taking action is a morally correct position."

Those involved in the issue say the pope's 184-page encyclical, released Thursday, could indeed shape public policy in Iowa.

"It moves the debate," said Rob Hogg, a state senator from Cedar Rapids who has written a book on climate change. "Two or three years ago, I proposed a tax credit for people who buy energy-efficient cars, and people thought it cost too much, and it went nowhere. But the same year, the Legislature passed a commercial property tax decrease that cost four times as much.

The pope's message changes the discussion, he said. "It may not happen overnight, but the encyclical is not a one-day deal. It reduces the barriers about the debate and the differences people might have, and increases the discussion on the things we can do about it."

The pope blamed global climate change on human activities and fossil fuels and called for swift action because of its effects on God's creation and the world's poor, who are most adversely affected by it, studies show.

Pates said, "The pope is saying the evidence is there, we can do something about it, and we have the responsibility to."

Not all Iowa Catholics agree with the pope's assertions on the scope of human-caused climate change.

"It will be a good challenge for me," said Tom Quiner of Des Moines, who writes frequently on Catholic issues. "I'm more of a climate change agnostic. There is not sufficient data out there, and the so-called solutions I have also read are going to have a negative impact on the poor."

He plans to read the pope's words carefully, but said there is room for dialogue on the issue of climate change. The encyclical, or teaching letter, doesn't carry the weight of issues such as abortion, "which are non-negotiable," he said.

Care for the Earth is one of the pillars of social justice teachings of the church, Quiner said, and as such he has "stopped using fertilizer in my yard," but is concerned that climate change is unproven and the data may have been skewed.

Discussion expected at Mass, elsewhere

An encyclical is "not like the 10 Commandments," said Joanne Fox, editor of The Catholic Globe, the newspaper of the Diocese of Sioux City. "But the faithful look at these things very seriously. It is the Holy Father's words, and they take them to heart."

The impact will be evident to some Iowa Catholics who attend Mass this weekend. In a letter to priests and deacons, Pates urged them to consider speaking on the encyclical this Sunday.

"While some will inevitably attempt to narrow its view as political or scientific in nature, it is a teaching of the Holy Father, particularly addressed to us, the Church," he wrote.

Bill Cox, a retired Dowling Catholic High School science teacher, said that for individual Catholics, the impact "will depend on the roll-out in individual dioceses. There are some bishops right in line and will pull out all the stops, and there will be sermons in every parish. Some will hide in the corner and pretend it was never issued."

Message goes out to 'all faith traditions'

The encyclical's impact is expected to reach beyond a single denomination.

More than 60 gathered Tuesday at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Urbandale for a public forum organized by the newly formed Des Moines Interfaith Green Coalition, whose members are from 23 congregations of various faith traditions.

At the forum, Cox laid out the evidence behind global climate change. He said humans have caused it, and care for creation is part of every creed on Earth.

"If (presidential) candidates want to say the pope is not a scientist, the reply there is how about all the scientists who have been calling for scrutiny and actions regarding global climate change?" Cox said in an interview later.

Susan Guy is executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, a nonprofit organization that advocates for action on climate change with all faith traditions statewide.

"The pope is saying this isn't just for Catholics," she said. "He is really lifting up the message for all faith traditions."

"It's a calling. We look at the issue of climate change by how it impacts people," she said. "We've made it impersonal by talking about polar bears, but it's important because it hurts people, and will hurt people right here in Iowa. For us with Christian traditions who talk about prophets, the role of the prophet is to draw attention to the problems of the social order. Prophets were pointing to the ways the systems oppress the poor."

Iowa farmers deal with climate change every day, and are doing what they can to adapt to those changes, said Ray Gaesser of Corning, chairman of the American Soybean Association. He uses no-till practices and plants cover crops to save soil and reduce nutrient loss into waterways. "I think that is part of the pope's message."

Ralph Rosenberg, executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council, predicts a greater sense of urgency.

"Candidates and legislators — I'm confident they will hear more those issues today than they did yesterday," he said. "It might strengthen the support for wind energy and strengthen the support for solar, which is growing."

Ideological challenge for some Catholics

Iowa Catholics say the encyclical does present an ideological challenge. Social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage have aligned more closely with the positions of Republicans, while Democrats typically are more supportive of policies to address global climate change. While they insist it's not a political or scientific document, advocacy on its assertions calls for entry into public policy.

In a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll earlier this month, 18 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers would like candidates to talk about the issue of climate change as they campaign for the presidency, while 81 percent of Democrats do.

"A lot of what the church teaches is challenging to people for different reasons. People need to struggle with it and decide what we are going to do about it," Tom Chapman said of the encyclical. He's the executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, at the intersection of church directives and public policy, and he lobbies the Iowa Legislature on bills that affect church issues.

"If you look at our legislative concerns, we already have a section on the environment," he said. "This will definitely be part of our conversation."

Caution raised about exalting technology

Some Iowa Catholics also stressed that the encyclical goes beyond a global warming discussion, addressing issues of pollution, exploitation of the environment, excessive consumption and a blind faith that technology will solve all of those problems.

The pope wrote that technological solutions to man-made problems have made the Earth "less rich and beautiful" while "technological advances and consumer goods continue to abound limitlessly. We seem to think that we can substitute an irreplaceable and irretrievable beauty with something which we have created ourselves."

Pates addressed that section Thursday, calling assertions on the supremacy of technology "practical relativism. Which translates, if it can be done, do it." That must be challenged, he said, while we remember our communion with creation.

"Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures, which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth."