In his encyclical Laudato Si he states the following which is interesting.
(I)Human beings have a Social Mortgage to the Earth.
-"The environment is part of a logic of receptivity. It is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the nextâ€Â(Laudato Si)
-So like a loan for a House, our ownership of the House depends on how responsible we are in maintaining it. It is similar with our ability to survive on the planet as a species
(II)Western countries owe a social and ecological debt to the Global South
-"Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor"(Laudato Si)
-A Social Debt because their capitalist economies were built off the backs of the global south. Ecological Debt because though the problems of Climate Change find their origin in the Industrialization of the 19th century, the effects are felt by the Global South
He states an "intergenerational solidarity" is needed
"Let us not only keep the poor of the future in mind, but also today’s poor, whose life on this earth is brief and who cannot keep on waiting. Hence, “in addition to a fairer sense of intergenerational solidarity there is also an urgent moral need for a renewed sense of intragenerational solidarityâ€Â(Laudato Si)
Added (1). The Pope also brings together multiple perspectives,both from the Scientific community in terms of the Science of Climate Change, and Socially in terms of it's impact on the poor and working class, as well as the moral and ethical duties to nature, quoting from a range of perspectives from the Sufi tradition in Islam to the perspective of Indigenous people on Ecology.
Link:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Read more: Pope Francis. Do you agree with his views on Climate Change and Environment?
