The poor on earth need our help

The following are Dr. E. Calvin Beisner's comments at a press conference in Rome April 27.

Having read some 50 books on the science and more than 30 on the economics of climate policy, plus thousands of articles, including hu1ndreds of peer-reviewed ones, I could talk on those topics. I could point out that computer climate models on average simulate twice as much warming as observed over the relevant period, and none simulated the complete absence of warming over the past 18 years. That means the models are wrong, and therefore they provide no rational basis to fear manmade warming, and therefore no rational basis for any climate policy. But others here are fully qualified to discuss that, so I won't.

I'm here to discuss the ethics of climate policy.

When I was a small child, my father, working for the U.S. State Department, was posted to Calcutta, India. There my mother contracted a virus that paralyzed her for about six months, leaving her unable to care for her four children. My two oldest sisters were students at Loretto House, the school run by the nun who would become Mother Theresa -- and one of them went back to work alongside Mother Theresa some 20 years later. But my other sister and I were too young for school, so we were sent to spend each day with different Indian families. Early each morning, my aia, or nurse, would walk me several blocks to the home where I stayed. That experience left me with indelible picture memories of the dead bodies of those who had died of hunger and disease overnight, over and around whose bodies we stepped.

Those picture memories are the root of my passion to see the world's poor rise out of poverty. And that's why I'm here. That's why I'm willing to pour myself into the battle against global warming alarmism. The policies meant to mitigate global warming all involve -- though they do not explicitly say so -- slowing the rise out of poverty for the world's poor.

Why? Because all involve depriving them of access to abundant, affordable, reliable energy derived from fossil fuels. No society has ever risen out of poverty without that, and for the foreseeable future none will, because energy plays a crucial role in making and moving everything -- food, clothing, shelter, transportation, medical care, communications, everything -- and fossil fuels are the most abundant, affordable, reliable source of that energy.

There is no empirical evidence -- the only kind that counts in science -- that our use of fossil fuels is driving dangerous warming. But there is overwhelming evidence that our use of them is crucial to lifting the world's remaining 4 billion or so poor out of poverty and the miseries that accompany it, including disease and premature death.

There is also overwhelming evidence that our use of fossil fuels enhances plant life around the world by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. On average, for every doubling of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, there is a 35 percent increase in plant growth efficiency. Plants grow better in warmer and cooler temperatures and in wetter and drier soil and make better use of soil nutrients, consequently expanding their ranges, greening the planet and shrinking deserts. They resist diseases and pests better. They improve fruitage. That's a win-win-win situation, because pretty much all life on earth is plants or something that eats plants or something that eats something that eats plants. Rising CO2 therefore makes food more available for the world's poor -- the very thing Pope Francis should want. It also reflects more access to more energy, alleviating poverty -- again, the very thing Pope Francis no doubt wants.

The Bible, the Word of God, requires rulers to protect the poor from oppression. Psalm 72 teaches that the godly prince protects the poor, because they cannot protect themselves. When after his conversion Paul the Apostle visited the other Apostles in Jerusalem, the only thing they asked of him was that he remember the poor, which he said in Galatians 2:10 was "the very thing I was eager to do."

The policies meant to mitigate global warming would oppress the poor by depriving them of the energy without which they cannot rise out of poverty. If we are to "remember the poor" and protect them from oppression, we must oppose such policies. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it (2459, 2460, 2463):

"Man (not the earth, mind you, but man) is himself the author, center, and goal of all economic and social life. The decisive point of the social question is that good created by God for everyone -- good including abundant, affordable, reliable energy stored in fossil fuels, ready to be released and harnessed by man to meet human needs -- should in fact reach everyone in accordance with justice and with the help of charity...."

True development concerns the whole man. It is concerned with increasing each person's ability to respond to his vocation and hence to God's call.

How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (cf. Lk 17:19-31), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay? How can we fail to hear Jesus: 'As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me" (Mt 25:45)?

So I urge Pope Francis to protect the poor by rejecting calls to deprive the world's poor of the abundant, affordable, reliable energy available from fossil fuels. The Cornwall Alliance issued a declaration last year saying just that, copies of which are available here today. We also just issued "An Open Letter to Pope Francis on Climate Change," signed by many outstanding scientists, economists, policy experts, theologians, pastors, and ethicists, making the same point. That too is available here today and on our website, www.CornwallAlliance.org.

•••

Editor's note: Former editor of The TIMES, E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., is spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and is also an author and speaker on the application of the Biblical world view to economics, government, and environmental policy.