In their statement, Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good, the U.S. Catholic Bishops declared: We especially want to focus on the needs of the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests. Inaction and inadequate or misguided responses to climate change will likely place even greater burdens on already desperately poor peoples. Action to mitigate global climate change must be built upon a foundation of social and economic justice that does not put the poor at greater risk or place disproportionate and unfair burdens on developing nations.
As Bishop Wenski (Orlando), Chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace emphasized at a press conference: "The real "inconvenient truth" is that those who contribute least to climate change will be affected the most and have the least capacity to cope or escape."
The USCCB and other partners in the faith community continue to support the current anti-poverty provisions and will support additional improvements as the bill is debated including 1) more and earlier funding for international adaptation measures in the early years and 2) better targeting and more effective vehicles for the domestic low-income energy assistance provisions.
Go to www.catholicsandclimatechange.org for more information.