Bush’s Confession: Empty Words on Global Warming

LCV Press Secretary Josh McNeil has written another astute press release:

In response to President Bush’s Rose Garden address on global warming, Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters, issued the following statement:

"Earlier this year, the Vatican announced that polluting is a sin, and we had hoped that Pope Benedict could convince President Bush to take meaningful action to reduce global warming,” Karpinski said. "The President may have confessed that global warming is a problem, but his inadequate proposals show that he'd rather kiss the rings of oil executives than listen to the Holy Father and every reputable climate scientist in the world. This proposal is too little, too late to effectively reverse global warming and too little, too late to save this President's record of failure."

Holy Smoke...or Not

Over the weekend Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in issues of conscience, told Italian Magazine 'L'Osservatore Romano' that ecological damage is one of today's manifestations of sin. In recent months Pope Benedict has also urged Catholics to protect the environment, citing climate change as a critical issue.

Last year the Vatican made headlines by going carbon neutral. To offset its own emissions, it donated about $130,000 to Klimafa, an organization that is reforesting a national park in Hungary. The Vatican also hosted a scientific conference on global warming, and made plans to install electricity-generating photovoltaic cells on the papal audience hall adjacent to St. Peter's Basilica.

We know that protecting the environment is vital to preserving life on earth. According to the Pope, it's important for getting into the afterlife too.