My conversion moment came while walking along a busy interstate highway in Spain, crowded with trucks that were passing me every second, blowing me off my feet and filling my lungs with their exhaust gases. I knew then that we cannot go on like this- by Tony Kevin

'We are called to exercise responsible stewardship of creation, to use resources in such a way that every individual and community can live with dignity, and to develop 'that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God.'

In my parish pew-sheet at Mass the other day, I found this succinct excerpt from the Pope's recent message to delegates, including Kevin Rudd, who attended the United Nations Heads of Government summit in New York.

In what follows, I presume the truth of the latest mainstream climate science: that the world now faces between 2 and 4 degrees rise in global average temperature by 2100 or earlier; that this will have early and dire consequences in terms of sea level rises, desertification, lowland inundations and sharply reduced food-growing potential for the world's burgeoning population; that this global warming is predominantly man-made; and that urgent efforts to curtail fossil fuel combustion in the way humanity runs its electricity and transport systems are vital, if we hope to mitigate and adapt to these global climate disruptions.

To those Australians who reject any of the above presumptions, (and there seems to be a growing number of them), this essay will have limited interest. But many of these people profess Christianity. They might temporarily suspend their disbelief in climate science, to engage with the Pope's words. He clearly sees his obligation to consider the moral consequences of climate science's messages:

'The economic and social costs of using up shared resources must be recognised with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations. The protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of resources and of the climate, oblige all leaders to act jointly, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the world. Together we can build an integral human development beneficial for all peoples, present and future, a development inspired by the values of charity in truth'. [My italics] .

Australians as a people of Christian heritage know the parable of the Good Samaritan, who put compassion for another human being in distress ahead of his own present comfort and security. The Pope's strong words about leaders' obligations to those who come after us, those who still depend on us as children, and to those who are yet unborn, remind us that the parable has an inter-generational as well as an inter-personal meaning. His words remind us of our obligation to protect the climate security of our children, even at some present-day cost to ourselves.

The cheapest energy solution – continuing to burn coal - is not a moral solution if it steals our children's climate security from them. Especially when Australia has affordable and technically feasible alternatives to coal.

The Pope's words also cast a different light on those who see the forthcoming Copenhagen meeting as a test whether the world can strike a 'grand global bargain' for sharing and trading the costs of global climate change mitigation and adaptation. Most commentators now correctly forecast that such a bargain is beyond the reach of the Copenhagen negotiators. Some are preparing to pronounce Copenhagen a diplomatic failure, and to go back to business and politics as usual.

But I do not see such an outcome as failure. I see good prospects that Copenhagen will produce a series of loosely linked national commitments to pursue scientifically meaningful national carbon emissions reduction strategies, expressed quantitatively by measuring rods of nations' own choosing, but in ways that will collectively add up to a serious global effort to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. This may be packaged as a 'global bargain', but in truth it will be more than this.

By abandoning the present market-rationalist preoccupation with striving for international deals in which one nation is not cheated by others into paying more than its 'fair share', the world's leaders may bring other shared values into play: altruism, compassion, and constructive emulation. One sees this already in the different – but mutually supportive – pre-Copenhagen emissions reduction commitments now being announced by the United States, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the EU.

This article was originally published at Eureka Street, to read more and for more information click view.

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