Will future generations look back at Governor Pence with gratitude for defending the Hoosier way of life — or with dismay for entrenching Indiana on the wrong side of environmental and economic history? The corporate world is changing its attitudes on energy and climate; the religious world more so.

Governor Pence’s announcement came just a few days after Pope Francis issued an Encyclical on climate change. The Pope writes: “Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the unconscious, of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence.” “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” In this profound document, the Pope challenges us to understand the climate crisis as an issue of justice between generations, and he reminds us to care for the poor, who will be left homeless and hungry in a climate catastrophe.

Governor Pence would do well to heed the Pope’s admonition.

Sources:

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/pence-obama-indiana-comply-epa-rules-84002/

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29239194

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.pdf

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that climate change threatens the world’s food supply, endangering yields of wheat and maize, as well oceanic fish. Scientists recently found the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is melting, bringing a global rise in sea level that would flood coastal cities around the world and drive mass migration, as well as political conflict.

As a coal state, Indiana produces more carbon dioxide pollution than much more populous states such as New York, Illinois, and California. Indiana’s Congressional delegation protects the coal industry by trying to block carbon regulations. Even Senator Joe Donnelly, who calls climate change “the defining issue of our time,” wrote to President Obama asking for weak E.P.A. regulations on coal.

Indiana would pay a heavy price for being a climate spoiler: in lower crop yields; in storms; in liability as an enraged world held polluters to account; and in drastic adjustments which would be much cheaper if made now.

Pope Francis put it succinctly: “Safeguard Creation. Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!” I hope that Senator Donnelly, a Catholic, is listening.

Sources

The Guardian

The New York Times

National Resources Defense Council

The Hill

NBC Chicago

Think Progress