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Floods and Droughts--Are They Related?

Pope Francis, in Laudate Deum, citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)"...it is verifiable that specific climate changes provoked by humanity are notably heightening the probability of extreme phenomena that are increasingly frequent and intense. For this reason, we know that every time the global temperature increases by 0.5° C, the intensity and frequency of great rains and floods increase in some areas and severe droughts in others, extreme heat waves in some places and heavy snowfall in others." (LD 5)

 It has not rained in New York City the entire month of October. A bummer for us gardeners, but a mere inconvenience compared to the ongoing drought in our Western states.  

Or in the Amazon.

The world's largest river is parched.

The Amazon River, battered by back-to-back droughts fueled by climate change, is drying up, with some stretches of the mighty waterway dwindling to shallow pools only a few feet deep. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/world/americas/amazon-river-climate-change-brazil.html?searchResultPosition=2

Meanwhile, in the U.K.:  

UK weather: Flash floods leave cars underwater as some areas see more than a month's rainfall

 One more voting reminder!

Again, from The New York Times: "A Pivotal Choice:  Trump vs. Harris on Climate Change" 

Read--or listen:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/28/climate/trump-harris-climate-change.html?searchResultPosition=1

Sharing Laudato Si' comes to you from the St. Andrew the Apostle Care for Creation Ministry, Brooklyn, New York, affiliated with the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement.                                                                                                 Please share!

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Adaptation and Mitigation

   These two words are increasingly being used to name two aspects of how we address climate change.  What do they mean?

Here is an explanation from the World Wildlife Fund:

The climate crisis is increasingly distressing. Fortunately, there are many things we can do to ensure our future is as prosperous as possible. These actions fall into one of two broad categories: climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. These terms go hand-in-hand while navigating through the climate crisis, but they mean very different things. 

Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures. Climate change adaptation means altering our behavior, systems, and—in some cases—ways of life to protect our families, our economies, and the environment in which we live from the impacts of climate change. The more we reduce emissions right now, the easier it will be to adapt to the changes we can no longer avoid.

Mitigation actions will take decades to affect rising temperatures, so we must adapt now to the change that is already upon us—and will continue to affect us in the foreseeable future.

"The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all."  (LS 23)

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Sharing Laudato Si' comes to you from the St. Andrew the Apostle Care for Creation Ministry, Brooklyn, New York, affiliated with the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement. We ask you to please share this information in your own social media platform.

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Floods

There has been a tremendous response to the needs of those in North Carolina and other states whose lives have been upended by the floods generated by Hurricane Helene.  You can join in the relief effort through your donation to Catholic Charities USA:

The website will give you specific details as to how the money is being used.

Bill McKibben explains how this disaster--in an area considered by some to be safe from the effects of climate change-happened:

If you want to understand the horror still unfolding in Appalachia, and actually if you want to understand the 21st century, you need to remember one thing: warm air holds more water vapor than cold....As Hurricane Helene swept in across a superheated Gulf of Mexico, its winds rapidly intensified—that part is really easy to understand, since hurricanes draw their power from the heat in the water....Were it happening just in one place, a compassionate world could figure out how to offer effective relief. But it’s happening in so many places.... We’re now watching the climate crisis play out in real time, week by week, day by day.  

If you want to understand the horror still unfolding in Appalachia, and actually if you want to understand the 21st century, you need to remember one thing: warm air holds more water vapor than cold....As Hurricane Helene swept in across a superheated Gulf of Mexico, its winds rapidly intensified—that part is really easy to understand, since hurricanes draw their power from the heat in the water....Were it happening just in one place, a compassionate world could figure out how to offer effective relief. But it’s happening in so many places.... We’re now watching the climate crisis play out in real time, week by week, day by day.   (Full article here:  https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/water)

In Laudate Deum, Pope Francis writes:   [W]ith the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations, etc. This is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life. The Bishops of the United States have expressed very well this social meaning of our concern about climate change, which goes beyond a merely ecological approach, because “our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together. Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community. The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world”. (LD 2-3)

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Sharing Laudato Si' comes to you from the St. Andrew the Apostle Care for Creation Ministry, Brooklyn, New York, affiliated with the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement. We ask you to please share this information in your own social media platform.

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Faithful Citizenship

  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) publishes an official Catholic voting guide called  "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship". 

  The guide is prefaced with this quote from Pope Francis: 

We need to participate for the common good. Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern.

"Faithful Citizenship"  makes it clear that parishes ought to "address the moral and human dimensions of public issues" and to "share church teaching on human life, human rights, and justice and peace" but must not "endorse or oppose candidates for political office." 

The document examines many issues, including that, "as one human family dwelling in our common home, we must hear 'both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor' and respond to climate change with actions to better protect creation for our brothers and in generations to come."

Early voting is now, or will soon be, in effect in many states.  Make sure to study all candidates and issues--local, state, and national. 

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Sharing Laudato Si' comes to you from the St. Andrew the Apostle Care for Creation Ministry, Brooklyn, New York, affiliated with the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement. We ask you to please share this within your own social media platform.

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Imitating St. Francis

St. Francis is not only about blessing the animals.

This week we are handing the platform over to Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, who writes in his Daily Meditations (9/30/24--"Practicing the Gospel"):

Father Richard identifies a radical change in lifestyle at the heart of Franciscan spirituality and the gospel of Jesus:

For Francis and Clare of Assisi, Jesus became someone to actually imitate, not just to worship. Since Jesus himself was humble and poor, Francis made the pure and simple imitation of Jesus his life’s agenda. In fact, he often did it in an almost absurdly literal way. He was a fundamentalist—not about doctrinal Scriptures—but about lifestyle Scriptures: take nothing for your journey; eat what is set before you; work for your wages; wear no shoes.

At the heart of Franciscan orthopraxy is the practice of paying attention to different things (nature, people on the margins, humility, itinerancy, mendicancy, mission) instead of shoring up the home base. His early followers tried to live the gospel “simply and without gloss,” as Francis told them.

Fr. Rohr's Daily Meditations can be found at:

For his part, Pope Francis tells us that "St. Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically." (LS 10) and

"The poverty and austerity of St. Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled." (LS 11)

Here's a St. Francis song you might not have heard:

CREDITS: Script and lyrics--Nellita Goes; Music--Joey Mendoza; Video: Baby Kangarooo

As the authors of the song add in the comment section:

WE ARE CALLED: To be vehicles, Of love, joy and peace, To go forth empowering all, To put everyone at ease.

Sharing Laudato Si' comes to you from the St. Andrew the Apostle Care for Creation Ministry, Brooklyn, New York, affiliated with the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement. We ask you to please share this within your own social media platform.