Denial
(ain’t just a river in Egypt)
Dr. Mike Edwards
Climate Change Advisor
CAFOD
Setting the scene
• Our relationship with nature
• The causes of climate change
• The impacts
• What can I do?
“I’m a lover of
learning, and
trees and open
country won’t
teach me
anything, whereas
men in town do.”
(Socrates)
“Nature
takes orders
from man
and works
under his
authority.”
(Bacon)
Descartes separated
spirit from matter,
mind from nature.
“to make us
masters and
possessors of
nature.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
?!
As we have separated from nature
We haveGrowth
made other for
connections!
We have
started to consume
growth’s
sake as a
Way to fill our lives with ‘meaning’.
Population
Causes of
climate change
“There
new and
stronger
Climateismodels
predict
that evidence
by 2100:
that most
of the warming
Is climate
change observed
- over
globalthe
temperature
willisrise by
50 years
a last
serious
threat?
about
1.4-5.8°C
attributable
to human activities.”
-sea-level will rise by about 9-88cm.
(IPCC)
Worst-case!
Short-term
CO2 variation
R. A. Rohde (www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Carbon_Dioxide_Gallery)
Why do the poorest people
in developing countries suffer
the impacts of climate change
first and worst?
Technology provides
part of the solution.
But there will still be
impacts… the CO2 you
produce today will still
be in the atmosphere
in 2107!
So what do we do?
Live
simply,
Be
educated
Reconnect
with
natural
world
The
message
forthe
allasof
us
isasclear…
The
Look
knowledge
with
fresh
iswell
eyes
there,
educating
indigenous
peopleothers!
can guide us
sustainably
and in solidarity
Extracts from
The Call of Creation
by
The Catholic Bishops of
England and Wales
(2002)
Damage to the environment
will almost inevitably affect the
poor most of all.
The plight of the earth
demonstrates that an
individualistic materialism
cannot be allowed to drive out
responsibility and love, and
that care for those in need,
and respect for the rights of
future generations, are
necessary to sustain a proper
life for all.
As ‘co-creators’, our acts
should reflect God’s own love
for creation. We ourselves are
part of creation, formed out of
earth, and dependent on the
rest of creation for our
continued existence: so we are
made aware that caring for
creation is part of caring for
ourselves (Genesis 2:15)
Individual choices can seem
insignificant when faced with
such global challenges. But
multiplied individual actions
can indeed make a real
difference.
This PowerPoint is based on an
original presentation by Dr. Mike Edwards.
Images:
Mike Edwards, Tina Leme, Jim Stipe, Richard Wainright, Simon Rawles, Ivan Nascimento, Anna Field,
Jon Spaull, Philippe Mouguin, Microsoft clipart, NASA/www.visibleearth.nasa.gov
Bust of Socrates, Museé de Louvre, Paris.
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the
conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official
license
Portrait of Francis Bacon.
Photographic reproduction of the original work of art is in the public domain due to
copyright expiration.
Portrait of René Descartes, by Frans Hals, 1648. Museé de Lourve, Paris.
This image is in the public domain due to copyright expiration.
Graph of short-term CO2 variation R. A. Rohde
www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Carbon_Dioxide_Gallery
Some of the images used in this PowerPoint are from unknown sources.
This presentation must only be used for educational purposes.