This is something I can finally agree on, without issue, with Catholics: the Pope preaches to Australian Catholics about climate change (WSJ, sub. not required!). I’m fairly certain this will be the only time I agree with Catholics, or even the Pope, on an issue that’s actually important.
Thankfully this isn’t one of those brain-dead “God did/said it” speeches and makes humans solely responsible for their actions, Pope Benedict XVI uses Biblical messages to promote stewardship and engender care for the environment. I can’t find any specifics on exactly what he said just yet (I haven’t found an online transcript) but I’m sure he used things such as tithing in part of planning for his speech itself. See, tithing isn’t just about giving money to the church/clergy but also about community. The men who wrote the Bible understood that the message of sharing and donation were important which is why they stated all men who are able, should leave a portion of their crops for harvest by those who are needy or cannot afford to buy food stuffs (see Deut. 26:10-13). This was especially important in regards to Levites and Levite Priests but applies just as aptly to the poor, widowed, homeless, and outcasts.
Of course, this doesn’t mean much today as I doubt Catholics want to tithe to Jewish priests but the point is still the same: help people. The Pope was preaching his message heaviest to those who will make the most difference long term, young Catholics. Other leaders and companies need to take a lesson from this as for many products and issues are pitched at the wrong age groups. The most impressionable age group will be from roughly 12-30 since they will grow up learning that taking care of the environment is important and that will reflect later on in their life choices. It’s important to get this message out to as many as possible but like many things, it’s important to get this ingrained into the minds of kids as they will undoubtedly carry the most weight and purchasing power during the periods of when this is most important. Pushing EVs and hybrids to adults is important and a smart move as they have the buying power to get companies to recognize trends but making sure kids understand this same thing is more important as they’ll be far more likely to want to purchase an EV once they can drive or can purchase their first car (EVs are just an easy example but it’s applicable everywhere).
Movement in masses is exactly why (most) politicians try and up-play the younger generation, those freshly able to vote in their first Presidential race or Congressional elections. Companies should make the same moves, although more intelligently since they can have limitless coffers of money to spend on surveys and focus groups of 16-24 year olds. If politicians can wrap their heads around things like Twitter and Myspace, what’s stopping Toyota or Nissan or GM from listening to their customers and creating truly earth-friendly products, especially when money is involved? Or making best use of the mediums available to them for information dissemination and gathering? With mountains of free and readily available data, they’d be foolhardy to not heed it, even in the least amount possible.
Recent movements in Southern Baptist circles, the Religious Right, and Catholics are stirring to get their constituents involved more as the Bible clearly has messages about caring for the earth and fellow man. I may not agree with the overall message and its delivery but I do agree that getting more people on board the “green”, sustainable, “hippie”, environmental, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it movement is going to make a lot of important sit up and take notice. Companies understand what their customers want through marketing and surveys but they’ll understand what’s important to us a lot more if we start allocating spending dollars to more sustainable products and methods. They’ll switch over to get our money a lot quicker than if they had simply listened to market test groups and survey results.
I’m not sure where the Popeplane is touching down again but now that the G8 summit has concluded, one can be certain that he’ll be making more environmentally-focused speeches in the short-term and reaching out to the young Catholics at hand to try and make a difference, or try and convince their parents or politicians or companies to make a difference. Whatever he says to those ends is what matters and raising awareness is the biggest hurdle that we all have to deal with.
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