Today was a teachable moment (beyond the horrific, racist shooting in Charleston). Sometimes you have two moments that appear together and need to be connected. As I sat out West (on the road for work), it became clear that what the Pope had to say about climate change and the desperate attempts by the president to ram through fast track are deeply connected.
The Pope was clear: it's the economic system that is killing the planet.
Account must also be taken of the pollution produced by residue, including dangerous waste present in different areas. Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.
And:
Many of those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms, simply making efforts to reduce some of the negative impacts of climate change. However, many of these symptoms indicate that such effects will continue to worsen if we continue with current models of production and consumption.[emphasis added]
And:
It needs to be said that, generally speaking, there is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the excluded. Yet they are the majority of the planet’s population, billions of people. These days, they are mentioned in international political and economic discussions, but one often has the impression that their problems are brought up as an after-thought, a question which gets added almost out of duty or in a tangential way, if not treat-ed merely as collateral damage. Indeed, when all is said and done, they frequently remain at the bottom of the pile. This is due partly to the fact that many professionals, opinion makers, communications media and centres of power, being located in affluent urban areas, are far removed from the poor, with little direct contact with their problems. They live and reason from the comfortable position of a high level of development and a quality of life well beyond the reach of the majority of the world’s population. This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality. [emphasis added]
And:
“We note that often the businesses which operate this way are multinationals. They do here what they would never do in developed countries or the so-called First world. Generally, after ceasing their activity and withdrawing, they leave behind great human and environmental liabilities such as unemployment, abandoned towns, the depletion of natural reserves, deforestation, the impoverishment of agriculture and local stock breeding, open pits, riven hills, polluted rivers and a handful of social works which are no longer sustainable”
Now, this is all directly connected to the so-called "free trade" model. If you read the above, and the entire document, virtually every point made that effects climate change is a feature, not a bug, of so-called "free trade".
So, it was a deeply ironic fact that as the Pope outlines the climate change crisis, the president was ramming through a policy that makes climate change worse and empowers the economic system the Pope is criticizing.
One example. More than a year ago, I wrote about how the TPP would undermine global environmental protections.
The president is oblivious--or he doesn't care.
Fact is, by pushing fast track and the TPP, the president is uniting with a huge swath of the climate change deniers, and making the climate crisis worse, no matter what else he does about emissions and alternative energy.
You cannot continue to advance a destructive economic strategy with so-called "free trade" and, at the same time, say, "gee, I care about climate change"
So, the president essentially flipped off the Pope.