Tomorrow Pope Francis will publish his much-anticipated encyclical on climate change and the environment. Here’s a hilarious and prophetically accurate preview of the film version coming to a theater near you! Don’t miss it!
“The Encyclical”: The Movie Preview
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About Things That Matter 
Funny and cute, but I hear Pope Francis is not going to address aggressive human population growth rates. Sewage and garbage are also toxic to other life. Tubal ligation is a huge blessing for those with access, yet the Church restricts this abortion-preventing surgery without reason — it is a real stretch of logic to define tubal ligation or vasectomy as “mutilation” after a couple already has all the offspring they can support physically and emotionally.
Limiting family size goes a long way towards reducing poverty. Wages go up when population numbers go down, whether because of Bubonic Plague or because of safe, intentional contraception.
The gray-faced “businessman” in the video is a farce. We could meet the enemy in ourselves and control personal habits instead of looking for an “evil other” to bear the distasteful burden of our sins as a scapegoat offering. How many churches and colleges address the practical issues of living in the 21st century?
Responsible town layouts provide sidewalks that go all the way from homes to commercial areas — also bike paths, and implied safety for travelers so that people do not feel vulnerable to criminal assaults when not encased in metal armor of automobiles.
Berea has many anti-strip-mining initiatives, but most students (while I attended) still did not connect cheap coal to wasteful habits. Why choose electric clothes dryers when drying racks would do? (unless, possibly neighbors who lack healthy social principles will steal your clothes from the drying rack? The Ten Commandments help people to work together effectively for common goods.)
The temperature of buildings can often be comfortably adjusted in our temperate climate year without whole-house air conditioning and heating. Fans, awnings, trees, porches and placement of windows can be managed intelligently; also clothing can be designed in ways that keep bodies warmer or cooler, dressing appropriately for the season. Designing/sewing clothing is a fun, practical art (and should the Pope model more climate-appropriate vestments when visiting the tropics?) Just a few ideas poppin’ up
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Good ideas, Mary. The pope actually does address most of them. His encyclical is quite comprehensive and informed. And he does address population control as a solution to the problems facing the planet.
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Hi Mike
I was wondering if you plan a comment/blog-post on Francis’ letter.
It is so hard for some of us to wade thru the agenda driven international corporate press, all hustling their own bottom line.
Few of us will plough through the whole document.
We all know the press care as much about climate chance as they do about journalism.
I thought it was better than expected but still too open to interpretation…too Roman.
Too weak to be other than here today gone tomorrow.
I had hoped for some broad-brush excommunications!
Lutheran style…nailed to the tail of the bull outside the NYSE.
Regards Jim
Clearly out of touch with reality.
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Naomi Klein is pressing the right buttons.
Jc
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/6/18/pope_francis_bold_cultural_revolution_needed
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Yes she is, Jim. Loved her on “Democracy Now” yesterday.
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Jim: In my opinion, the encyclical could hardly be stronger. It’s a beautiful document saying all the things liberation theologians and activists like Wendell Berry have been saying for 40 years. And it won’t be :”gone tomorrow.” The pope’s visit to the U.S. in September and the Paris Climate Summit in December guarantee that it will be kept alive for at least that long. It’s a gem.
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