Hales signs climate change declaration at Vatican

Bell, an African-American, told 60 fellow mayors from around the world Tuesday: “At the time of my birth, I was born into a society in Birmingham, Alabama, that existed as a close cousin of slavery called segregation”.

This conference in Vatican City is another way to bring climate change to the global stage for serious consideration and planning. He has also signed nonbinding climate change pacts with other states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The degradation of the environment by these activities, the Pope said, causes many people to leave their homes, thus feeding into the mass migrations that give rise to human trafficking. That’s a new word for mayors. “Mayors are actually responsible for getting things done”.

Pope Francis addressed the issue during a meeting with mayors from capital cities around the world, including Bill de Blasio from New York and Gustavo Petro from Bogota.

DURING HIS relatively short time as head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has distinguished himself by adhering to a simpler gospel, one that concentrates on basic faith-based impulses to minister to the sick and to feed the hungry.

Tony Chammany, mayor of Kochi, a city on India’s western coast, tied these ideas together with examples from his country.

In spite of having a minimal role in the disruption of the climate, the poor and excluded face dire threats from human-induced climate change, including the increased frequency of droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, and rising sea levels.

In his address to the conference on Tuesday, Pope Francis warned against reliance on “technocracy” as a solution to problems of poverty.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee announced new measures as well, saying the city that takes its name from the pope’s nature-loving namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, would transition its municipal fleet of fire trucks, buses and trucks from petroleum diesel to renewable energy sources by the end of the year. Among those given audience with the pope were Governor Jerry Brown and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. Cities account for two-thirds of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions, are the drivers of the world economy and are expected to grow enormously over the coming decades as the poor flock to urban centers in search of work.

“There was a period when our forefathers didn’t know anything about development”, he said.

“We, as a city, have had a number of successes there and are doing the partnerships there as well throughout the city and I am guessing that came to attention of the Vatican”.

For many, the conference was a sign of Francis’s continuing interest in reaching out to ordinary people, as well as his commitment to pushing the message for radical changes contained in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, or “May Praise Be To You”, published last month.

Mayor Angela Brown-Burke of Kingston, Jamaica, told CNS that if local people have no options, they will continue to use polluting fuels. In her tweets, the Mayor described the meeting as surreal.

“Anywhere he goes, I think you’re going to see a great outpouring of support for him”, Mr.de Blasio said. It is unthinkable, she said, that in the 21st century there still are enslaved humans. One official said it was not a slight, but that cities facing the most severe crises of climate change and human trafficking were given priority at the podium.