2023's Record Heat Must Spur Action, Not Despair
In an article in Earthbeat—A Project of the National Catholic Reporter news service, Carmelite Eduardo Scarel, a member of the Province of Aragon, Castille, and Valencia (ACV) suggests that Catholics and others should feel empowered to take action by the latest dire forecasts on climate change.
Numerous scientific bodies, using different data sources and analyses, all reached the conclusion that 2023 was the hottest year on planet Earth since record-keeping began in the 1850’s. Greenhouse gas emissions released from burning coal, oil and gas trap heat in the atmosphere and are the primary drivers of climate change. While factors like El Niño and declining levels of cooling aerosols in the atmosphere contributed some to 2023's record-shattering temperatures, scientists were clear the main factor was emissions from fossil fuels.
The year 2023 surpassed the previously hottest year, 2016, by the largest margin ever. The hottest 10 years on record have all occurred in the past decade. Looking ahead, 2024 has a one-in-three chance of exceeding 2023's record heat and is virtually certain to rank among the five hottest years.
In December at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, nations for the first time agreed on the need to transition from fossil fuels — a step that scientists and environmental activists have urged for years but one that had never been included within a U.N.-negotiated document.
While the text from the summit lacks specifics on how or when to end the use of fossil fuels, Catholics and other people of faith have a role to play in holding their respective countries accountable —as Pope Francis called for in a speech to heads of state and government at COP28, the U.N. Climate Change Conference on December 2 in Dubai. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, delivered the talk in the stead of Pope Francis.
