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The leader of the world's largest Christian faith might succeed in doing something that many experts have failed to achieve: communicating the urgency of global warming.
That’s one reaction Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate change and the environment, Laudato Si ("Praised Be"), released today. It includes a call for "a new dialogue" on the planet's future, an accessible summary of climate science, a stinging critique of international talks that have produced ineffectual environmental agreements, and a rebuke of profit-driven economic development. The letter—184 pages long in its English version—also goes far beyond climate issues, touching on biodiversity conservation, genetically modified crops, and other issues.
The encyclical’s direct language is "something everyone can understand," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric physicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the in San Diego, California, in a teleconference shortly before the encyclical was released in Rome. In contrast, he said, reports by international groups of scientists are often "so sanitized" they are hard to follow.
In his introduction, Francis makes clear he is addressing all people, not only Roman Catholics. He...