On Sunday 11 October, Pope Francis sent a video message to the digital event "Countdown", organised by the TED at global level on climate change.
It is time to change, said the Pontiff, "because the current economic system is not working". In fact, the current crisis has highlighted the evils that afflict humanity: "how we produce, how we consume, how we think about our culture of waste, the short-term vision, the exploitation of the poor, indifference towards them, the increase in inequalities and dependence on harmful energy sources".
For this, continued Francis, a choice must be made: "Between continuing to ignore the suffering of the poorest and mistreat our common home, the Earth, or committing ourselves at every level to transform our way of acting. Everyone - Christian or non-Christian, believer or non-believer - must feel called "to make a significant contribution".
In Laudato si' there are already concrete proposals.
First: "to promote, at every level, education in the care of the common home, developing the understanding that environmental problems are linked to human needs; an education based on scientific data and an ethical approach".
Second: "Access to safe drinking water is an essential and universal human right. It is essential, because it determines people's survival and is therefore a condition for the exercise of all other rights and responsibilities". And "ensuring adequate food for all through non-destructive farming methods should become the fundamental aim of the entire food production and distribution cycle".
Finally, the energy transition: "A progressive, but without delay, replacement of fossil fuels with clean energy sources. We have only a few years, scientists calculate approximately less than thirty, to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. This transition must not only be rapid and capable of meeting present and future energy needs, but must also be attentive to the impacts on the poor, local populations and those working in the energy production sectors".
Everyone can and must play a decisive role in the care of the common home. Because there is little time left. And "because the future - concluded Pope Francis - is being built today, and it is being built not alone, but in community and in harmony".
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