Paul Etienne, Catholic Bishop of Cheyenne, with jurisdiction over the Diocese of Wyoming, was cited recently in Inside Energy as calling Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ “a call to action” for Wyoming, the nation’s largest coal-producing state.

But there might not be quite so much to what Bishop Etienne said as Inside Energy would wish. The sole quote from him is this:

I know this document is going to disturb many people in this state,” he said, “because it is very much an energy-driven state. But, I think it’s premature for people to be alarmed that he’s calling for immediate change or to say what we’re doing is sinful.

That’s not a lot to go on. And when one looks at Bishop Etienne’s blog post dedicated to discussing Laudato Si’, one doesn’t find a lot more. “It is important to understand that Pope Francis is speaking not as a scientist nor as a politician, but as a Pastor,” he says there. “More than anything, this document is a moral analysis of the challenges facing the world community today, and a road map calling for conversion, dialogue, and hope.”

Quite right. Popes claim authority only in matters of faith (doctrine, dogma) and morals, not in science, history, or other intellectual fields. And Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ is a prime example of the wisdom of that restriction. Though its discussion of doctrine and morals is, as would be expected, quite competent, its treatment of environmental matters generally, and of climate change in particular, shows little comprehension of the complex scientific, technological, and economic issues involved. It reads more like a patchwork of public relations statements from environmental advocacy groups than a serious discussion of climate, energy, and how the two relate to human thriving.

Etienne also writes on his blog,

Pope Francis gives a wise assessment of the sociological as well as the technological practices that are at the heart of the ecological challenge before us. At the same time, he wishes to “encourage an honest and open debate, so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good.”

Unfortunately, neither the Pope’s encyclical nor the way it was created is very consistent with that call for “honest and open debate,” since scientific critics of CAGW were assiduously excluded from the Pontifical Academies of Sciences’ deliberations on which Francis depended.

Probably the most substantive thing Etienne said is this, again from his blog:

For those of us living in ‘energy states,’ such as Wyoming, the document clearly challenges the use of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas. (# 165) Before we get overly alarmed with this challenge, it is important to point out that the poor, care for the environment, and economic growth are not necessarily mutually exclusive. They go together. The Holy Father is simply interested in bringing people to the table for dialogue.   Along with a call for reduction in fossil fuels is the invitation to come up with new innovations.

There is some reassurance in his words, “Before we get overly alarmed with this challenge.” Perhaps Etienne realizes that alarm can be excessive, a point that CAGW alarmists could heed. But what’s most interesting is his connecting the poor, care for the environment, and economic growth. What neither he nor Pope Francis seems to realize is that overcoming poverty absolutely requires access to abundant, affordable, reliable energy, especially in the form of electricity, and that with fossil fuels being the source of some 85% of all energy consumed on earth, that means fossil fuels are essential to overcoming poverty.

Not only that, but Laudato Si’ clearly rests on the assumption that wealth is the primary threat to the environment. Yet observation shows, as Jack Hollander has so clearly demonstrated in his book The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, is the Environment’s Number One Enemy.

As we have said again and again, a clean, healthful, beautiful environment is a costly good, and wealthier people can afford more of a costly good than poorer people. When you’re worried about putting food on the table, clothes on the back, and a roof over the head, you can’t afford to worry, or do, much about air and water pollution, deforestation and soil erosion, or species extinction.

Clearly, if we wish to protect and enhance our environment, we must begin by overcoming poverty. And fossil fuels have been, and for the foreseeable future will remain, indispensable to that.

We’re just coming “to the table for dialogue,” just as Pope Francis and Bishop Etienne say they desire.

 

 

Featured image courtesy of “Always Shooting,” Creative Commons, used by permission.