TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD FOCUS ON SEAWEED

 TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD FOCUS ON SEAWEED

Pope Francis put his populist agenda on full display Thursday in Africa, speaking out against the illegal trade in ivory, diamonds, human trafficking and warning of the “catastrophic” perils of climate change.

In a speech at the regional U.N. headquarters in Nairobi, the Pope had to pause several times as wave after wave of applause filled the spacious room.

STASI: TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD FOCUS ON SEAWEED

“This situation is a cry rising up from humanity and the Earth itself, one which needs to be heard by the international community,” Francis said, as he roundly denounced the illegal trade in diamonds, precious stones and other metals.

He also criticized the illegal poaching trade that saw animals like elephants killed for their ivory tusks.

), talks to Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) Sahle-Work Zewde (l.), before delivering his speech at the UN headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

“What an impolite pope!” he said of himself.

Francis gave multiple speeches on the second day of his six-day visit to three nations in Africa — and he paid particular attention to those who refute the science of global warming.

His pointed warnings came on the eve of high-profile climate change talks in Paris.

1. I. Pollution and climate change

Pollution, waste and the throwaway culture

1. Some forms of pollution are part of peo­ple’s daily experience. Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor, and causes mil­lions of premature deaths. People take sick, for example, from breathing high levels of smoke from fuels used in cooking or heating. There is also pollution that affects everyone, caused by transport, industrial fumes, substances which contribute to the acidification of soil and water, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and agrotoxins in general. Technology, which, linked to business interests, is presented as the only way

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of solving these problems, in fact proves inca­pable of seeing the mysterious network of re­lations between things and so sometimes solves one problem only to create others.

21. Account must also be taken of the pollution produced by residue, including dangerous waste present in different areas. Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is begin­ning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elder­ly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemi­cal products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irrevers­ibly affected.
22. These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. To cite one example, most of the paper we produce is thrown away and not recycled. It is hard for us to accept that the way natural ecosystems work is exemplary: plants synthesize nutrients which feed herbivores; these in turn become food for carnivores, which produce significant quantities

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of organic waste which give rise to new genera­tions of plants. But our industrial system, at the end of its cycle of production and consumption, has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and by-products. We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of produc­tion capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them. A seri­ous consideration of this issue would be one way of counteracting the throwaway culture which affects the entire planet, but it must be said that only limited progress has been made in this re­gard.