Vatican Encyclical: “War Always Does Grave Harm to the Environment”

Jun 19, 2015 | Doug Weir
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The Vatican’s latest encyclical ‘Care for Our Common Home’ has triggered much rejoicing from the environmental movement, and justifiably so, coming as it does in the run up to the latest round of climate change negotiations. But in questioning the global economic order and its depredations on the planetary environment, Pope Francis has also sought to communicate a wide range of problems that have blocked progress on environmental protection. There will be much interest in the repercussions from what many may view as a radical agenda for global environmental reform.

Humanitarian environmentalism

On chemical pollution and waste, Francis observes that: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”. [21] But, in common with the rest of the text he underscores the connection between contamination and the health of the poor and vulnerable, by noting that even in locations known to be polluted: “frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected” and “both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest”. This has often proved the case in peacetime, where those with the least social and political capital have been forced to live or work in proximity to hazardous sites. It has also proved true following conflict, where the barriers to effective data collection on environmental risks are higher, and effective governmental response may be wholly absent.