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In the face of the threat of civilizational and planetary destruction caused by anthropogenic climate change, too many world leaders and peoples are failing to respond adequately. Evaggelos Vallianatos believes that Pope Francis is right in saying that the world is collapsing. In this pop-up, he will offer an introduction to the history and dangers of climate change, and argue that we need to heed the call of Pope Francis to organize a movement of resistance and change to the ceaseless use of fossil fuels causing global warming.

“I have realized that our responses [to the climate crisis] have not been adequate, while the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.”

-Pope Francis, Laudate Deum

DESCRIPTION

Pope Francis is right in saying that the world is collapsing. Evaggelos Vallianatos believes that we should join Pope Francis and his followers to organize a movement of resistance to the use of fossil fuels polluting our planet. This movement would seek to educate religious people, schools, governments to start taking climate change seriously. The idea would be to switch from fossil fuels to solar and wind energy for our homes, cars, transportation, electricity production and other uses of energy. This transition has to start immediately, and Vallianatos wants to start locally, in places like Claremont, to try and make it a paradigm for imitation. All schools, including the Claremont Colleges and the Graduate University, should be convinced to put solar panels on the roofs of their buildings as wells to teach students about global warming. The City of Claremont and communities like the Pilgrim Place need to produce their energy with renewable resources.

The burning of petroleum, natural gas, and coal emit solar heat absorbing gases. This additional heat makes the existing solar heat higher. This higher temperature triggers global warming / climate change. This constantly changing climate is affecting the seasons, rains, snow, ice, the temperature of the land and the oceans. The result is a series of droughts, floods, rising sea levels, forest fires, the melting of the ice, the heating of the oceans — with detrimental effects on both human and environmental health.

Vallianatos’ presentation will highlight these effects all over the world. Moreover, he will stress the failure of political leaders to take this ceaseless catastrophe seriously. Too often these “leaders” have been influenced by the money they receive for elections and reelections. In addition, America is too dependent on petroleum: billions of cars, trucks, other machines, industrialized agriculture, airplanes, ships, armies and wars. These realities are fueled by petroleum and gas, so a transition to a zero carbon economy is a revolutionary idea. It means remaking America.

When Pope Francis says that the world is collapsing he means climate-induced fires, floods, droughts, heavy rains, and other disasters are having a deleterious effect on biological diversity and life on Earth. In addition, the Pope rightly noticed that many world leaders and the UN climate summits are no more than lipstick, covering over the ugly truth we face. The question we thus have to ask is this: can the power of the Pope be harnessed and put to this virtuous use of convincing citizens here and abroad to become active and demand political and economic changes for the end of the petroleum era and the beginning of the era of the Sun and wind?

Vallianatos asserts that we should be holding meetings and discussions with our local politicians and presidents of our schools. We should be arguing the necessity of change in order to make places like Claremont energy carbon free by the end of this decade. And Catholic leaders, as well as leaders of other faiths, ought to be part of our group for green energy.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR

Evaggelos Vallianatos studied zoology and history at the University of Illinois, earned a Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsinm, and did postdoctoral studies in the history of science at Harvard. He worked on Capitol Hill and at the US Environmental Protection Agency for twenty five years, has taught at several universities, and authored hundreds of articles and seven books, most recently The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story Behind the Genius of the Greek Computer and its Demise.

EVENT POSTPONED
We apologize for any inconvenience, but this event has been postponed. This page will be updated as soon as it has been rescheduled.