Whereas leaders of all faiths, and most recently Pope Francis, spiritual leader of the 1.2 billionmember Catholic Church, have called for urgent action on climate change commensurate with the
severity of the current situation, in as much that international negotiations have so far failed ;
Whereas our top scientists, and over 97% of all scientists worldwide, agree that climate change is manmade, and represents the single most serious threat to ecosystems and to human and non-human
existence on this fragile Earth;
Whereas the nations of the world will convene in December 2015 in Paris to achieve a universal
agreement on climate at the U.N. Climate Conference, building on a framework from Copenhagen 2012,
where high hopes failed to materialize as they concurred on postponing the signing of an agreement
until this year in Paris, not set to go into effect until 2020—representing a loss of 11 critical years;
Whereas Pope Francis has condemned the status quo among nations, saying “The strategy of buying
and selling carbon credits can lead to a new form of speculation [which has not reduced] the emission of
polluting gases worldwide,” and these market mechanisms, when employed, have failed the people of
the Earth, with politicians promulgating inaction through their alliances with global corporations;
Whereas top scientists from M.I.T., the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the Royal Society
(U.K.’s equivalent of our National Academy of Sciences) and others have called for an immediate curb on
emissions and a better recognition of the importance of leaving fossil fuels in the ground, stating that
we are on the path to a temperature increase, producing, in the words of the Royal Society, “hellish
conditions,” wherein “the limits for human adaptation are likely to be exceeded throughout the world;"
Whereas the build-up of greenhouse gases in the world’s atmosphere has reached a level not seen for
three million years, which may put the Earth on an unavoidable path of runaway climate change,
bringing about a world with exponential climate-driven disasters of which we have witnessed only minor
examples, torrential rains, unprecedented flooding, more destructive hurricanes; and
Whereas such a threat to our Earth represents a true emergency, in that food and water shortages,
climate disruption, extreme weather events and other disasters will follow, bringing about waves of
refugees, sociopolitical chaos and international conflict, now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that as it participates in the United Nations Climate Conference, held in Paris in December
2015, the government of the United States:
1.
2.
should call for an immediate cut of greenhouse gases as recommended by top scientists;
should recognize that in the face of environmental and societal disaster worldwide, with the
threat of potential extinction looming, all people, all nations must work together to leave
behind the petroleum-based economy of the past and move towards a fossil-free future.
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