In Pope Francis’s address to a joint session of Congress on September 24, 2015, he quoted from his Laudato Si’, a document released by the Vatican in June 2015: “I call for a courageous and responsible effort to ‘redirect our steps,’ and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a ‘culture of care’ and "an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”
The Pope’s message mirrors that delivered in my novel, Breach of Trust, by Professor Karl Kowalsky during his lecture at the University of California, San Diego. Let’s join Prof Karl during the middle of his talk (in chapter 9):
“ . . . This and other problems presented a big challenge for spiritual leaders of all faiths to deal with. One partial solution has been to reengage in the morality debate but shift it to another venue.”
Karl stabbed the air in the direction of the young man who asked the question. “What venue is that, young man?”
“I…I…don’t know,” he stuttered.
“The environment, man,” Karl almost shouted. “Organized religion has taken on the role of an advocate for the environment. Witness the rise of churches in adopting green technology in their facilities and setting up organizations to lobby government and corporations to ‘go green’.”
Karl characteristically animated the quotation marks around the ‘go green’ phrase by raising his arms and finger flapping, a motion that inevitably captured an audience with its height and breadth, owing, in part, to Karl’s imposing six-and-a-half-foot frame.
“Churches recognized that there was a leadership void in environmental stewardship at the beginning of the millennium and moved in to fill the void . . .”
“ . . . This and other problems presented a big challenge for spiritual leaders of all faiths to deal with. One partial solution has been to reengage in the morality debate but shift it to another venue.”
Karl stabbed the air in the direction of the young man who asked the question. “What venue is that, young man?”
“I…I…don’t know,” he stuttered.
“The environment, man,” Karl almost shouted. “Organized religion has taken on the role of an advocate for the environment. Witness the rise of churches in adopting green technology in their facilities and setting up organizations to lobby government and corporations to ‘go green’.”
Karl characteristically animated the quotation marks around the ‘go green’ phrase by raising his arms and finger flapping, a motion that inevitably captured an audience with its height and breadth, owing, in part, to Karl’s imposing six-and-a-half-foot frame.
“Churches recognized that there was a leadership void in environmental stewardship at the beginning of the millennium and moved in to fill the void . . .”
While the motivation of the Church is to regain the moral high ground by using the cause of environmental stewardship, corporations tout their mission of environmental stewardship (reducing water use, using solar panels on their rooftops, and shrinking their carbon footprint) by ‘going green’ as well. Hence, companies of all sizes attempt to differentiate themselves from their competitors and thereby make more money and increase profits by acting ‘green.’