Pope Francis and Congressional Climate Message Day

The big news from last week that I held off on commenting until today was Pope Francis urges people to combat climate change.  WOOD-TV reports.

Carl Apple of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids talks about Pope Francis' recent stance on climate change.

I'm not surprised, as one of the answers to Where the Catholic Church stands on science and the environment, was that Francis's first act as Pope was to say that Catholics should protect the environment, the weak, and the poor.  I liked that message.  If you do, too, then today is your opportunity to do something about the environment, as it's Congressional Climate Message Day.  Here is a letter to the editor of the Fresno Bee describing today's action.

Are you concerned about climate change but don’t know what you can do about it?

On June 23, Citizens’ Climate Lobby will send almost 900 volunteers to Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation to put a price on carbon pollution. You can support them by letting your members of Congress know that you want them to take action on climate change.

On June 22, the day before CCL lobbies on the Hill, there will be a Congressional Climate Message Day (online link: citizensclimatelobby.org/ccmd/). Constituents will contact their members of Congress by phone and social media to register their support for legislation that will put a price on carbon. For information about this proposed legislation, go to citizensclimatelobby.org. A Regional Economic Models Inc. (online link: www.remi.com) study shows that pricing carbon would reduce carbon emissions, save lives, create jobs and increase the GDP.

Please mark your calendars for June 22 to take this action. To find your representatives and their contact information, go to congress.gov/members. The few minutes it takes to call, tweet or text your representatives will have a huge impact in our efforts to fight climate change.

Do it, even if the message will get the same response that Pope Francis received.  As the Associated Press reported, Republicans Shrug Off Pope's Climate Message.

Congressional Republicans are shrugging off Pope Francis' call for urgent action on climate change and dismissing his attempt to frame global warming as a moral issue.

I remember when the liberals in the church were the ones being called "Cafeteria Catholics."  The conservatives are now just as guilty, if not more so.