Pope Francis, climate change and the environmentalism of the poor

“We are on the edge of suicide. I hope governments take climate change seriously or there will be no future generations”, said Pope Francis to the Vatican Insider in November 2015. The pontifices’ personal commitment to the environment and how it affects low-income societies should not be overlooked. The historic event of a Jesuit Latin American Pope that raises the question of human-induced climate change could introduce a new balance to the global political agenda. From a qualitative approach focused in speech analysis and up-to-date perception surveys, we explore the relationship between environment and economic growth. A possible conceptualization of the Pope´s position can be associated with the environmentalism of the poor. This approach is based on environmental justice prerogatives as a response to unequal economic exchange between nations. Latin America is particularly exposed to the consequences of climate change and that affects the existing volatile political stability and prospects for a sustainable development. We argue that climate change exceeds scientific and economic positions; it is ultimately a moral consideration.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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