Four scientists with ties to Scripps Institution of Oceanography drafted the Vatican's latest report on Climate Change with a handful of other experts from around the world.
The dire document, issued Thursday, focuses on the retreat of glaciers and the resulting impact on humans who rely on ice sheets for water and the coastal communities that are affected by rising sea levels. It will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI.
“We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us,” the authors wrote. “The believers among us ask God to grant us this wish.”
The roots of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican go back to 1603, making it one of the oldest scientific societies in the world. It doesn't have direct impact on national or international policies but its work influences Catholics and other people of faith worldwide.
The report is titled "Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene," an emerging term that authors said referred to the current man-made geologic epoch.
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist at Scripps, co-chaired the working group with Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, a former Scripps scientist, and Lennart Bengtsson, former head of the European weather forecasting center. Former Scripps director Charles Kennel also was part of the effort, along with Lynn Russell, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at Scripps.
Authors met at the Vatican from April 2 to 4 at the invitation of Chancellor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo of the pontifical academy. Their report built on other studies and echoed longstanding concerns raised by climate experts.
The working group recommended three measures: reducing worldwide carbon emissions by stopping deforestation and other initiatives; reducing the amount of "warming air pollutants" such as methane and soot by as much as 50 percent; and preparing for chronic and abrupt changes that can't be avoided.
“The widespread loss of snow and ice in the mountain glaciers is one of the most visible changes attributable to global climate change. The disintegration of many small glaciers in the Himalayas is most disturbing to me since this region serves as the water tower of Asia and since both the greenhouse gases and air pollutants like soot and ozone contribute to the melting,” said Ramanathan, who has been a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences since 2004.
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