Lawmakers and the
White House are at odds with the pope's vision for protecting the planet.
Pope
Francis, the humble yet bold leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, has
offered an inspiring 21st century vision to all people. It’s a
vision that’s been sorely missing in the halls of power.
In
an encyclical focused on the environment, he details how we can save the
planet while helping billions of the world’s poor in this life — not just in
heaven.
The letter isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s a wake-up call that
if we continue fueling our lifestyles with oil, gas, and coal, we’ll end life
as we know it.
He
asks us all to think and act big, to replace our dig, burn, and dump economy
with one that creates dignified work for people who can rebuild our inner
cities, retrofit our buildings to make them energy-efficient, and provide clean
water and healthy food.
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family,” he reminds us. “There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide.” We all have a stake, therefore, in helping poorer nations leapfrog over dirty fossil-fuel industries and instead build their economies around green energy and energy efficiency.
Contrast
this enlightened global vision with the one that’s dominating political debate
in Washington. Republicans have banded together with President Barack Obama
behind a failed 20th century model of international economic
rules that favors the wealthy and giant corporations over people and the
planet.
For
weeks, the White House pressed Congress to approve so-called Trade Promotion
Authority — or “fast track” — which would facilitate passage of proposed trade
agreements with 11 Asia-Pacific nations and the European Union.
These deals don’t make trade “freer.” Trade already occurs
with almost no impediments.
Instead, these pacts will make it harder to carry
out Pope Francis’s vision by restricting the authority of governments around
the world to regulate large corporations.
In particular, these accords will empower corporations
to sue governments over policies that purportedly threaten their investments.
This could include laws designed to protect the Earth and ensure that it’s
around for future generations to enjoy.
My
plea to members of Congress is this: Abandon the failed trade model of the 20thcentury.
Instead of Trade Promotion Authority, we need “People and Planet Promotion
Authority.”
This
would end the outrageous subsidies Congress gives fossil fuel corporations — and shift these funds to
the small and medium businesses that pay people a living wage to build a
fossil-free economy.
It would fairly tax Wall Street, the wealthy, and corporations
to pay for this green transition. And it would launch a deliberate effort to
spur the growth of wind, solar, and other renewable alternatives.
The
voices of corporate lobbyists have prevailed long enough in Washington. As Pope
Francis has warned us, it’s time to listen to “the cry of the Earth and the cry
of the poor.”
John Cavanagh is
the director of the Institute for Policy Studies (ips-dc.org) in Washington,
DC.
Distributed by OtherWords.org.
Distributed by OtherWords.org.
