The Pope's Environmental Statements. The Unaddressed Crisis

      There is an environmental crisis. It is not pending. It is not years away. It is here now. Even if humanity does not wipe itself out with nuclear weapons, humanity will not survive long term if it keeps degrading the environment beyond repair. Every day thousands of tons of plastic enter into the oceans - plastic and oil based waste that are virtually indestructible. Depleting the oceans, plastic poisoning and other poisoning, war, trawling the seabeds, overfishing, destroying coral reefs, mangroves, seagrasses, and rainforests are but some of mankind's destructive practices killing earth's richness, biodiversity, and survivability for humans and many other species.
       It is easy to talk about this crisis. But words are not actions.
       Religions can numb people into believing humans can procreate without limit. It is impossible for this planet to sustain a population this large. Already the large extant human population has decimated the environment and is creating an ever dismal future for others.
       Population growth directly impacts the consumption some religious leaders insist must be curtailed. Meanwhile, religious and political leaders of all faiths rarely live lives of simplicity. Many set instead examples of extravagance and indulgence. To his credit, this pope is not a man of extravagance.
        There is too much at stake, too much that is unsustainable, too much that is being lost and that is already lost, for religious leaders from all faiths, including the pope, who is the leader of the largest single religious denomination, not to consider what role religions and religious doctrines have in a world that is being destroyed.