With the Pope's visit to the White House less than 24 hours away, a note of optimism fills the DC area. Apart from the proposed initiatives between heads of state and religious leaders, there is a force swelling in the nation's capital - pulsating with a motivation for change. It comes not only from the hoards of faith leaders and practitioners spilling into the streets, resonating a message of climate action, but the particular time in which these talks are taking place.
The 72-hours surrounding Pope Francis' White House visit and address to Congress, will mark the first coinciding of Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha in over 30 years. Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, and Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice, resonate a renewed feeling of oneness in the Faith and Climate movement. One shared with Pope Francis, as he finds the common bond between us all, honoring uniqueness while amplifying similarities as we strive to care for our common home.
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Pope Heads to Climate Talks as Rare Word -- Optimism -- Surfaces
Alex Nussbaum | Bloomberg Business
Optimism’s not a mood usually associated with global warming.
Yet when President Barack Obama, Pope Francis and other world leaders start gathering in New York next week, they’ll be in sight of a goal that seemed unattainable just a few years ago: an agreement that may actually slow the pace of rising temperatures.
The Pope will address the United Nations on Sept. 25 and is expected to pick up where he left off in a June letter to the world’s Catholics, making the moral argument for attacking climate change. Two days later, Obama will meet with leaders from China, Germany, France and close to 40 other nations, hoping to give a push from the top for a deal to rein in greenhouse gases.
