You Go Pope!

The Pope wow'ed just about everyone this week with some very stark comments on the responsibility of humanity to be stewards of the planet, and the reality that...and I quote, "The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth."  Here is some news coverage of the comments from CNN, and from the Economist if you are interested.

This is very significant for at least three main reasons.  First, the Pope is the official spiritual leader of 1.2 BILLION people.  That means his comments have a direct communication waterfall to an aggregate number of people which basically challenges the population of the largest country in the world.

Second, the deeply religious people of the world tend not to be in the same groups as those already deeply concerned and on the front lines of climate change.  Traditionally, there has not been a lot of overlap in Venn Diagram of the deeply religious and the deeply environmentally conscious.  Put another way, this is a 1.2 billion person audience for which most have not "seen the movie" when it comes to climate change.  These are "fresh minds" when it comes to the conversation and global coordination that will be needed to work against it.  These are new voices to the table... and perhaps upwards of 1 BILLION new voices.

Lastly, even if you are not Catholic, the Pope has historically been a very powerful global voice which was usually to the "right" of the political conversation on a topic.  Well, consider that expectation SERIOUSLY disrupted, at least on the environment / climate change.  The starting shortstop from the away team just sauntered on over and sat at our bench?!? You Go POPE!  Now lets play ball!