Mark Silk, at RNS, on what he accurately dubs the "Francis climate change freak out." I suspect he is absolutely correct about why conservative US Catholics are freaking out: They have found ways to subvert what the pope says about economics, but on the environment, they really have no leg to stand on. They money quote:
Environmental harm is the foremost example of a negative externality that private enterprise cannot address on its own. A given factory will not invest in air pollution controls and put itself at a competitive disadvantage to other factories unless the government steps in and requires all to do so in the name of the common good. The threat of climate change is the greatest negative externality of all, and there is growing recognition that the only way to avert global disaster is through massive governmental intervention to bring about a world-wide shift away from carbon-based energy sources.
