+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
upworthy
Heroes

Pope Francis dropped the hammer on climate change at the White House. Here are his 3 best quotes.

True
SumOfUs

Pope Francis went to the White House this week and got really real about the future of planet Earth.

Photo by Pete Souza/The White House.

Specifically, that we're making it warmer. And that we have to cut it out. Sooner rather than later.

Here are the three key quotes. We'd all do well to listen to the man.

He is, after all, the freaking pope.

1. "Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation."

You know how this goes. A big project comes down in the office on Monday morning, and it's not due till Thursday, which is so far away that it might as well be next year. You definitely can't be bothered to care yet, especially when Candy Crush Saga is sitting right there! And then, suddenly, it's 11 on Wednesday night and you're like, "I thought I had so much time?!" Well, for planet Earth, it's 11 on Wednesday night. And the pope ain't going to let you play just onnnnne more game.

According to a landmark report released last year by the United Nations, if emissions continue to grow at the current rate, we could be looking at a temperature hike of more than 8 degrees Fahrenheit, which would cause some serious chaos with sea levels and ecosystems around the world.

The pope knows it's on us — not our kids — to set things right, come hell or high water (or, in this case, likely both).

Even if he personally has to slap the coal out of your hand.

"Don't-a-burn-a-that." — Pope Francis. Photo by Tânia Rêgo/ABr.

2. "When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history."

Photo by Benhur Arcayan/Malacañang Photo Bureau.

The message from the pope is clear: The time to get on this is now. Yesterday, even, if possible.

What happens if we don't? Even if we stick to the modest temperature rise some government agencies anticipate, predictions run the gamut from a completely underwater New York City to a slightly waterlogged New York City by 2100. But the point is, unless we want to risk a future where the mecha-pope gives a speech from a deep-sea submersible orbiting the sunken ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral*, it's time to start cutting those emissions, and fast.

3. "To use a telling phrase of the Rev. Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it."

In Catholic theology, God is pretty explicit about his expectations: He puts mankind on the Earth, and one of mankind's top jobs is to not mess the place up too much. Whether or not you're Catholic, it's hard to argue that that's not a worthy goal. But so far we ... haven't really held up our end of that bargain.

Sorry, trees.

You'll get 'em next time. Photo by Fluffball.

To reverse the trend, we need effort on a global scale. The pope knows that better than anyone and, as spiritual leader to over 1 billion people, is in a unique place to help make it happen.

But here in the U.S., as the world's second-largest polluter, we have a unique responsibility to recognize the obvious: Climate change is happening. And we all need to work together to slow it and stop it before it's too late.

This isn't even close to the first time Pope Francis has spoken out about climate change.

He's been pressing the point for quite a while. And more than a few people running for president could stand to pay more attention to his message — instead of the money they're receiving to ignore it — as this parody video by SumOfUs makes abundantly clear.

From Your Site Articles
Pop Culture

Folks are admitting that Boomers weren’t totally wrong. Here are 19 things they got right.

OK, Boomer, you're right about this one.

via Patrick Lannigan/Flickr

The gaze of the approving Boomer.

Over the past few years, Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964) have been getting a lot of grief from the generations that came after them, Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millenials (1981 to 1996), and now, Gen Z (1997 to 2012). Their grievances include environmental destruction, wealth hoarding, political polarization, and being judgemental when they don’t understand how hard it is for younger people to make it in America these days.

Every Baby Boomer is different, so it's wrong to paint them all with a broad brush. But it’s undeniable that each generation shares common values, and some are bound to come into conflict.

However, life in 2023 isn’t without its annoyances. Many that came about after the technological revolution put a phone in everyone’s hands and brought a whole new host of problems. Add the younger generations' hands-on approach to child rearing and penchant for outrage, and a lot of moden life has become insufferanble.

Keep ReadingShow less
baby boomers
Pop Culture

Little boy steals the show at his sister's end-of-year dance school concert

This kid was born to dance.

@kleinkwagga1/TikTok

Klein Kwagga understood the assignment at his sister's concert.

Some kids are too shy to ever want to get on a stage, some will spend most of a performance staring awkwardly at their shoes, and some kids love the opportunity to show off what they've practiced in front of an audience.

And then there are the kids were simply born for the spotlight. You know them when you see them.

When Dirkco Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen hopped on stage with all of the other brothers and sisters of the dance students at René’s Art of Dance in South Africa, no one expected a viral sensation. According to Capetown Etc, it was the school's year-end concert, and siblings were invited to come up and dance to Bernice West’s Lyfie—a popular song in Afrikaans. And Dirkco, who goes by Klein Kwagga, took the assignment and ran with it.

Keep ReadingShow less
dance
Pop Culture

Weird viral photo of Adele's face exemplifies the phenomenon called the Thatcher effect

The 42-year-old optical illusion is still astounding people.

upload.wikimedia.org /Credit: Condé Nast (through Vogue Taiwan)

Prepare to get Thatcherized.

It seems that Adele is going viral once again.

Perhaps you’ve seen the image in question previously (it seems to make the rounds every couple of years). But in case you missed it—it’s Adele’s face. Normal, just upside down.

Only it’s not normal. In fact, when you turn Adele’s face right side up, what you notice is that her eyes and mouth were actually right-side up THE ENTIRE TIME, even though the entire head was upside down. So when you turn the head right side up, the eyes and mouth are now UPSIDE-DOWN—and you can’t unsee it. Do you feel like you're Alice in Wonderland yet?

Keep ReadingShow less
psychology
Community

People share the most practical ways to support new parents after giving birth

Sometimes the best gift is practicality.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

People share the most practical ways to support new parents

There's a lot of preparation that goes into having a child well before they're even born. First there are the physical changes your body makes to clear up some space for a tiny human roughly the size of a watermelon. Then there's preparing the nursery, buying lots of extremely small clothes, diapers and an expected understanding that while sleep may be your friend, you won't be getting any of it for about a year.

Lots of people give plenty of advice to help you cope in the early days but after the baby arrives, the focus shifts to solely the baby. It's obviously not a deliberate shift. Babies are just more shiny and new that the parents. But not everyone forgets about the parents once baby makes their grand entrance–some go out of their way to make sure the parents feel supported.

Upworthy asked its audience, "what was the best non-baby related gift you received as a new parent," and the answers were a masterclass on how to care for new parents.

Keep ReadingShow less
postpartum gifts
Family

A mom seeks doctor's help for postpartum depression and instead gets a visit from the cops

Too many women lose out on much needed support because of unwarranted stigma.

Canva

Postpartum depression is very common, and treatable.

Jessica Porten recently visited her doctor four months after giving birth to her daughter, Kira. She wasn't feeling quite like herself.

She had been dealing with overwhelming sadness and fits of anger, which she knew was likely stemming from a case of postpartum depression.

In a Facebook post, Porten recounts the story of that appointment.

Keep ReadingShow less
Identity

Formerly enslaved man's response to his 'master' wanting him back is a literary masterpiece

"I would rather stay here and starve — and die, if it come to that — than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters."

GOOD

A photo of Jordan Anderson.

In 1825, at the approximate age of 8, Jordan Anderson (sometimes spelled "Jordon") was sold into slavery and would live as a servant of the Anderson family for 39 years. In 1864, the Union Army camped out on the Anderson plantation and he and his wife, Amanda, were liberated. The couple eventually made it safely to Dayton, Ohio, where, in July 1865, Jordan received a letter from his former owner, Colonel P.H. Anderson. The letter kindly asked Jordan to return to work on the plantation because it had fallen into disarray during the war.

On Aug. 7, 1865, Jordan dictated his response through his new boss, Valentine Winters, and it was published in the Cincinnati Commercial. The letter, entitled "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master," was not only hilarious, but it showed compassion, defiance, and dignity. That year, the letter would be republished in theNew York Daily Tribune and Lydia Marie Child's "The Freedman's Book."

The letter mentions a "Miss Mary" (Col. Anderson's Wife), "Martha" (Col. Anderson's daughter), Henry (most likely Col. Anderson's son), and George Carter (a local carpenter).

Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Keep ReadingShow less
history
Trending Stories