Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Biological Conservation
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon

Perspective

Perspective: Global country-by-country response of public interest in the T

environment to the papal encyclical, Laudato Si′
Malcolm L. McCallum
Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Langston University, Langston, OK 73050, United States of America

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Environmental issues are strongly influenced by their human dimensions, so understanding this relationship is
Public interest important for effective conservation. This study investigates changes in public interest in the environment after
Environment the release of Laudato Si'. Comparisons between searches for church-related and environmental topics before and
Laudato Si' after its release demonstrate significantly raised public interest in both areas, especially in Catholic countries.
Catholic Church
There were important differences between developed countries and countries with other economic classifica-
Cultural informatics
tions. After decades of declining interest in the environment, Laudato Si' may be catalyzing societal transfor-
Google trends
mation similar to that performed by the 1969 encyclical Humanae Vitae. Regulation of abortion in the U.S.A.
went from a non-political issue in 1969 to a primary dividing line between the political parties in 1976. Two
years after release of Laudato Si', the Catholic Church had implemented a long-term sustainability plan for what
could grow into a major Catholic environmental movement, similar to the anti-abortion movement. The results
within suggest public interest in the environment may already be growing as a result. No previous environmental
movement has benefitted from this kind of support, and this provides reason for hope that environmental
progress is just around the corner.

1. Introduction friendly than other Christian denominations (Guth et al., 1995; Schultz,
2001; Hamlin and McGreevy, 2006; Marlett, 2007), with the rationale
Psalm 24:1 “The Earth is the Lord's and all that it holds.” based on Psalm 24:1 (quoted above; Carolan, 2011). Questions persist
about what impact this new church teaching could have on environmental
What if the number of environmentalists grew by 15–20% of the global
policy and politics on a global scale (Ceballos, 2016; Raven, 2016;
and 25% of the U.S. populations and these groups were actively pushing
Silecchia, 2016; Tucker and Grim, 2016), especially in light of impending
environmental agendas? Even growth by half of that would be politically
climate change (Houghton and Callander, 1992; Morrison et al., 2015),
significant, potentially leading to major changes in the political landscape.
biodiversity declines (Ceballos et al., 2015; McCallum, 2015) and growing
Is a shift in global opinion of this dynamic probable? Possible? A few years
environmental indifference (McCallum and Bury, 2013; Andrew et al.,
ago, most would say no. But recent events in the Roman Catholic Church
2016). There has also been much misinformation about the importance of
may be making it reality. Understanding how religion-driven awareness
this encyclical and whether it holds the shroud of infallibility. This reactive
campaigns influence public interest and potentially public policy is im-
and adaptive response to environmental issues by the Roman Catholic
portant for environmental policy makers (Bennett et al., 2017) and this
Church is an important human dimension because it positions our value of
particular instance has drawn global interest and massive media attention
nature within religious doctrines (Kim, 1999; Morriss and Cramer, 2009),
that can be observed and analyzed via internet-based monitoring (Soriano-
potentially leading to stronger drive for action on these problems
Redondo et al., 2017; McCallum and Bury, 2013).
(Agliardo, 2013; Lorenzen, 2012).
Laudato Si' (Francis, 2015) is a landmark papal encyclical letter re-
Like Pacem in Terris (John, 1963), Laudato Si' was addressed to
leased May 24, 2015 that calls all members of the Roman Catholic Church
Catholics and non-Catholics alike (Francis, 2015). Numerous non-Catholic
to gain awareness of and take responsibility for their natural environment.
religious groups have endorsed this writing (DeWitt, 2016; Narbona, 2016;
Previously, perceptions suggested an inverse relationship between Chris-
Anonymous, 2015a, 2015b), including Judaism and many protestant de-
tian biblical orientation and concern for the environment (Kearns, 1996;
nominations (Brown and McNiel, 2015). Further, numerous religious
Kearns, 1997; Lieberman, 2012), so this encyclical appeared to be a sig-
leaders (e.g. the Dalai Lama, etc.) posted support via twitter and other
nificant shift. However, Catholic teachings are more environmentally
social media (Anonymous, 2015a, 2015b; Martin, 2015; Welby, 2015).

E-mail address: malcolm.mccallum.tamut@gmail.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.04.010
Received 26 October 2018; Received in revised form 25 March 2019; Accepted 15 April 2019
Available online 20 May 2019
0006-3207/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

Official statements on the environment have been released by numerous
Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Buddist, and Jewish leaders (http://www.
greenfaith.org/religious-teachings). Roughly 85% of world's people are
affiliated with a religion (Nizwili, 2019; Maoz and Henderson, 2013), and
that is projected to grow through 2050 (Hackett et al., 2015).
Laudato Si' outlines many current environmental problems (e.g.
climate change, biodiversity, etc.) and the repercussions for humanity if
allowed to continue. Then, it presents the Church's position that all
Catholics must become aware of these problems and adhere to en-
vironmentally responsible behaviors. Finally, it explains the theological
support for the Church's position on the environment (and other issues)
to justify why these actions are taken and how it has relevance to
Catholic life. Laudato Si' also addresses non-Catholics and calls them to
gain awareness of the dangers of environmental degradation and re-
spond. Consequently, there is significant expectation that this en-
cyclical will serve as a catalyst for societal transformation in regard to
the environment within and beyond the Roman Catholic Church
(Bartosch et al., 2018). But ultimately, the widest circulating question
may be “Will it matter?” (Lavelle, 2015a; Michelson, 2015).
If Laudato Si' will start a new environmental movement is an intri-
guing question with repercussions for environmental policy throughout
the world. Catholics represent ~16% (n = 1.2 billion) of the global 7.5
billion human population (Berger, 1999; BBC, 2013; Worldometers,
2017). They are distributed as follows: Latin America = 40%,
Europe = 23.7%, Africa = 15.2%, Asia = 11.7%, North
America = 7.3% (22% of U.S. Citizens), and Oceania = 0.8%. Further,
the Holy See's diplomatic exchange is especially strong in modern times.
Full diplomatic exchange occurs between at least 166 governments
compared to only 26 in 1919 (Berger, 1999). Therefore, adoption of
environmental views can lead to influence of the Church on national and
international environmental policy. As the largest Christian denomina-
tion globally and in many countries (e.g. United States, France, etc.),
increased interest in the environment by Catholics should stimulate ex-
pansion in environmental policies because improved environmental

a)

b)
Release of Laudato Si

Fig. 1. a. Normalized mean (+/− SE) monthly web searches for 17 keywords in 113 different countries and jurisdictions. Searches were made using the Google
search engine and obtained using Google Keyword Planner in October 2015.
b. Annual mean (+/− SE) scaled proportional search volume for three terms related to Laudato Si' from 2012 to 2017.
c. Mean (+/− SE) scaled proportional search volume for 14 environmental topics across 149 countries.
d. Influence of economic status on changes in environmental interest (mean +/− SE) after the release of Laudato Si'.

210
M.L. McCallum
c)
d)
Fig. 1. (continued)
interest furthers environmental policy (Pulia, 2008). But, two years after
its release did Laudato Si' stimulate interest in the environment in the first
place? Herein, I use internet query data to explore this question.
2. Materials and methods
Internet activity for each of 14 previously identified environmentally-
related key terms/topics (i.e., biodiversity, environment, conservation,
ecology, extinction, endangered species, fisheries, wildlife, climate change,
global warming, invasive species, habitat fragmentation, pollution, and
sustainability; McCallum and Bury, 2013; McCallum and Bury, 2014;
Andrew et al., 2016) and the topics “Pope Francis,” “encyclical,” and
“Laudato Si'” were examined. These environmental terms were previously
demonstrated to be dependable indicators of environmental interest (opt.
211
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
Release of Laudato Si
cite). We used the topic rather than the term presented by Google Trends
because this option includes obvious misspellings, related terms, and terms
in other languages (i.e., not English). Inserted return!
I obtained the monthly estimated query data spanning September 2013
– August 2015 for 118 countries from Google Keyword Planner (Appendix
1). These data are close estimations of the absolute number of times in-
ternet users typed terms into the Google Search interface. I attempted to
repeat this in October 2016, but Google changed how it reports this data,
which made it unusable. In this context, keyword data were used to
quantify the immediate response of the public to the release of Laudato Si'.
Multiple linear regression and analysis of variance were used to compare
internet query behavior before and after the release of the encyclical.
Global public interest was calculated by averaging or adding country-by-
country keyword data rather than using the global setting on Google
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

Keyword Planner. This was done because of the uncertainty associated
with how Google produced results for the Global setting output.
Then, I collected the scaled proportional search data from Google
Trends for April 2012 – June 2017. Topics that Google Trends classified
as “insufficient search volume” or that reported fewer than 10 searches
per week for a given country were excluded from that jurisdiction's data
set. Use of topics instead of terms returns results that include an array of
languages, terms, and misspellings (per Google Trends Help Center),
they provide more thorough and deeper understanding of the public's
interest, and eliminate confusion arising by incomplete or incorrect
translations to different languages when using terms (for translation
issues see Troumbis, 2017 and Diemer, 2011). A general linear model
with a Tukey means comparison test was used to analyze this data. Data
were also compared based on the economic status of each country.
I used Google Ngram viewer to examine the occurrence in books of
topics related to multiple encyclicals with global scope. This was used to
infer how interest in the respective topics changed in response to previous
encyclicals. Google Ngram viewer encompasses books published from
1900 through 2008, so responses to Laudato Si' are not available.
To infer whether results were due to interest specifically in Laudato
Si', or simply interest in news items, I collected comparative scaled
proportional search volume from Google Trends for “The Sixth
Extinction: An Unnatural History” (February 11, 2014, Pulitzer Prize
2015), the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (September 27, 2013), Global
Environmental Outlook 5 (January 12, 2012), and the encyclicals
Humanae Vitae (July 25, 1968), Laudato Si' (May 24, 2015), and Lumen
Fidei (June 29, 2013). The Global Environmental Outlook 5 had very low
to no search volume, so it was dropped. These data were collected for the
period January 1, 2011 – March 16, 2019. The United States was queried
because it has among the top five largest populations of Catholics in the
world (CIA, 2015). Then, data were downloaded for the three countries
that ranked in the top five for raw population of Catholics and top 20 by
percentage. These were Mexico, Italy, and the Philippines. Finally, data
were downloaded for the top five countries based on percentage of the
population that was Catholic and returned search volume from Google
Trends. These were Paraguay, Portugal, Croatia, Poland and Ireland.

Fig. 2. a. Changes in keyword searches (mean +/− SE) for terms related to the environment and the Catholic Church after release of Laudato Si'.
b. Changes in keyword searches (mean +/− SE) for terms related to the Catholic Church after release of Laudato Si'. The United States and India are not included.
c. Changes in combined keyword searches (mean +/− SE) for terms related to the environment and the Catholic Church after release of Laudato Si'. The United
States and India are not included.

212
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 2. (continued)
Comparisons of the five publications were made among Catholic-
dominated countries that also contained one of 35 biodiversity hotspots
(Myers et al., 2000). Mexico, Paraguay, Italy, the Philippines, and
Croatia had already been collected above, so I downloaded data with
sufficient search volume for Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Aus-
tralia, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Co-
lombia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other countries
with hotspots either did not have sufficient search volume or had very
low Catholic populations. I also downloaded search volume for Cali-
fornia and Oregon. I also examined the search behavior for environ-
mental and Catholic topics in relation to hotspots.
3. Results
Environmental keywords and topics were queried widely around the
globe; whereas, Laudato Si', Pope Francis and encyclical had more limited
reach. Query data was recovered for 81–87 (68.6–73.7%) countries per
term for which data were available via Google Keyword Tool from
September 2013 – August 2015. Google Trends provided query data for
31–209 (14.6–98.5%) countries/term from 2012 to 2017. Google Keyword
Planner revealed no difference in usage among countries of the three
church-related terms compared to environmental terms. However, Google
Trends revealed that “encyclical” and “Laudato Si'” were queried in about a
quarter of countries; whereas, “Pope Francis” was queried sufficiently to
213
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
return search volume in 149/212 countries from 2012 to 2017.
Conversely, of the environmental topics only three were not used by at
least half of the countries tracked by Google Trends from 2012 to 2017.
3.1. Short-term response with Google Keyword Planner
Use of keywords related to the environment versus the Pope and
Laudato Si' changed after the encyclical's release (F6, 46,102 = 6636,
P < 0.001). Many more searches for the church-related terms occurred
in the three months following the release of Laudato Si' than at any
other time from September 2013 – September 2015 (Fig. 1a). As a
group, searches for “Pope Francis,” “encyclical,” and “Laudato Si'” were
much higher relative to environmental terms after the release
(t = 21.34, P < 0.001). Global results were strongly influenced by
query activity in India and the United States (Fig. 2a). Responses by
other nations varied (t = −16.03, P < 0.001). The mean keyword
searches for terms related to the Catholic Church rose noticeably in 19
Nations, but fell in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (Fig. 2b).
Although public interest in the papal keywords exploded after re-
lease of Laudato Si' (F1, 8130 = 268.01, P < 0.001), queries for en-
vironmental terms fell (F1, 37,969 = 4.62, P = 0.032) relative to before
its release. However, keyword searches for environmental terms in the
three months following the release of Laudato Si' (mean = 926,
SE = 100) were still higher than the same three month period the
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 2. (continued)
previous year (mean = 726, SE = 83) (F1, 9494 = 3.99, P = 0.046).
Use of environmental keywords rose in seven, but fell in 11 countries
(Fig. 2c). The use of environmental and church-related keywords during
the three months following release of Laudato Si' did not appreciably
change in the remaining countries.
3.2. Extended response with Google Trends
Scaled proportional search volume from Google Trends revealed
significant changes in search volume rank (F4, 484,515 = 11,858,
P < 0.001) during the two year period after release of the encyclical
(t = −8.08, P < 0.001), differences among countries (t = 31.24,
P < 0.001), between Catholic and environmental topics
(t = −185.27, P < 0.001), and revealed interactions between
Catholic and environmental topics (t = 27.36, P < 0.001). The search
volume for the three topics related to Laudato Si' was much larger after
its release than it was prior and slowly decayed through 2017 (Fig. 1b).
Search activity grew for Catholic topics in 106/149 (71.1%) countries
(Fig. 3a). Mean scaled proportional search volume for environmental
topics rose in 84/212 (39.6%) countries investigated (Fig. 1c).
Economic classification (United Nations, 2018; International Monetary
Fund, 2018; World Bank, 2018) influenced interest in the environment (F3,
214
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
423 = 3.97, P < 0.008). Developed nations queried environmental topics
more actively than “least developed” (t = 3.40, P = 0.004) (Fig. 3b). En-
vironmental interest grew in developed nations after release of Laudato Si'
(t = 2.84, P = 0.024). Interest did not improve in other economic classi-
fications (Fig. 1d). Interest in some developed countries (e.g. United States,
Australia, Russia, Germany, etc.) fell after release. Among the “Group of
Eight” (G8), who accounted for 50.1% of the 2012 global nominal GDP,
proportional search volume fell for five members. However, only five of the
23 members (in 2015) of the European Union went down. Two of the three
G8 members that had elevated proportional search volume (Italy and
France vs. the United Kingdom) have exceptionally high Roman Catholic
populations, and were part of the European Union in 2015. The percentage
of the population that used the internet was highly correlated with eco-
nomic classification (r = 0.277, P < 0.001). As this percentage increased,
internet activity increased (r2 = 0.110, t = 2.61, P = 0.009).
3.3. Responses to previous encyclicals Google Ngram Viewer
Many encyclicals published since 1900 were focused on esoteric topics
of Church law or focused on small geographic regions, so they did not elicit
much response by book authors. However, Divini Redemptoris (1937,
topic = Bolshevism), Mit Brennender Sorge (1937, topic Nazi antisemitism),
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

Sumi Pontificatus (1939, Topic: Racism, cultural superiority, Marxism, and
totalitarianism), Ecclesiam Suam (1964, Topic: Marxism, social justice,
worker solidarity), and Humanae Vitae (1968, birth control and abortion)
were addressed to wider audiences and intended to have impact on the
Global community of Roman Catholics. All five encyclicals were im-
mediately followed by abrupt spikes and sustained growth of appearances in
books lasting from 10 to 90 years after release (Appendix A).
3.4. Was interest due to newsworthiness, the Pope's popularity, or specific to
Laudato Si'?
United States data demonstrated large peaks upon release for all
publications except “The Sixth Extinction.” The latter peaked upon
winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. Laudato Si' had the highest average
monthly and annual rank for scaled proportion search volume (Fig. 4).

Fig. 3. a. Mean (+/− SE) scaled proportional search volume for terms related to Laudato Si'.
b. Mean (+/− SE) scaled proportional search volume for 14 environmental topics across 2012 countries.

215
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

Fig. 3. (continued)

216
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 4. Average monthly rank (+/− SE) for scaled proportional search volume in the United States after publication (top left), for the duration of the longest peak
(top right), and for each year in this study (right).
The three countries with the highest number and proportion of Catholics
responded with an abrupt uptick for Laudato Si' (Fig. 5). This peak
dwarfed the uptick for Francis' only other encyclical Lumen Fedei. Re-
markably, the 1969 encyclical Humanae Vitae had higher search volume
than the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. The Sixth Mass Extinction did not
receive much attention. It also had higher volume than Lumen Fedei ex-
cept during the peak upon of the 2013 encyclical. Search Volume for
Laudato Si' remained elevated and higher than for any of the other
documents. The same basic pattern was observed for 18 countries that
have large Catholic populations and possess biodiversity hotspots in their
borders (Fig. 5). The response to Laudato Si' of Latin American (South and
Central America) but not African countries with biodiversity hotspots
responded positively to the proportion of their population that was
Catholic (Fig. 6). In African countries, larger populations of priests led to
mildly higher search volume (Y = 0.002× – 2.43; r2 = 0.105, s = 7.29,
P = 0.070). Catholic population was not a good predictor of interest
(F = 0.959, P = 0.335). Although incorporation of Catholic population,
Priest population and their interaction strengthened the influence of
priests on public interest (r2 = 0.214, s = 7.07, F = 2.54, P = 0.077).
4. Discussion
Attention to the environment in Catholic teachings is not new (John
Paul II, 1990; Rychlak, 2008; Jerie, 2010; Silecchia, 2015; Silecchia,
2003), but its emphasis has strengthened as environmental problems have
become more serious. Pope Leo (1891) mandated in his encyclical Rerum
217
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
Novarum that the Earth must be sustained for the good of all, and rebuked
abuse or misuse of the environment (Rychlak, 2008). Rerum Novarum is a
foundational text for Catholic social teaching. John (1963) addressed the
Catholic and non-Catholic world when he advised of the impending global
threat of environmental deterioration. Paul (1971) referred to the ecolo-
gical concern of becoming a victim of environmental degradation by hu-
mans. John Paul (1979) condemned consumption lacking concern for the
environment, and elaborated that there is a “moral requirement” to safe-
guard the environment because of its connection to human society.
Benedict XVI (2007) proposed there were “structural causes of dysfunc-
tions of the world economy” that endanger the environment, again re-
iterating that human existence depends on nature. In fact, Roman
Catholics in the United States steered a brief environmental movement in
the early 1900s that may have led in part to environmentalism of the
1960s (Hamlin and McGreevy, 2006; Marlett, 2007; Allitt, 1998; Bovée,
2010; Witte, 1948). However, the game changer this time is that care for
the environment was named a spiritual and corporal work of mercy after
publication of Laudato Si', (Harris, 2016). The works of mercy constitute a
central theme of how Catholics should treat others (Delany, 1911). By
definition (John Paul, 2003), inclusion of the environment in this frame-
work obligates Catholics to care for the environment.
This drives widespread hopes and expectations that Laudato Si' will
catalyze societal transformation in regard to the environment (Bartosch
et al., 2018; Nature, 2015). The release of Laudato Si' had global reach and
led to growth in environmental interest (Nature, 2015). Keyword use and
proportional search volume immediately responded to the release of
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 5. Average mean (+/− SE) monthly rank for scaled proportional search
volume in Mexico, Italy, and the Philippines (top), Paraguay, Portugal, Croatia,
Poland and Ireland (middle), and 18 countries (excluding the U.S.A.) with the
highest percentage of Catholics and with biodiversity hotspots in their borders
(bottom).
Laudato Si', which confirmed many people were aware of the encyclical
and responded by searching for related information, perhaps downloading
and reading the document itself. The variation in response among coun-
tries of differing economic development may reflect a combination of
education, availability of the internet, and the exposure to news media
(Blum, 1987). The developed world, in general, has better access to news
media (Wu, 2003; Besley and Persson, 2014) and internet (Guillen and
Suarez, 2005; Chinn and Fairlie, 2007) than other countries. Therefore,
diffusion of ideas occurs more rapidly in the developed world due to the
manner in which this system works (Fig. 7). Normally, when interest is
218
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
raised, individuals begin searching out more information from trusted
sources. Individuals searching the internet in undeveloped countries are
also under tighter financial and time constraints, leading to a trade-off
where searches for the environment were likely replaced by searches for
the environmentally-relevant encyclical. People in wealthy countries have
much better internet access, so they could search for an array of encyclical-
related subjects with which they lack familiarity.
One of the most important diffusion mechanisms within the Church is
communications from priests to parishioners. Latin American countries have
larger populations of priests compared to countries in Africa (Cheney,
2005). Internet users comprise about 10% of both regions' populations
(https://www.internetworldstats.com). Response to Laudato Si' was posi-
tively related to Catholic population in Latin America, but negatively related
in Africa (Fig. 5). It is possible that the smaller population of priests in Africa
compared to Latin America reduces transmittal of information about the
encyclical to parishioners. As priest numbers are smaller, less information is
communicated; fewer people hear about the encyclical, so they do not
search out information on the web (Fig. 7). This suggests that countries in
Latin America, where over 40% of the world's Catholics live and numerous
biodiversity hotspots exist, may take stronger stances and responsibility for
environmental quality in their valuable ecoregions. However, Africa may
experience a slower response due to the less effective transmittal to the
parishioners of these new Church laws and theologies.
The G8 countries, such as the U.S.A. have exceptional media coverage,
education, and internet access. This luxurious access allows extensive
probing of topics for which interest has been raised, but their exceptional
education and media coverage may reduce the need for extensive query of
environmental topics, thus explaining unusual responses by some of these
countries. The U.S.A. is a disappointing outlier on many societal chal-
lenges (Rubens, 2018), so it is not particularly surprising if it simply failed
to respond. This also may relate directly to the proliferation of mis-
information sites posing as trusted sources. Americans are more in-
doctrinated along party lines (Marris, 2018; Song and Conner, 2015),
leading to either affirmation or denial of the importance of environmental
problems. It also leads to focusing on the news sources that fit their po-
litical views, even if these transform into misinformation sources. This is
potentially a key problem because many sources that were once trust-
worthy have quietly become suspect, unbeknownst to many. Additionally,
Americans are more susceptible to political confusion because many of the
Church's positions do not fit well with opposing party platforms (Smith,
2008). However, with Roman Catholics comprising about 25% of its po-
pulation, history has shown it is not immune to long-term political influ-
ences of papal encyclicals. Generally, Catholics believe the Church is a
trusted source of information, even for those topics that are not liturgically
related. As information sources, encyclicals can be very influential.
Originally, encyclicals were directed to church leaders, but a growing
number have forwarded the most important church teachings directly to all
members of the church (Thurston, 1909; Fenton, 1949; Gibson, 2015).
“These communications clarify, amplify, condemn, or promote issues in
relation to Catholic faith,” Gibson (2015). All outline a current set of pro-
blems, the Church's positions, and the theological support for how Catholics
must respond or behave. Previous encyclicals have condemned abortion and
birth control (Paul, 1969), Nazi anti-Semitism (Pius, 1937), racism and
cultural superiority (Pius, 1939), Marxism (Pius, 1846; Pius, 1939; John
Paul, 1981), totalitarianism (Pius, 1939), and many other issues. Encyclicals
focused on these topics tend to precede large, sustained growth in attention
from authors of books (Appendix A), an indirect proxy of public interest
since authors write about what they think will interest prospective readers
to ensure book sales. Meanwhile, when 10 terms related to each of 91 public
awareness campaigns were queried in Google Trends, only Breast Cancer
Awareness Month returned meaningful improvement in public interest
within their targeted geographic regions (Unpublished data). Clearly, tar-
geted encyclicals are taken much more seriously than other kinds of
awareness campaigns. This suggests that increased commentary from re-
ligious figures like the Pope may be more effective at improving environ-
mental problems than other forces. When the Church establishes a teaching,
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 6. Mean (+/− SE) ranked scaled proportional search volume for environmental terms by citizens of countries with biodiversity hotspots located in Latin
America (top) and Africa (bottom).
despite frequent fallout (including entrenchment), the new doctrine gra-
dually infiltrates every aspect of Catholic life (Massaro, 2015).
There was also much American media attention to whether Laudato Si'
was infallible, positioning this as a reason to ignore its teachings. Of
course, encyclical declarations are not optional and define what the
Church believes, regardless of their infallibility (Fenton, 1949; Gagnebet,
1968; Pius, 1863; Zoll, 2015). Their infallibility is largely irrelevant be-
cause their compliance is obligatory for church members (Fenton, 1949;
Gagnebet, 1968; Pius, 1863; Zoll, 2015). Prior to Vatican I and II (Brandi,
1892), infallibility was not clearly understood (Tierney, 1972; Siecienski,
2017) and some believed it was universal (Lockwood, 2000). Since Va-
tican II, popes appear to follow John XXIII by avoiding ex cathedra
statements (Sean, 2010). Infallible pronouncements such as Humanae vitae
(Paul, 1969) are reserved for doctrine that has been “called into question
or doubted by a large number of Catholics” (Carr and Brom, 2004). Thus,
lacking ex cathedra delivery indicates there is little to no question about
this doctrine within the Church. Much American coverage also paired
questions of infallibility with criticisms that the communication was
“reaching into non-liturgical areas.” This is a particularly effective ap-
proach to sway Catholics from adopting its teachings. However, Catholics
are conditioned to receiving important information from the Church in
this manner and acting upon it, as previously seen with the Right-to-Life
movement and Humanae Vitae (Paul, 1969; Karrer, 2011). Americans in
219
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
particular are more indoctrinated along party lines (Marris, 2018),
sometimes leading to either affirmation or denial of the importance of
environmental problems. However, the Church has not made such strong
declarations about social issues in decades, and Catholics generally believe
the Church is the most trusted source, above the media and pundits.
The Right-to-Life movement portends what to expect from a Catholic-
driven environmental movement. In the U.S., abortion regulation was nei-
ther a political nor partisan issue until five years after release of the en-
cyclical Humanae Vitae (Paul, 1969) when it became a pivotal dividing line
between the two parties (Baldassari and Gelman, 2008; Levendusky and
Malhotra, 2017; Tarento, 2018). Just two years after the release of Laudato
Si', there are signals that interest in the environment may be growing for the
first time in decades. These findings spell hope for the future. Previous work
demonstrated decades of decay in interest about the environment at na-
tional (Wray-Lake et al., 2010; Martin et al., 2012; Andrew et al., 2016) and
global scales (McCallum and Bury, 2013; Richards, 2013; McCallum and
Bury, 2014). Many of our current environmental problems such as biodi-
versity declines (Ceballos et al., 2015; McCallum, 2015), pollution
(Ebenstein, 2012), and climate change (Vavrus et al., 2008) are tied to in-
dustrialization. The developed world is generally more industrialized, and
more strongly influences many current environmental problems than the
underdeveloped world. Thus, the observed escalation of environmental in-
terest among people in developed nations may foretell future advances in
M.L. McCallum
Fig. 7. Conceptual model hypothesizing how the media, members of the public, and government and non-government organizations interact to deal with new
environmental problems.
environmental policy for those countries.
As a faith-driven environmental movement spear-headed by the largest
Christian denomination, one must consider the implications for environ-
mental politics and policy. Previous environmental movements have ebbed
and waned over the decades (McCormick, 1991; Dunlap and Mertig, 2014),
but resulted in significant environmental progress. They lacked unified or-
ganizational direction and schemata (McCormick, 1991) required for long-
term ideological sustainability. Many ideas were nebulous and loosely re-
lated among people whose foundational definitions of environmental health
varied widely (McCormick, 1991). So, as the social scares that triggered
their mobilization (i.e., Silent Spring, the summer of 1988, hurricane Ka-
trina) faded, so did their momentum (see Ungar, 1992). If the public per-
ceives that a problem, including those of the environment, has resided or
ended, it loses interest (Dunlap, 1995). However, the large, organized re-
ligions like the Roman Catholic Church mold societal culture within their
membership (Geertz, 1966). Even those who no longer participate remain
influenced to participate in Catholic political and social roles (Berger, 1999).
My results also suggest that response to Laudato Si' is not typical of
similar church or environmental news stories, nor is it likely simply a
reflection this Pope's popularity. It has a much stronger signal than the
other news items of similar content and stature. Further, the Pope's
popularity probably contributes, but cannot be a strong factor because
if it were, his earlier encyclical, Lumen Fedei, should demonstrate a
similar response, but instead, its response is in line with a typical news
item, and rapidly declines to below that of Humanae Vitae.
This suggests Laudato Si' could be a modern Silent Spring, with a ca-
veat. Silent Spring was published in 1962, but excerpts in The New Yorker
220
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
alone drove the movement and called attention to the book. Laudato Si' has
become a very popular topic in the media, with eleven popular news ar-
ticles in the week of this writing. Well over 1000 scholarly articles have
cited it. Further, unlike Silent Spring and other triggers like it, Laudato Si'
does not simply inform or raise awareness; it mandates for Catholics a
fundamental morality about the environment that is linked to a cultural
foundation of a widely-held religion. Waning is not an option for practi-
cing Catholics. They can no longer wait and pray for divine intervention
(Hope and Jones, 2014), but must take action. In fact, political activism by
the Catholic Church is already well underway. Since November 2016, the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has submitted eight letters
and statements to the Trump administration and U.S. Congress, 1/3 of
whom claims to be Catholic (Lavelle, 2015b), expressing dissatisfaction
with environmental rollbacks (Roewe, 2017). Even more impressive, an
unprecedented (for a papal encyclical) 61% of the U.S. bishops issued
statements, homilies, or articles tied to the release of Laudato Si'. I observed
that faculty searches for ecologists at Catholic colleges in the 2015–2016
school year were almost double that advertised in the previous five years
combined (unpublished data). Finally, the USCCB's Pastoral Letter on
Stewardship United States Conference of Bishops (2017) instructs clergy of
local parishes that stewardship of nature is a mandatory tenet of Catholic
faith (available at: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-
believe/stewardship/index.cfm). In response, from 2016 to 2017 hundreds
of deacons and priests received specialized training in green studies, the
Society of Jesus released a free online environmental science e-textbook
titled “Healing Earth,” and every diocese in America is developing “Lau-
dato Si' action plans” to address our currently unfolding environmental
M.L. McCallum
dilemmas (Roberts, 2018). This powerful theology on the environment
should gain traction with Catholics and mass-attending non-Catholics (i.e.,
attending non-Catholic spouses, etc.) alike via regular, continuous and
perpetual reinforcement and promotion from the Church. This is further
supported by the fact that search volume for Humanae Vitae remains re-
latively high in Catholic countries nearly half a century after its release
(Fig. 5). The sustained uptick in search volume for Laudato Si' hints it may
similarly endure.
No environmental movement has benefited from a religious man-
date, let alone a long-term plan for sustainability or support from an
institution with the resources, reach, and global recognition that has the
Roman Catholic Church (Tarlton, 2012; Hanson, 2014). This is why
many believe it will be a “catalyst for societal transformation”
(Bartosch et al., 2018). Will environmental concern follow abortion's
pattern and become a second major dividing line in American politics?
What about in other countries? These questions and my findings should
serve warning for politicians with anti-environmental positions and
offer much hope for concerned environmentalists San Martín (2015),
especially in light of the March 15, 2019 (first Friday of Lent) global
Youth Climate Strikes in over 100 countries to protest inaction on
Appendix A. Appearance of keywords in books spanning 1900 to 2008 in relation to the release of five key encyclicals and four relevant
historical events. (Note to reviewer: six panels)
221
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
global warming (Mac Donald, 2019; Remedios, 2019; Taylor et al.,
2019) and willingness among Catholics to participate (Remedios, 2019;
Brady, 2019; Generation of Laudato Si' http://laudatosigeneration.org).
5. Conclusions
The response of public interest in the environment to the release of
Laudato Si' is complicated by many factors. However, it is clear that
distinct differences exist in how developed and developing nations re-
sponded. Initial indicators suggest that public interest has reversed the
previous declining trend. Most awareness campaigns like these do not
sustain for more than a few months; however, there is evidence that the
impacts of this effort continue to elicit growth in some regions. The
most similar previous effort of this kind was the Church's release of
Humanae Vitae, which led ultimately to the Pro-Life movement. There is
reason for believe that a similar response targeting the environment is
developing.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

222
M.L. McCallum Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225

223
M.L. McCallum
References
Agliardo, M., 2013. 12 the US Catholic response to climate change. How the World's
Religions are responding to climate change: Social Scientific Investigations 2013,
174.
Allitt, P., 1998. American Catholics and the environment, 1960–1995. Cathol. Hist. Rev.
84, 263–280.
Andrew L, Arndt D, Beristain N, Cass T, Clow T, Colmenares B, Damm K, Hatcher R,
Jackson N, Pasquesi W, et al. (2016) Changes in United States' Citizens' Interest in
Sustainability (2004–2014). Life: the Excitement of Biology 4:138–164.
Anonymous (2015a) The Pope's encyclical on climate change – as it happened. The
Gaurdian, June 18. Available from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/
blog/live/2015/jun/18/pope-encyclical-climate-change-live-reaction-analysis#
block-5582b62de4b0c09f64bfa923. Accessed 2 June 2017.
Anonymous, 2015b. #Muslims4Climate: A Climate Declaration. Muslim Leaders From 20
Countries Convene in Istanbul to Finalise a Landmark Climate Declaration Ahead of
COP21. Our Voices, August 17.
Baldassari, D., Gelman, A., 2008. Partisans without constraint: political polarization and
trends in American public opinion. J. Sociol. 114, 408–446.
Bartosch, U., Meier, C., Weyers, T., 2018. Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si’ as a catalyst
for societal transformation? Critical remarks and presentations of an inspired ex-
emplary project as a driver for sustainability. Factor X 32, 427–444.
BBC, 2013. How Many Roman Catholics Are There in the World? BBC News. (March 14).
Benedict, 2007. Address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. January 8.
AAS 99, 73.
Bennett, N.J., Roth, R., Klain, S.C., Chan, K., Christie, P., et al., 2017. Conservation social
science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation.
Biol. Conserv. 205, 93–108.
Berger, P.L., 1999. The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World
Politics. Ethics and Public Policy Center. Washington, D.C.
Besley, T., Persson, T., 2014. Why do developing countries tax so little? J. Econ. Perspect.
28, 99–120.
Blum, A., 1987. Students' knowledge and beliefs concerning environmental issues in four
countries. J. Environ. Educ. 18, 7–13.
Bovée, D.S., 2010. The church and the land: The National Catholic Rural Life Conference
and American Society, 1923–2007. In: CUA Press.
Brady, C., 2019. Faith schools urged to engage in climate strike. The Irish Catholic,
February 28.
Brandi, S.M., 1892. When is a pope infallible. The North American Review 155, 652–660.
Brown, J., McNiel, D., 2015. News Release: Interfaith leaders sign letter of support for
Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si’. New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light and the New
Mexico Conference of Churches. July 28.
Carolan, P., 2011. The Catholic Perspective on the Environment. U.S. Catholic, June 1.
Carr B, Brom, RH (2004) Papal infallibility. Catholic Answers. Imprimatur Aug. 10, 2004.
Available from: https://www.catholic.com/tract/papal-infallibility. (Censor Liborum,
accessed: 2 June 2017).
Ceballos, G., 2016. IV. Pope Francis' encyclical letter Laudato Si’, global environmental
risks, and the future of humanity. Q. Rev. Biol. 91, 285–295.
Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P.R., Barnosky, A.D., Garcia, A., Pringle, R.M., Palmer, T.M., 2015.
Accelerated modern human – induced species losses: entering the sixth mass ex-
tinction. Sci. Adv. 1, e1400253.
Cheney, D.M., 2005. Statistics by country by Catholic population. Available at. http://
www.catholic-hiearchy.org/country/sc1.html, Accessed date: 19 April 2019.
Chinn, M.D., Fairlie, R.W., 2007. The determinants of the global digital divide: a cross-
country analysis of computer and internet penetration. Oxf. Econ. Pap. 59, 16–44.
CIA, 2015. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.
Delany J (1911) Corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In: The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Robert Appleton Company, New York, New York, U.S.A. Available from http://www.
newadvent.org/cathen/10198d.htm. (Accessed 2 June 2017).
DeWitt, C.B., 2016. III. Earth stewardship and Laudato Si'. Q. Rev. Biol. 91, 271–284.
Diemer, S., 2011. Corpus Linguistics With Google? Proceedings of ISLE 2. Boston 2008.
Dunlap, R.E., 1995. Public Opinion and Environmental Policy. Duke University Press,
Durham.
Dunlap, R.E., Mertig, A.G., 2014. American Environmentalism: The US Environmental
Movement, 1970–1990. Taylor and Francis, London.
Ebenstein, A., 2012. The consequences of industrialization: evidence from water pollution
and digestive cancers in China. Rev. Econ. Stat. 94, 186–201.
Fenton, J.C., 1949. The doctrinal authority of papal encyclicals. American Ecclesiastical
Review CXXI 136–150.
Francis, 2015. Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si'. Vatican, Rome.
Gagnebet, M.R., 1968. The Authority of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae. L'Osservatore
Romano. September 12 (Pg. 6), 19 (pg 5), 26 (pg 6). The Cathedral Foundation.
Baltimore.
Geertz, C., 1966. Religion as a cultural system. In: Banton, M. (Ed.), Anthropological
Approaches to the Study of Religion. Tavistock Publishers, London, pp. 1–46.
Gibson, D., 2015. Religion. The 'Splainer: What is an encyclical? The Washington Post
June 16.
Guillen, M.F., Suarez, S.L., 2005. Explaining the global digital divide: economic, political
and sociological drivers of cross-national internet use. Social Forces 84, 681–708.
Guth, J.L., Green, J.C., Kellstedt, L.A., Smidt, C.E., 1995. Faith and the environment:
religious beliefs and attitudes on environmental policy. Am. J. Polit. Sci. 39,
364–382.
Hackett, C., Stonawski, M., Grim, B.J., Shirbekk, V., 2015. The future size of religiously
affiliated and unaffiliated populations. Demogr. Res. 32, 829–842.
Hamlin, C., McGreevy, J.T., 2006. The greening of America, Catholic style, 1930–1950.
224
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
Environ. Hist. 11, 464–499.
Hanson, E.O., 2014. The Catholic Church in World Politics. Vol. 785. Princeton University
Press, New Jersey.
Harris, E., 2016. Pope Francis Declares Care for Creation a New Work of Mercy. Catholic
News Agency. September 1. Vatican City, Rome.
Hope, A.L.B., Jones, C.R., 2014. The impact of religious faith on attitudes to environ-
mental issues and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies: a mixed methods
study. Technology and Society 38, 48–59.
Houghton, J.T., Callander, B.A., 1992. Climate Change. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
International Monetary Fund, 2018. World economic outlook database. http://www.imf.
org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/groups.htm, Accessed date: 24 August
2018.
Jerie, S., 2010. The role of the church in sustainable environmental management in
Zimbabwe: a case study of the Bulawayo archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 12, 217–226.
John, X.X.I.I.I., 1963. Encyclical Letter, Pacem in Terris. April 11. Vatican, Rome.
John Paul, I.I., 1979. Encyclical Letter, Redemptor Hominis. March 4. 15: AAS 71:287.
Vatican, Rome.
John Paul, I.I., 1981. Laborem Exercens. September 14. Vatican, Rome.
John Paul II (1990) The ecological crisis: a common responsibility. Peace with God the
Creator, peace with all of creation. January 1. Action Institute Available from https://
action.org Accessed 24 August 2018.
John Paul, I.I., 2003. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Double Day, New York.
Karrer, R.N., 2011. The national Right to Life Committee: its founding, its history, and the
emergence of the pro-life movement prior to Roe v. Wade. Cathol. Hist. Rev. 2011,
527–557.
Kearns, L., 1996. Saving the creation: Christian environmentalism in the Unites States.
Sociol. Relig. 57, 55–70.
Kearns, L., 1997. Noah's Ark goes to Washington: a profile of evangelical en-
vironmentalism. Social Compass 44, 349–366.
Kim, W., 1999. The religion-environmentalism nexus and globalization. Journal of
International and Area Studies 6, 57–73.
Lavelle, M., 2015a. Will Pope Francis's climate message break through there others have
failed? Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac6858.
Lavelle, M., 2015b. Pope doesn't shy away from specifics in leaked climate encyclical.
Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac6845.
Leo, X.I.I.I., 1891. Rerum Novarum. Encyclical No. 37. May 15. Vatican, Rome.
Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., 2017. Does media coverage of partisan polarization affect
political attitudes? Polit. Commun. 33, 283–301.
Lieberman, B., 2012. The Catholic Church and climate change. Part II of a series on cli-
mate and major religions. Feb. 2. Yale Climate Connections. https://www.
yaleclimateconnections.org (Accessed 24 August 2018).
Lockwood, R.P., 2000. Pope Pius IX. The Papacy, White Papers and Essays. September 3.
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Available from. http://www.
catholicleague.org/pope-pius-ix/ (Accessed 24 August 2018).
Lorenzen, J., 2012. Going Green: the process of lifestyle change 1. Sociol. Forum 27,
94–116.
Mac Donald, S., 2019. Serious climate message underlies exuberant student strikes in
Ireland. National Catholic Reporter(March 12).
Maoz, Z., Henderson, E.A., 2013. The world religion dataset, 1945–2010: logic, estimates,
and trends. International Interactions 39, 265–291.
Marlett JD (2007) Biodynamic farming and the rise of catholic environmentalism
1930–60. Ecotheology 5/6:51–59.
Marris, P., 2018. Dilemmas of Social Reform: Poverty and Community Action in the
United States. Routledge Publishers, London.
Martin, J., 2015. Top ten takeaways from "Laudato Si'." America. Available at. http//
www.americanmagazine.org/top-ten-takeaways-laudato-si, Accessed date: 30
November 2016.
Martin, D.R., Pracheil, B.M., DeBoer, J.M., Wilde, G.R., Pope, K.L., 2012. Using the in-
ternet to understand angler behavior in the information age. Fisheries 37, 458–463.
Massaro, T., 2015. Living justice: Catholic social teaching in action. In: Rowan &
Littlefield. Lanham, Maryland.
McCallum, M.L., 2015. Vertebrate biodiversity losses point to a sixth mass extinction.
Biodivers. Conserv. 24, 2497–2519.
McCallum, M.L., Bury, G.W., 2013. Google search patterns suggest declining interest in
the environment. Biodivers. Conserv. 22, 1355–1367.
McCallum, M.L., Bury, G.W., 2014. Public interest in the environment is falling: a re-
sponse to Ficetola (2013). Biodivers. Conserv. 23, 1057–1062.
McCormick, J., 1991. Reclaiming Paradise: The Global Environmental Movement.
Indiana University Press, Indianapolis.
Michelson, J., 2015. Will it Matter? The Pope, the environment and six tips. Huffington
Post.(July 2).
Morrison, M., Duncan, R., Parton, K., 2015. Religion does matter for climate change at-
titudes and behavior. PLoS One 10, e0134868.
Morriss, A.P., Cramer, B.D., 2009. Disestablishing environmentalism. Environmental Law
39, 309–396.
Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Goettsch-Mittermeier, C., da Fonseca, G.A.B., Kent, J., 2000.
Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853–858.
Narbona, J., 2016. Digital leadership, twitter and Pope Francis. Church Communication
and Culture 1, 90–109.
Nature, 2015. Hope from the Pope. Nature 522, 391.
Nizwili, F., 2019. Faith activists urge UN environment assembly to address human side of
climate change. National Catholic Reporter(March 18).
Paul VI (1969) Encyclical letter, Humanae Vitae. July 25. Vatican, Rome.
Paul VI (1971) Apostolic letter, Octogesia Adveniens. May 14. 21:AAS 63:416–417.
M.L. McCallum
Vatican, Rome.
Pius IX (1846) Encyclical letter, Qui pluribus. November 9. Vatican, Rome.
Pius IX (1863) Encyclical letter, Tuas libentur. December 21. Vatican, Rome.
Pius XI (1937) Encyclical letter, Mit brennender Sorge. March 10. Vatican, Rome.
Pius XII (1939) Encyclical letter, Summi Pontificatus. October 20. Vatican, Rome.
Pulia, M., 2008. Public opinion on environmental issues: does it influence government
action? Res. Publica. 6, 8.
Raven, P.H., 2016. I. Our world and Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si. Q. Rev. Biol. 91,
247–260.
Remedios, J., 2019. Activists emphasize urgency. hope at Catholic divestment conference.
National Catholic Reporter.(March 20).
Richards, D.R., 2013. The content of historical books as an indicator of past interest in
environmental issues. Biodivers. Conserv. 22, 2795–2803.
Roberts, J., 2018. Laudato Si’ three years later: the US response. National Catholic
Register.(July 5).
Roewe, B., 2017. Trump's Environmental Rollbacks ‘Lack Moral Compass,’ Catholics Say.
The Nation Under Trump. National Catholic Reporter. Nov. 7. Available from.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/trumps-environmental-rollbacks-
lack-moral-compass-catholics-say (Accessed 30 July 2018).
Rubens, J., 2018. The wicked problem of our failing social compact. Zygon 53, 12402.
Rychlak, R.J., 2008. Should Catholics be environmentalists? In: Catholic Answers.
San Martín I (2015) "'Laudato Si' Will Be an Encyclical for the Ages". Crux, June 17.
Schultz, P.W., 2001. The structure of environmental concern: concern for self, other
people, and the biosphere. J. Environ. Psychol. 21, 327–339.
Sean, M., 2010. The strait arrow theologian and the pope. National Catholic Reporter.
(Dec. 22).
Siecienski, A.E., 2017. The Papacy and the Orthodox: Sources and History of Debate.
Oxford University Press, New York.
Silecchia, L.A., 2003. Environmental ethics from the perspectives of NEPA and Catholic
social teaching: ecological guidance for the 21st century. William & Mary
Environmental Law & Policy Review 28, 659–798.
Silecchia, L.A., 2015. Chapter 17. The call to stewardship: A Catholic perspective on
environmental responsibility. In: Rychlak, R.J. (Ed.), American Law from a Catholic
Perspective. Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law Legal Studies
Research Paper No. 2015-2. Washington, D.C.
Silecchia, L.A., 2016. Laudato Si’ and Care for our Common Home: what does it mean for
legal professional? Seattle Journal of Environmental Law 6, 1–14.
Smith, G.A., 2008. Politics in the Parish: The Political Influence of Catholic Priests.
Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C.
Song, G., Conner, T.E., 2015. Understanding Environmentalism: The Impacts of Cultural
Worldview, Party Identification, and Religious Affiliation on Environmental Concern.
(White Paper).
Soriano-Redondo, A., Bearhop, S., Lock, L., Votier, S.C., Hilton, G.M., 2017. Internet-
based monitoring of public perception of conservation. Biol. Conserv. 206, 304–309.
225
Biological Conservation 235 (2019) 209–225
Tarento, S., 2018. How abortion became the single most important litmus test in
American politics. Wash. Post(January 22).
Tarlton JPP (2012) The Catholic Church as a Prominent Transnational Actor in the
International Political System. Master Thesis. Central European University, Budapest,
Hungary. 57 pg.
Taylor, M., Neslen, A., Brooks, L., 2019. Youth climate strikes to take place in more than
100 countries. The Gardian(March 14).
Thurston H (1909) Encyclical. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 5. Robert Appleton
Company. New York.
Tierney B (1972) Origins of Papal Infallibility, 1150–1350: A Study on the Concepts of
Infallibility, Sovereignty and Tradition in the Middle Ages. E.J. Brill, Leiden.
Troumbis, A.Y., 2017. Declining Google trends of public interest in biodiversity: seman-
tics, statistics, or traceability of changing priorities. Biodivers. Conserv. 26,
1495–1505.
Tucker, M.E., Grim, J., 2016. Integrating ecology and justice: the papal encyclical. Q. Rev.
Biol. 91, 261–270.
Ungar, S., 1992. The rise and relative decline of global warming as a social problem.
Sociol. Q. 33, 483–501.
United Nations, 2018. World Economic Situation and Prospects. United Nations, New
York.
United States Conference of Bishops (2017) Environment. Human Life and Dignity. Issues
and Action. Available from http://www.usccb.org Accessed 24 August 2018.
Vavrus, S., Ruddiman, W.F., Kutzbach, J.E., 2008. Climate model tests of the anthro-
pogenic influence on greenhouse-induced climate change: the role of early human
agriculture, industrialization, and vegetation feedbacks. Quarternary Science
Reviews 27, 1410–1425.
Welby, J., 2015. Archbishop joins faith leaders calling for action on climate change.
Archbishop of Canterbury(June 17).
Witte, R.P., 1948. Twenty-Five Years of Crusading: A History of the National Catholic
Rural Life Conference. H. Lang.
World Bank, 2018. World bank country and lending groups. Available from. https://
datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-
and-lending-groups (Accessed: 27 July 2018).
Worldometers (2017) Current world population. Available from http://www.
worldometers.info/world-population/ Accessed 24 August 2018.
Wray-Lake, L., Flanagan, C.A., Osgood, D.W., 2010. Examining trends in adolescent en-
vironmental attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors across three decades. Environ. Behav.
42, 61–85.
Wu, H.D., 2003. Homogeneity around the world? Comparing the systemic determinants
of international news flow between developed and developing countries. Gazette 65,
9–24.
Zoll R (2015) Do Catholics Have to Do What the Pope's Encyclical Says? Associated Press
June 19.