Why Pope Francis wants you to turn off the lights

For as popular as he is, Pope Francis is no fan of free-market capitalism. He blames the profit motive for degrading human dignity, faults financial speculation for many of the world’s biggest problems and sounds downright socialist when he calls for “a better distribution of wealth.”

The anti-capitalist tone of the Pope’s environmental encyclical, “On Care for our Common Home,” has put many westerners on the defensive. Without coming right out and saying so, the pope basically argues that an orgy of overconsumption by greedy westerners imperils the planet.

“A minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized,” he writes. “The planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption.”

The pope asserts that global warming caused by, well, us, is having the most devastating effects on poor, faraway parts of the world that can’t afford the tools to combat drought, deforestation or rising sea levels. He warns that “large multinational businesses may become a major source of conflict in this century,” through their control of water and other resources scarce among the world’s poor. For all of Francis’ reformist instincts, old-fashioned Catholic guilt-mongering still emanates from the throne.

[Related: Why billionaires should listen to Pope Francis.]

Once westerners get over their indignation, however, Francis has some pragmatic suggestions for how the better-off citizens of the world—even capitalists!—can do their small part to improve the planet, without selling all their possessions and donning sackcloth. Here’s what the Pope wants you to do:

Waste less. The Pope points out that roughly one-third of all food produced ends up getting thrown away, which he finds deeply troubling. “Whenever food is thrown out it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor,” he writes. Francis has spoken before about the “culture of waste,” which he believes desensitizes haves to the desperation of have-nots.

Buy less. “Compulsive consumerism” is one of the pope’s pet peeves. “Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending,” he writes. In terms of the environment, the production of needless consumer goods (smart fork, anyone?) burns excess energy and diverts resources away from needed products. It also generates spiritual barrenness, the pope believes: “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume.”

Conserve in general. Some parts of the pope’s latest encyclical sound like government guidelines circa 1943, when all available resources were devoted to the war effort. He counsels “avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling [and] turning off unnecessary lights... All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings.”

[Related: What Pope Francis gets wrong about capitalism.]

Plant trees and flowers. The pope is a bit of a tree-hugger. “We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature,” he says. Francis acknowledges that many cities have built beautiful parks and other outdoor areas. But he also calls for more green space in grittier neighborhoods where poor people live.

Learn more about the natural world. One of the pope’s action items is better education about consumerism and its effects on the planet. “Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us,” he writes. “If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple.”

Papal encyclicals have no legal or regulatory standing, but they do sometimes presage important trends and influence decisionmakers. In 1893, Pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical, Rerum Novarum, that castigated big companies for their shabby treatment of workers, a precursor to the labor movement that developed over the next 75 years and gave workers more rights than ever before. Redemptor Hominis, published by John Paul II in 1979, attacked the dehumanizing nature of communism, affirmed a decade later when the Berlin Wall fell.

Today, there are already many efforts underway to rethink western capitalism and address the crass consumerism Pope Francis decries. The pope argues that “the lessons of the global financial crisis [in 2008] have not been assimilated,” yet Wall Street banks complain vociferously about onerous new rules that limit their profits and even threaten their existence. President Obama hopes to make stronger controls on carbon pollution a legacy of his presidency, while entrepreneurs such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk are pursuing similar goals in the for-profit private sector.

Even consumers seem to be tiring of the overspending that has left many of them in a hole, and seeking greater fulfillment than the buzz from shopping. Spending on travel, dining out and other types of experiences is up, but Americans are cutting back on clothing, appliances and electronics (other than smartphones). Counterconsumerist trends such as “minimalism” and “ essentialism” have generated bestselling books urging people to declutter their lives and exist more mindfully. Pope Francis may find there’s a sizable western audience eager to hear his message, despite his anti-capitalist leanings. Or maybe because of them.

Rick Newman’s latest book is Liberty for All: A Manifesto for Reclaiming Financial and Political Freedom. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.