Climate Change

Introduction:

The secular world is full of fantastic claims that push for certain moral and ethical decisions. Many people call for support as they fight for political rights, appeal for money to spend in the aid of abused animals, or many other causes. One of the largest pushes for change and initiative in today’s world involves the shifting climate of the planet. Even political leaders have taken up the banner, claiming that if we do not stop the continued emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, drastic environmental changes will threaten our existence. If such claims are true, Christians should certainly be at the forefront of the initiative, but they are not. Are Christian leaders merely being reactionary to what they view as worldly thinking, or are the claims of global warming merely a money-grab for environmentalists?

Evidence:

            The evidence for climate change is surprisingly obvious. Since the 1950s, the level of carbon dioxide, one of the primary greenhouse gasses responsible for raising temperatures, has been measured consistently and has increased about 60 percent. It rises predictably as global temperatures rise. Other greenhouse gasses have similarly increased.

Although the overall temperature of Earth has only increased a mere 0.67 degrees Celsius over about a 100-year period, it has had a significant impact on ecology, particularly in the Polar Regions. Glaciers have receded dramatically, hundreds of meters, as mountaintops fail to retain the icy temperatures of winter. Similarly, the arctic has dropped nearly 40 percent of its summer ice sheet over the last 30 years.

            Of course, the real debate is not over whether global warming takes place, but over what its effects will be in the future. After natural processes like the fluctuations of the sun are accounted for, only about 0.28 of the observed 0.67 degrees Celsius (about 40 percent) can be attributed to mankind’s emission of greenhouse gasses. However, scientists are still concerned that the earth may have a “threshold” that, once crossed, will plunge Earth into a new ice age. However, these claims are based on readings from the polar ice cores and are popularly believed to span hundreds of thousands of years. Nevertheless, the Bible is clear that the earth is not nearly that old. Rather, Scriptural and scientific evidence seems to indicate that the ice cores were formed during the comparatively rapid ice age following the global flood. After the flood, there would have been a fantastic amount of water vapor in the air—and water vapor is the primary greenhouse gas. Therefore, it stands to reason that a colossal ice age would follow a global flood. Today there is no known mechanism, such as a global flood, that could produce enough greenhouse gasses to propel the Earth over its “threshold.”

Conclusion:

The first command of God to mankind was to populate the earth and assume the responsibility of rulership over the Earth. Those who believe the Bible are commanded to serve in this office of “stewardship” responsibly. Therefore, although the Earth is far from crossing any “threshold” of global climate change, it is the Christians responsibility to eliminate negative influence on the Earth and its atmosphere. Ideally, the 42 percent increase of temperature caused by humans should be stopped. However, it seems the Earth has been enduring a natural warming phase since the 1950s regardless of the human effect.

References:

Oard, M. 2009. “Is man the cause of global warming?”. In: Ham, K. ed. The New Answers Book 3. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, pp. 69-79.

Natural Resources Defense Council. “Global warming puts the Arctic on thin ice”. NRDC.org. http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp (accessed September 27, 2014).