TODAY'S TOPICS - THE GLOBAL WARMING HOAX
GLOBAL WARMING AND ITS EFFECTS
Global Warming, according to the EPA website, is "a term used to describe a gradual increase in the earth’s average ground and atmospheric temperatures across the whole planet. Measurements indicate that the global temperature has increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century. This warming trend appeared during a period when human activities were beginning to increase the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Although most scientists believe that a rise in carbon dioxide emissions will lead to further global warming, uncertainties remain about the timing and severity of resulting climatic change. Nevertheless, many are convinced that human activities are partly responsible for the long-term warming of the past century and that climatic changes caused by greenhouse gas increases will be a continuing part of our future."
What is the supposed danger of global warming? From The Natural Resources Defense Council website, which “works to protect wildlife and wild places and to ensure a healthy environment for all life on earth.”
Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance. But each year scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet, and many agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue. Among these: Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West. Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico. Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases. Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Or, as Chicken Little once said, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling."
WHY IS GLOBAL WARMING IMPORTANT TO BELIEVERS
First of all, there is the issue of loving our neighbors. "Jesus cares about what we drive. Obeying Jesus in our transportation choices is one of the great Christian obligations and opportunities of the twenty-first century." So proclaims the Evangelical Environmental Network on their "What Would Jesus Drive?" website. The issue seems absurd, but has a serious point. If the way we choose to drive harms other people, then servants of Christ must do what they can to minimize this harm. Doing otherwise would not entail loving one's neighbor as oneself. How can an individual's transportation choices harm others? The Evangelical Environmental Network explains, "Pollution that causes the threat of global warming violates the Great Commandments, the Golden Rule, and the Biblical call to care for 'the least of these,' and therefore denies Christ's Lordship." If human activities cause global warming, then Christians have an obligation to avoid contributing to the problem.
Next, there is the issue of man’s stewardship over the earth. Notice these verses:
Genesis 1:28 reads, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Psalm 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Psalm 24:1-2, “The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.”
God gave us dominion over the earth for our benefit, not to destroy it. If the cars we are driving and our lifestyles are destroying the God’s earth, then we have a responsibility to do all we can to correct our actions and be good stewards of God’s planet.
Also, there is the issue of responsibility. Who is responsible for global warming? Humans, specifically us Americans who don’t care about anyone else but ourselves, are blamed for producing most of the gasses that lead to global warming. However, what if could be proven that natural causes are responsible for a majority of greenhouse gasses? Would that not make God responsible for global warming?
Finally, there is the issue of trusting God’s Word? Is the Bible trustworthy and reliable? Can I trust God’s Word completely, even in the face of so much ‘scientific evidence’?
I am not a scientist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night so I could act like a scientist. Actually, I am going to quote extensively from a speech given on the floor of the Senate by Sen. James Inhofe from Oklahoma who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. That speech, entitled “A Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism”, as well as others he has given on the topic of global warming, is available online by clicking on the title (it is well worth your time to read this article). In the booklet that contains these speeches one can find all the scientific references he would ever need on the subject.
IS GLOBAL WARMING REAL?
Yes and No. It really depends on whom you ask. Actually, the temperatures have risen globally about 1 degree Farenheit over the last 100 years or so according to most estimates, but this increase is within the norm of historical fluctuations. But the question we should be asking is, “Are greenhouse gasses (humans) responsible for the change or is it part of the natural cycle that has occurred since God created the earth? Here is where I would like to begin quoting from Sen. Inhofe’s speech.
Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism; Hot & Cold Media Spin Cycle: A Challenge to Journalists who Cover Global Warming by United States Senator James Inhofe - Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; Senate Floor Speech Delivered Monday September 25, 2006 and Global Warming Related Materials
Since 1895, the media has alternated between global cooling and warming scares during four separate and sometimes overlapping time periods. From 1895 until the 1930’s the media peddled a coming ice age. From the late 1920’s until the 1960’s they warned of global warming. From the 1950’s until the 1970’s they warned us again of a coming ice age. This makes modern global warming the fourth estate’s fourth attempt to promote opposing climate change fears during the last 100 years.
SUMMARY OF LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF MANMADE GLOBAL WARMING HOCKEY STICK
First, I would like to summarize some of the recent developments in the controversy over whether or not humans have created a climate catastrophe. One of the key aspects that the United Nations, environmental groups and the media have promoted as the “smoking gun” of proof of catastrophic global warming is the so-called ‘hockey stick’ temperature graph by climate scientist Michael Mann and his colleagues.
This graph purported to show that temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere remained relatively stable over 900 years, then spiked upward in the 20th century presumably due to human activity. Mann, who also co-publishes a global warming propaganda blog reportedly set up with the help of an environmental group, had his “Hockey Stick” come under severe scrutiny.
The “hockey stick” was completely and thoroughly broken once and for all in 2006. Several years ago, two Canadian researchers tore apart the statistical foundation for the hockey stick. In 2006, both the National Academy of Sciences and an independent researcher further refuted the foundation of the “hockey stick.”
The National Academy of Sciences report reaffirmed the existence of the Medieval Warm Period from about 900 AD to 1300 AD and the Little Ice Age from about 1500 to 1850. Both of these periods occurred long before the invention of the SUV or human industrial activity could have possibly impacted the Earth’s climate. In fact, scientists believe the Earth was warmer than today during the Medieval Warm Period, when the Vikings grew crops in Greenland.
Climate alarmists have been attempting to erase the inconvenient Medieval Warm Period from the Earth’s climate history for at least a decade. David Deming, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Geosciences, can testify first hand about this effort. Dr. Deming was welcomed into the close-knit group of global warming believers after he published a paper in 1995 that noted some warming in the 20th century. Deming says he was subsequently contacted by a prominent global warming alarmist and told point blank “We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period.” When the “Hockey Stick” first appeared in 1998, it did just that.
END OF LITTLE ICE AGE MEANS WARMING
The media have missed the big pieces of the puzzle when it comes to the Earth’s temperatures and mankind’s carbon dioxide (C02) emissions. It is very simplistic to feign horror and say the one degree Fahrenheit temperature increase during the 20th century means we are all doomed. First of all, the one degree Fahrenheit rise coincided with the greatest advancement of living standards, life expectancy, food production and human health in the history of our planet. So it is hard to argue that the global warming we experienced in the 20th century was somehow negative or part of a catastrophic trend.
Second, what the climate alarmists and their advocates in the media have continued to ignore is the fact that the Little Ice Age, which resulted in harsh winters which froze New York Harbor and caused untold deaths, ended about 1850. So trying to prove man-made global warming by comparing the well-known fact that today’s temperatures are warmer than during the Little Ice Age is akin to comparing summer to winter to show a catastrophic temperature trend.
In addition, something that the media almost never addresses are the holes in the theory that C02 has been the driving force in global warming. Alarmists fail to adequately explain why temperatures began warming at the end of the Little Ice Age in about 1850, long before man-made CO2 emissions could have impacted the climate. Then about 1940, just as man-made CO2 emissions rose sharply, the temperatures began a decline that lasted until the 1970’s, prompting the media and many scientists to fear a coming ice age.
Let me repeat, temperatures got colder after C02 emissions exploded. If C02 is the driving force of global climate change, why do so many in the media ignore the many skeptical scientists who cite these rather obvious inconvenient truths?
SIXTY SCIENTISTS
My skeptical views on man-made catastrophic global warming have only strengthened as new science comes in. There have been recent findings in peer-reviewed literature over the last few years showing that the Antarctic is getting colder and the ice is growing and a new study in Geophysical Research Letters found that the sun was responsible for 50% of 20th century warming. Recently, many scientists, including a leading member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, predicted long-term global cooling may be on the horizon due to a projected decrease in the sun’s output.
A letter sent to the Canadian Prime Minister on April 6 of this year by 60 prominent scientists who question the basis for climate alarmism, clearly explains the current state of scientific knowledge on global warming.
The 60 scientists wrote: “If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary.” The letter also noted: “‘Climate change is real’ is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes occur all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural ‘noise.’”
So, you can see, the temperature has changed, but it is only do to the natural cycle that has occurred since creation. There are still honest scientists who aren't driven by any agenda who will admit this truth.
MEDIA BIAS ON GLOBAL WARMING
The driving force behind the alarmism concerning global warming is the media. The media, like many, has bought into the global warming hysteria because the Al Gores of the world promote it. In other words, it fits their liberal agenda so it makes the headlines. The only problem is that there is no real reporting, only propaganda from most of the major news outlets. Any real reporter could have done what Sen. Inhofe did in his speech and showed that this idea of global warming or cooling is nothing but natural fluctuations in temperatures. The following is from the same speech quoted above.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Many in the media, as I noted earlier, have taken it upon themselves to drop all pretense of balance on global warming and instead become committed advocates for the issue.
Here is a quote from Newsweek magazine: “There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth.”
A headline in the New York Times reads: “Climate Changes Endanger World’s Food Output.”
Here is a quote from Time Magazine: “As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval.”
All of this sounds very ominous. That is, until you realize that the three quotes I just read were from articles in 1975 editions of Newsweek Magazine and The New York Times, and Time Magazine in 1974. They weren’t referring to global warming; they were warning of a coming ice age. Let me repeat, all three of those quotes were published in the 1970’s and warned of a coming ice age. In addition to global cooling fears, Time Magazine has also reported on global warming. Here is an example:
“[Those] who claim that winters were harder when they were boys are quite right… weathermen have no doubt that the world at least for the time being is growing warmer.”
Before you think that this is just another example of the media promoting Vice President Gore’s movie, you need to know that the quote I just read you from Time Magazine was not a recent quote; it was from January 2, 1939.
Yes, in 1939. Nine years before Vice President Gore was born and over three decades before Time Magazine began hyping a coming ice age and almost five decades before they returned to hyping global warming. Time Magazine in 1951 pointed to receding permafrost in Russia as proof that the planet was warming. In 1952, the New York Times noted that the “trump card” of global warming “has been the melting glaciers.”
BUT MEDIA COULD NOT DECIDE BETWEEN WARMING OR COOLING SCARES
There are many more examples of the media and scientists flip-flopping between warming and cooling scares. Here is a quote from the New York Times reporting on fears of an approaching ice age. “Geologists Think the World May be Frozen Up Again.” That sentence appeared over 100 years ago in the February 24, 1895 edition of the New York Times. Let me repeat. 1895, not 1995.
A front page article in the October 7, 1912 New York Times, just a few months after the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, declared that a prominent professor “Warns Us of an Encroaching Ice Age.” The very same day in 1912, the Los Angeles Times ran an article warning that the “Human race will have to fight for its existence against cold.” An August 10, 1923 Washington Post article declared: “Ice Age Coming Here.”
By the 1930’s, the media took a break from reporting on the coming ice age and instead switched gears to promoting global warming: “America in Longest Warm Spell Since 1776; Temperature Line Records a 25-year Rise” stated an article in the New York Times on March 27, 1933. The media of yesteryear was also not above injecting large amounts of fear and alarmism into their climate articles.
An August 9, 1923 front page article in the Chicago Tribune declared: “Scientist Says Arctic Ice Will Wipe Out Canada.” The article quoted a Yale University professor who predicted that large parts of Europe and Asia would be “wiped out” and Switzerland would be “entirely obliterated.”
A December 29, 1974 New York Times article on global cooling reported that climatologists believed “the facts of the present climate change are such that the most optimistic experts would assign near certainty to major crop failure in a decade.” The article also warned that unless government officials reacted to the coming catastrophe, “mass deaths by starvation and probably in anarchy and violence” would result. In 1975, the New York Times reported that “A major cooling [was] widely considered to be inevitable.” These past predictions of doom have a familiar ring, don’t they? They sound strikingly similar to our modern media promotion of former Vice president’s brand of climate alarmism.
After more than a century of alternating between global cooling and warming, one would think that this media history would serve a cautionary tale for today’s voices in the media and scientific community who are promoting yet another round of eco-doom.
Much of the 100-year media history on climate change that I have documented here today can be found in a publication titled “Fire and Ice” from the Business and Media Institute.
In his speech, Sen. Inhofe goes on to show how today's media hasn't learned from it's own "sky-is-falling" past. He quotes reports from the CBS show "60 Minutes" and NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and cites articles from Time Magazine, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times to show continued media bias and propaganda. Sen. Inhofe also pointed that there were at least 12 errors in Al Gore's propaganda "An Inconvenient Truth." The truth really seems to be inconvenient for media and liberal politicians who are bent on promoting agendas instead of digging for and reporting the truth. It is obvious that global warming and the coming catastrophes associated with it are nothing more than scientific fable, much like Darwinism.
THE BELIEVER'S RESPONSE TO GLOBAL WARMING
Let's address the issue of loving our neighbors. We are not guilty of violating the Lord’s command to love our neighbors if we drive SUV’s, don’t recycle, don’t support Green Peace, and don’t vote for Obama. In fact, if they are so concerned with loving neighbors, help us support Mission work around the world. Pour a million dollars or two into our coffers so that Missionaries can build churches, start new works, train more people, and stay on the field longer. That's the kind of love for a neighbor that will matter for eternity.
Next, what about the issue of man’s stewardship over the earth? As has been shown already, driving cars and promoting industry are not destroying God’s creation, nor do they make us bad stewards of God’s earth. It does mean, though, that we ought to use common sense when it comes to recycling and replanting and taking care of our environment.
You may be surprised to know that God is responsible for greenhouse gases, also. Cows, due to production of methane gas (which is far more harmful to the environment that carbon dioxide), and forest fires are responsible for more greenhouse gases than human emissions from cars and industry. God created the cows, as well as the lightning, which start over half of the world’s forest fires. Therefore, God is just as responsible for greenhouse gases as we are. They are already trying to outlaw SUV's. What's next? Cows, forest fires, and volcanoes? Maybe we should outlaw God. Let me know how that works out for you.
Finally, there is the issue of trusting God’s Word. Notice Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Why do you think God gave Noah that promise? He had just come off of the ark and been through the greatest cataclysmic event this world has ever seen. I am sure there were multiple climate changes leading up to, during, and after the flood. God was telling Noah, “I have everything under control. Don't be concerned when you see it rain; Don’t be alarmed when the temperature drops or you experience a heat wave or a natural disaster. As long as the earth is here there will be seasons, cold spells, heat waves, seed time and harvest, and night and day.” The only global warming people need to worry about is in 2 Peter 3:10-13: (10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (11) Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, (12) Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (13) Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
To rebut the alarmists, a group of evangelicals—researchers, professors, pastors, leaders—has banded together. It is the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance (ISA). The ISA is seeking to find an effective and sensible response to the possibility of climate change, using established norms of science and economics.
On January 17, 2007, a group led by representatives of the Center for Health and the Global Environment and of the National Association of Evangelicals sent out a letter titled “An Urgent Call to Action: Scientists and Evangelicals Unite to Protect Creation”. It was sent to political and religious leaders and the media. They claimed to speak for a broad consensus of scientists and evangelicals on a wide range of environmental issues.
The ISA letter stated that a look back at climate change over the past 30 to 150 years, as well as what may be projected with reasonable confidence into the foreseeable future, has resulted in the following conclusions:
(1) These climate changes are well within the bounds of natural variability, in which Earth’s climate has warmed and cooled cyclically throughout its history;
(2) These changes are largely natural in origin;
(3) These changes are unlikely to be catastrophic to humanity or the rest of the biosphere;
(4) These changes are not susceptible to significant reduction by any actions we take; and
(5) These changes are far from the most serious threat to humanity and the rest of our environment.”
LET'S KEEP THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING
Let us remain focused on the task at hand - not saving the environment, but doing all we can to get the Good News to unbelievers so they can be saved from the wrath to come.
