468 Global Warming, Part 1
I consider myself a man of reasonable intelligence. I circle 19 when asked how many years of school I’ve completed. I understand parts of Nutritional Facts labels. I’m pretty certain Elvis is dead and I check voice messages on my cell phone. (No, I can’t take pictures or text yet.)
But when it comes to global warming I was more disoriented than the Dixie Chicks at a NASCAR race. I decided to get to the bottom of it with a special Clothman investigation: Global Warming or Hot Air?
I found the BP Environment and Society page (www.bp.com) and learned my “carbon footprint” is 17 tonnes (a tonne is a metric ton which equals 2,204.62 pounds). That means I release 17 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year. Ten tonnes is enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool twice. That is an incredible of carbon, but less than the American average of about 20 tonnes per year. (I recycle, turn our heat down, shut lights off and shower just once a month).
Carbon is one of the “greenhouse” gases that both filter and insulate the earth from the Sun’s rays. Too much carbon in the atmosphere will cause the earth to warm up – global warming. Worldwide, 7.2 billion tonnes of human produced carbon is being released into the atmosphere each year (and rising). That sounds like pouring a shaker of pepper over a perfectly good egg.
I was even more shocked after watching Al Gore’s hugely popular documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Everyone should see this film. Gore presents a lot of great information that cannot be quickly dismissed. Yet, only a day after Gore’s film won two Emmy Awards, Rush Limbaugh said, "I think the Academy Awards made global warming look like the joke that it is.”
If it were only talking heads like Limbaugh protesting global warming, it wouldn’t be so doggone complicated. But more than 15,000 scientists signed a petition against the Kyoto Accord, an international treaty whereby countries agree to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they emit if their neighbors do likewise.
The cover letter to the petition was signed by Dr. Frederick Seitz, president emeritus of Rockefeller University and past president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In the letter he states: "The treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful."
One side says this, the other says that. I started to think that the earth must be warming up from all the hot air both sides are blowing at one another. After a week of investigation I had more questions than answers. What are we supposed to do?
James says, “If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it” (James 1:5-6). Okay God I’m asking, what in the world are we supposed to do about this global warming thing?
…to be continued.
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