Hospitable Planet by Stephen A. Jurovics

Author:Stephen A. Jurovics
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Church Publishing Incorporated
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 6

This model correlates so well with actual temperature over the entire century that the IPCC calls the warming of the climate due to human activity “unequivocal.”15

The human and animal populations of the earth have adapted over the centuries to their geographic locations, one primary characteristic of which is the climate: the seasonal temperatures, winds, rainfall, and storms. While the annual characteristics of the climate do change, they have historically done so over time periods orders of magnitude greater than the life spans of the human and animal populations. This has enabled the species on earth to adapt to such slow-moving shifts. Changes in climate that occur in decades rather than millennia can cause enormous pain to all life on earth.

What can we do to alleviate this pain? First, who’s the we? Who are the people who want to prevent these devastating consequences of climate change and the deaths, injuries, destruction, and financial losses that accompany them? This book has been addressing Christians and Jews who are people of faith, people whose lives are shaped, to varying degrees, by biblical teachings. Some in this group believe climate change is causing the effects observed, while others remain unconvinced. People of faith agree, however, that many of the causative actions described in Part I are at odds with biblical instructions, and they share a desire to end such transgressions.

That’s one part of the core constituency, the we. The second group includes those people who accept the evidence of climate change and the predictions of devastating future consequences, but for whom religious faith is not a compelling force.

These two parts comprise a huge group, more than enough people to bring about change in a democratic society. However, with significant amounts of money and short-term thinking playing such strong roles among those who would deny these realities and minimize their consequences, change will not come easily. That’s rather obvious. Just as important is the crucial distinction between individuals and collectives; that is, between individuals and the federal government, state governments, or for-profit corporations. It is these institutions that must enact or undergo the changes that will result in fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions venting into the atmosphere. The power of governments and corporations far exceed the power of individuals. However, Americans know how to deal with this disparity in power, and we have evidence of effective strategies to overcome it and prevail. We’ll return to this point shortly.

The changes called for include reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired electricity generating stations and from the use of conventional motor fuels, with the real goal of ending the use of fossil fuels as energy sources before the year 2050.16 The second goal is to capture carbon through reforestation. Carbon capture becomes more difficult each year, as fires facilitated by high temperatures and drought destroy tens of thousands of acres of forest, sending their carbon skywards and ending their capacity to function as carbon sinks. The Texas fires of 2011 and the Colorado fires of 2012 serve as two examples.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.