This brief introduction to the complex issue of climate change provides a biblical perspective on the controversy surrounding this topic. Written from a Creationist point of view, it challenges several assumptions inherent within evolutionary theory and the impacts these have on climate modelling and our understanding of the data.
The booklet consists of nine mini-essays, some very short, written by six different experts whose credentials are given at the end of each piece. The writers are all ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ which does give rise to a certain amount of repetition, but at least the main points are made consistently. Overall, the approach is not too technical which will please many, though there are occasional passages which take a bit more thinking through.
Climate Change and the Data
The guide sets out to answer key questions: What should Christians think on this topic? What does the science actually tell us about climate change? Are we on the brink of global disaster and irreversible damage? Are drastic measures needed? And above all, does the Bible have anything to say on all this?
Before we can discuss climate change we need a good definition of ‘climate’ and how it differs from ‘weather’. The NASA website explains that “climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area…It’s really an average pattern of weather for a particular region” (p79). The question, however, is how long the time frame over which such an average is calculated should be. Decades? Centuries? How far back does the data reach? How much backward extrapolation is used in drawing conclusions?
Climate change is real. Everyone agrees that. The climate is meant to fluctuate to keep our environment safe for the life within – it is part of the way God created our world. At present the globe is warming up, but it has been warmer in the past (the Medieval Warming Period) and cooler since then (the Little Ice Age). In the 1970s the concern was global cooling!
The phrase ‘climate change’ is effectively a neutral one. It is how the data is interpreted that causes the debate (even furore). Is mankind responsible and do we need to change how we live? This booklet explores all this and concludes that many such claims are not well supported by the evidence.
Written from a Creationist point of view, the booklet challenges several assumptions inherent within evolutionary theory and the impacts these have on climate modelling.
Example Issue: CO2 Levels
The issue of carbon dioxide (CO2) is well explored in one essay. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane have increased recently, but such measurements have only been taken continuously since 1959. Levels before then are inferred mainly from tree rings and ice cores. Such data is known as ‘proxy data’ and may not be as reliable as recordable data.
Moreover, carbon dioxide is vital to plant life, and hence all animal life, and is actually only a minor gas in the greenhouse effect. Water vapour is much more significant, accounting for 95% of greenhouse warming. The greenhouse effect is actually good and necessary, otherwise temperatures would be so low we would freeze to death.
Clear Thinking and Faith
None of this means that we are not responsible for our planet or that we should not think through the consequences of how we live. But historically, the earth has generally adapted to such changes – even dramatic ones such as the Flood. Ultimately, it is God who decrees how our world will change. For the Christian, fear and worry should be replaced by trust in our Creator who knows the end from the beginning.
The guide warns that aspects of political correctness often drive the debate about climate change, as does that fact that there is big money to be made in climate change issues. Disagreements will remain, especially over causes and the reliability of data modelling that attempts to track back well before accurate records were possible, but in this brief and inexpensive booklet we have some clear guidance as to how we can begin to think more carefully about what is often presented as factual and definitive.
‘A Pocket Guide to Climate Change’ (94pp, paperback) is available from Answers in Genesis for £2.50.
