On the Reality of Climate Change
A Realistic and Fun Response
I do agree that climate change is real.
I do agree that we need to be good stewards of this planet that the Lord made for us.
I do not agree that planet earth is going to come to an end in the near future.[1]
Attached below is a letter I sent to Canadian political leaders with some thoughts and encouragements regarding climate change.
Climate change is real. In fact according to the area of science that studies earth’s climate history the one constant about the earth’s climate is change. Climate change is real. In fact the earth’s climate has always and perpetually been changing.
The area I live in North America is on the western edge of the prairies and it used to be an ocean surrounded by tropical forests that were inhabited by massive cold blooded reptiles, the dinosaurs. These cold blooded dinosaurs needed warm temperatures to survive. This is referred to as the Mesozoic era and it was marked by much, much higher average temperatures[2], CO2 levels[3] and global sea levels[4] than today. Each of these levels in the past has been higher than all of the catastrophic predictions for the near future. In the more recent Pleistocene era the same area of North America was covered with 2-3 kilometers of ice in many places with the average temperatures obviously much, much colder than today. There have been several cycles of ice ages and warming. The climate has always been changing and the earth always adjusts as needed.
“Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation.” Wernher von Braun[5]
So the first thing to remember is that climate change is a normal and perpetual earth activity, but planet earth has not, and will not die or disappear as some falsely prophesy.[6]
Psalm 46:1-3 (ESV)
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.[7]
From fossil records we do know that countless plants and animals have gone extinct in these constant climate changes and cycles of warming and cooling that have happened on planet earth in the past and present; but according to most mainstream science (but not Creation Science[8] which is congruent with reality, but for the sake of this argument let’s go with mainstream science) most of the extinctions were eons before humans came along. Therefore, according to mainstream science (i.e. Mother Nature :) the vast majority of animal and plant extinctions have not been caused by humans. Apparently Mother Nature is a colossal bitch and extinctions are just a routine event on earth as earth’s climate constantly changes. Perhaps humans are doing better at preventing animal and plant extinctions than Mother Earth :) has done in the past, could somebody please do a count?
Secondly, plants and animals going extinct is also a normal occurrence on planet earth without human influence according to mainstream science. Is that not what the theory of evolution teaches? Or does the climate change religion debunk the theory of evolution? If so I will have to admit I didn’t see that coming. Yet I do agree that we should be good stewards of this planet the Lord has made us stewards of and that includes caring for all the plants and animals and doing our best to keep them from going extinct, without sacrificing humanity to do so.[9]
It is also interesting that for hundreds or thousands of years humans have adapted to quite a wide range and variety of climates on earth. Humans have lived and do live in the artic where temperatures can go far below minus 55 degrees Celsius and in deserts near the equator where the temperatures can go well above plus 45 degrees Celsius. That is at a minimum over a 100 degree Celsius range. Even on the edge of the Canadian prairies where I live today the current extreme temperature range from winter to summer can easily be over 70 degrees Celsius (or 130 degrees Fahrenheit) every year, year after year. Aboriginal folks have been adapting and surviving for several millennia in these extreme temperatures and earth’s constantly changing climate everywhere globally with just basic or low technology; in huts made of mud, grass or animal skins (i.e. no air conditioners or central heat). Humans just need to be free to be creative and innovate.
So thirdly, humans have the capability to adapt immeasurably to climate changes if they are free to be creative and innovate. If the sea rises over decades or centuries as they have in the past, humans build dikes or move inland. We do not just sit and drown. I suspect most animals and plants would eventually end up moving inland as well; at least according to mainstream science if the theory of evolution were true.
One of the main arguments now of the climate change religion is that the issue is not climate change but rather rapid climate change. The changes are happening too fast, and faster than ever before in the planet’s history. However, that is not true either. Many mainstream scientists suggest that a single asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, triggered a cataclysmic climate change (cooling) event that included tsunamis and filling the atmosphere with dust, debris and gases; which quickly led to the extinction of many plants and animals including the dinosaurs.
Fourthly, very sudden or even immediate catastrophic climate changes have happened before on planet earth. Changes much more sudden and extreme than what the religious climate change alarmists are fearmongering about today ... and well, here we all are: the earth, humans, plants and animals. According to main stream science humans may not have been around back then, but the point is that humans are infinitely more adaptable to change that the dinosaurs apparently were.
Again, I do agree that climate change is real.
Again, I do agree that we need to be good stewards of this planet that the Lord made for us.
However, the “domerism”[10] of the fundamentalist existential climate change religion that some folks adhere to has missed the mark (i.e. Romans chapter #1 of the Bible, well worth the 1-2 minute read[11]).
Yet the fundamentalist existential climate change religion has heavily influenced the legacy media, public opinion and politics. To that end I sent the following email to Canadian Senators and Members of Parliament (MPs) in August of 2022 hoping that the absurdly expensive Canadian government policies whose goal is to actually end climate change (and remember climate change has been constantly happening in earth’s history, the climate changing is normal) would be re-considered in a rational way and evaluated for actual effectiveness going forward. The cure should not be exponentially more damaging than the illness.
We clearly need more open, honest and truthful debate on climate change. Debate without the intolerance shown today towards those who do not agree with the fundamentalist existential climate change religious folks and the climate industrial complex behind them. The best ideas always come from open and honest debate.
In human history debate is always shut down when the hegemony cannot make a defense for their ideas or ideology. That seems to be what is happening with this topic today.
What we do know:
Genesis 8:22 (ESV) [12]
22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
Colossians 1:15–17 (ESV)
15 He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:1–3 (ESV)
1Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Jesus), whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Here is the email I sent to Canadian Senators and Members of Parliament with a few small updates:
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Apply SMART goals to any and all climate change policies and proposed legislation
Over the years and in different careers I have run across the concept of SMART Goals[13], both in business management and in addiction counselling. Perhaps it would be helpful for those currently in power to apply this type of simple reasoning to any or all climate change legislation; to help ground political decisions in reality. Globally there have been trillions of dollars spent on climate change over past decades and yet the environmental virtue signalers remind us that we have made zero (= 0) impact. Arguably many people are making fortunes from this climate change industry[14], while at the same time families, communities and entire industries are being threatened or destroyed by ineffective and ill thought out government policies. This brings me to the idea of using the SMART goal process in the future when it comes to climate change policies. Here is one version of SMART goals simply laid out:
Specific What exactly do I want to accomplish with this particular goal?
Measurable How will I measure success (i.e. real effect on climate)?
Attainable Is this goal realistic? How will I accomplish it?
Relevant Why is this goal worthwhile (for our nation, for the poor, for the world)?
Time-based What is the specific timeline to achieve the precise thing you intend to
accomplish?
Climate change is real, I have personally been hearing about it for 50-60 years (i.e. climate cooling, climate warming, climate change, etc.[15]). While an issue that we must deal with through rational debate and discussions, it is clearly not the immediate apocalypse that the legacy media and some politicians said it was, or say it is today. Yet I am in agreement that we must be good stewards of this part of creation that our Triune God has entrusted us humans with.
However, I am hoping you will be a world leader in the area of climate change that can bring some truth, reality and balance to the conversation about solutions to climate change without the political fear mongering and alarmism. The fear mongering harms our nation, especially the mental health of children; and our ability to make the best rational choices for the future. The ineffective and expensive choices being made today affect the poor negatively and directly, while doing almost nothing to change the earth’s climate.
Peace
Bill Miller
[1] Peter Robinson of Uncommon Knowledge interviews physicist Dr. Steven Koonin who explains how the UN IPCC (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports are often misread or misused to manipulate public opinion and government policy:
[2] Here is just one example of research on the topic of historic earth temperatures. This one is from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA): https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/whats-hottest-earths-ever-been
[3] Again, here is one example. See figure 4: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1315657111
[4] Just one example: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/09/co2-in-earths-atmosphere-nearing-levels-of-15m-years-ago Also see: Steven E. Koonin, Unsettled, What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters, BenBella Books, Dallas, TX., 2021, pages 149-166
[5] Wernher von Braun was a controversial NASA scientist who seems to have lived a transformed life in his later years. Here is the whole quote “Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. Everything science has taught me, and continues to teach me, strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7578265-nature-does-not-know-extinction-all-it-knows-is-transformation
[6] Some examples of doomsday predictions include Greta Thunberg’s 2018 tweet: “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years” (i.e. by 2023, isn’t this they call a false prophet?). https://torontosun.com/news/world/greta-thunberg-mocked-for-tweet-claiming-world-will-end-by-2023
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 46:1–3.
[8] Mainstream science and the theory of evolution seem to intentionally avoid the unanswered questions such as irreducible complexity, intelligent design and the incomplete fossil record. Until mainstream science actually solves all these and other unanswered questions the theory of evolution remains more of a hypothesis than a theory. Also, physical creation is explained by science as starting with the big bang. Mathematics and physics tell that everything started from a singularity with no energy or matter. Time, space, energy and matter started in a moment from nothing (i.e. ex nihilo). This is unnatural, unanswerable by natural causes and beyond science (i.e. super-natural) yet the theory that physical creation has a natural cause prevails (the Big Bang). Science stubbornly rejects science to keep a secular atheistic worldview alive. For more information on this general topic check out the Discovery Institute:
https://www.discovery.org/
[9] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%201&version=ESV
[10] Again: Some examples of doomsday predictions include Greta Thunberg’s 2018 tweet: “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years” (i.e. by 2023, isn’t this they call a false prophet?). https://torontosun.com/news/world/greta-thunberg-mocked-for-tweet-claiming-world-will-end-by-2023 This “domerism” type thinking has also been called Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) by some as shown by David Friedman in his Substack article regarding global warming:
[11] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%201&version=ESV
[12] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)
[13] Initially formulated by George T. Doran in a 1981 essay referring to setting business goals.
[14] https://www.heritage.org/environment/commentary/follow-the-climate-change-money
[15] https://nypost.com/2021/11/12/50-years-of-predictions-that-the-climate-apocalypse-is-nigh/