...* * * * ShareThis * Print friendly The study of earth’s history is not a subject of idle curiosity. We need to know more if we hope to solve the environmental crises that face humanity. That’s one reason that a biblical perspective on history is so important. It helps us make sense of the problems we face today and prepare for the future. Global Warming: A Scientific and Biblical Expose of Climate Change (DVD) These days it seems you can hardly turn on the TV, go online, or open your morning newspaper without being confronted with the idea of global warming. In his 2006 Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore presents global warming as an imminent threat to the planet and paints an alarming picture of a future in which mankind ultimately destroys life on earth. But global warming is far more intricate than one 48-minute film can convey, and most people are simply not getting some of the most important information. It’s clear that global warming is a complex and emotionally charged issue, one that cannot be ignored in today’s cultural and political climate. New claims and counter-claims appear in the press with numbing regularity, leaving many Christians uncertain what to believe. Rather than getting lost in the details, it is necessary first to uncover the basic facts and then to understand the assumptions that drive the interpretations of those facts. Although many people may think otherwise, all of us...
Words: 726 - Pages: 3
...In 2006, former senator Al Gore created an academy award winning documentary on global warming entitled “An Inconvenient Truth” . The movie earned several awards including an academy award for best documentary and gore later received a noble peace prize. The movie discussed several different topics of great concern to global warming; such as permafrost, climbs in temperature, extinction of species, drought, and fatigue to name a few. Four writers in five different articles discussed the three topics of greenhouse gases, climate change, and causes of global warming. These writers are writer and scholar Bill McKibben in “Think Again: Climate Change” and “How Close to catastrophe”; William J. Broad, writer for the New York Times in “From a Rapt audience, a call to cool the hype”; writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kevin O’Brien, in “Global Warming? I won’t be losing any sleep over it”; and Alan Zarembo, staff writer for the the Los Angeles Times, in “Game over on global warming?” All though the articles explain some different topics from one another, only one of them disagree with gore on the causes for global warming being humans, they all agree that there will be impacts to the environment, and all of them believe that greenhouse gases are one of the primary causes for global warming. First, all the articles discussed about who was to blame for the raising temperatures of the planet. The issue may be serious but O’Brien states that is just the media using another topic of...
Words: 1348 - Pages: 6
...In 2006, former senator Al Gore created an academy award winning documentary on global warming entitled “An Inconvenient Truth” . The movie earned several awards including an academy award for best documentary and gore later received a noble peace prize. The movie discussed several different topics of great concern to global warming; such as permafrost, climbs in temperature, extinction of species, drought, and fatigue to name a few. Four writers in five different articles discussed the three topics of greenhouse gases, climate change, and causes of global warming. These writers are writer and scholar Bill McKibben in “Think Again: Climate Change” and “How Close to catastrophe”; William J. Broad, writer for the New York Times in “From a Rapt audience, a call to cool the hype”; writer for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kevin O’Brien, in “Global Warming? I won’t be losing any sleep over it”; and Alan Zarembo, staff writer for the the Los Angeles Times, in “Game over on global warming?” All though the articles explain some different topics from one another, only one of them disagree with gore on the causes for global warming being humans, they all agree that there will be impacts to the environment, and all of them believe that greenhouse gases are one of the primary causes for global warming. First, all the articles discussed about who was to blame for the raising temperatures of the planet. The issue may be serious but O’Brien states that is just the media using another topic...
Words: 1347 - Pages: 6
...The Reality of Global Warming A Native American proverb says that “we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” In recent years the argument of what exactly we are passing down to our children has found its way into political agendas and scientific forums. Perhaps the most relevant topic has been whether or not global warming is a genuine problem and if so, whether or not it is worth the money and effort to correct the environmental problems that it may cause in the not-so-distant future. While some political parties find other issues such as unemployment and immigration more important than a receding o-zone layer and disappearing specie, other, more liberal groups, seem to find environmental issues a top priority because of the impending danger it could pose. For now, neither side of the global warming debate can definitively prove the truth and therefore continue to deliberate the reality of global warming and whether or not fixing the problem, if there is a problem, is worth the time and money necessary to do so. Before one can even dispute the benefits versus the costs of “fixing” global warming, one must first decide whether or not the issue is legitimate or not. Often, more conservative groups and individuals tend to believe that global warming is a natural occurrence that is a part of the earth’s climate cycle. Even if there was a real issue to discuss, these parties believe the change in temperature is so...
Words: 950 - Pages: 4
...The Effects of Global Warming Global Warming: Fact or Fiction I. Description: Global Warming In plain terms, global warming is a phenomenon where the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere has increased, and is causing a green house effect. The temperature is raised due to increased levels of carbon dioxide (Balaguer, 2010). On average, in America we annually release an estimated 20 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through driving to work, the use of heating and cooling appliances, and turning on lights (Ecologic Development Fund, 2010). The increased temperature is depleting our ozone, causing severe hurricanes, major flooding, and intensifying desertification, meaning “reduction or destruction of the biological potential of the earth which can create the conditions analogous to a natural desert" (Desertification and Hazard Assessment, 2010). Although human activity is commonly blamed for the problem, there is some debate among experts regarding the severity of global warming, and whether the cause is a natural phenomenon or in fact a result of mankind’s environmental negligence. A. Impetus discussion: 1. Global warming is fiction: Although it is agreed that an increase of Co2 levels are causing a green house effect, according to Brown, there is no consensus among scientists to explain the true cause of global warming (2010). Some scientists believe the warming temperatures and rising sea levels is a natural...
Words: 1002 - Pages: 5
...Review & Personal Reflection on Global Warming When talking to my family over thanksgiving break about school and my current class load for the semester, one of the more interesting topics that was brought up was the debate over global warming. It was interesting to hear the viewpoints of my mother’s side and fathers’ side of the family. For the most part my mothers’ side of the family are hardcore republicans and use faith as a basis for most of their political positions, while my fathers’ side (not my father however) tend to lead more towards the democratic viewpoint on politics. While I am a catholic and would consider myself to lean towards more of a conservative viewpoint, I try to separate faith from politics and focus more on what I believe is the core of the issue being debated and how it can be solved, not necessarily to benefit the majority, but rather what would be a fair compromise between to the two arguing sides. With this being said my two sides of the family did not see eye to eye on global warming (side note: these conversations were at two different family parties as I would never try to talk politics especially given the circumstance of two very different viewpoints in my family). After talking a lot about global warming my uncle told me about a book he had read about it entitled Climate of Extremes. I decide to read this book and write a report on it, to obtain more knowledge on the subject of global warming. Like stated above the title of the...
Words: 1234 - Pages: 5
...they will attempt to give attribution to the warming, which now looks more and more like a natural cycle. See updates below. – Anthony ================================================================ Guest essay by Bob Tisdale The recently published climate model-based paper Recent global-warming hiatus tied to equatorial Pacific surface cooling [Paywalled] by Yu Kosaka and Shang-Ping Xie has gained a lot of attention around the blogosphere. Like Meehl et al (2012) and Meehl et al (2013), Kosaka and Xie blame the warming stoppage on the recent domination of La Niña events. The last two sentences of Kosaka and Xie (2013) read: Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La-Niña-like decadal cooling. Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase. Anyone with a little common sense who’s reading the abstract and the hype around the blogosphere and the Meehl et al papers will logically now be asking: if La Niña events can stop global warming, then how much do El Niño events contribute? 50%? The climate science community is actually hurting itself when they fail to answer the obvious questions. And what about the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)? What happens to global surface temperatures when the AMO also peaks and no longer contributes to the warming? The climate science community skirts the...
Words: 1039 - Pages: 5
...Running Head: Is global warming a real phenomenon? Is global warming a real phenomenon? Western Governor’s University Is global warming a real phenomenon? Global warming is the raising of average global temperature due to the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human emissions. While there is a general consensus among the scientific community that global warming is currently occurring due to human emissions, there is also opposing arguments by skeptics that do not believe that global warming is happening or point out that previous warming periods have occurred in the past for a variety of reasons that may still be in play now. There have been dramatic changes to environmental systems throughout the world since human emissions increased at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that directly demonstrate that global warming is occurring. Not only have there been immense changes in the past, but there is further evidence to indicate the changes the environment will continue to change in colossal ways in the future. This warming also is set apart by the vast differences in behavior and effect for previous warming periods in the past. Research indicates that global warming is a true phenomenon that can be explained by evidence including ongoing massive environmental and atmospheric changes since the industrial revolution, scientific model projections, and the differences...
Words: 3794 - Pages: 16
...including, of course, the popular Global Warming and Tropical Rainforest topics, but I wanted something different. Soon it was obvious there is confusion as to what Ecology really is. As our text, “Biology: A Guide to the Natural World,” points out, we should assume that many ecologists are environmentalists, but these are two very different professions. Enter “ecology” in the Google search engine, 739,000 topics related to ecology will appear! Clicking on many of these links will direct you to a Website featuring some “environmental” or “conservation” topic, not an “Ecology” topic. Many people assume that ecology and environmental conservation are one in the same and many of the Websites confirm this assumption. Ecology.com combines both ecological and environmental news and articles which only adds to the confusion; one would think a Website with this title would be an “official” Website featuring only factual information; not so, just as many other “official” sounding titles are not “official” websites! In fact, there are many college educated people, my son for example, with this same mind set. The confusion can be blamed on the media hype over the environmental movement. Not many years ago “go green” brought images of tractors, farm equipment, lawn mowers and the words “John Deere,” but today “go green” has a whole new meaning. It seems the word “green,” for many people, means ecology? The world is overloaded with information about global warming and the waste and destruction...
Words: 1219 - Pages: 5
...Did you know that all the companies in America have something in common? They are all operating in an environment of forces that create both threats and opportunities for their businesses. These environmental forces, which make up something known as the "macroenvironment", include: demographic, economic, natural, technology, political and cultural. Since the macroenvironment is generally uncontrollable, businesses often must find ways to adapt to the constant changes. For example, over the past few years, the auto industry has been affected tremendously by changes in the technology, natural, and political environments and therefore forced to change their marketing strategies. The Technology Environment Kotler identifies the technology environment as the most powerful force affecting and shaping the future (83). The environment consists of: industrial productivity, new manufacturing processes, new products and services of competitors, new products and services of supply chain partners, and any new technology that could impact a company (Environmental Scanning). Technology has been responsible for developments such as the internet, computers, laser surgery, organ transplants, antibiotics and more (Kotler, 83). While advances in technologies are creating new markets and opportunities they are also replacing older technologies. Companies that do not keep up with these changes will find their products or services become obsolete and not up-to-date with the consumer buying behaviors...
Words: 1791 - Pages: 8
...1/25/2013 The Hyundai Hybrid Hype The advertisers for the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid have tucked the slogan and theme for their ad on the line following the company name, and the make and model of the automobile, they are showcasing. In very small fine print, almost subliminally, it whispers to the reader from the corner of the page, “New thinking for new possibilities.” The ad graphically depicts a pastoral landscape of beautiful trees softly backlit by the golden glow of sunshine. In the middle of the page, an image of a man dressed in a suit and tie with a jet pack on his back flies through the sky on his way to work or an important meeting. An androgynous figure of what could be his spouse waves good bye to him from the balcony of a very large, architecturally modern, 3 story glass and steal beamed home. In the foreground of the ad is the star of the show; an icy blue Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. The Sonata Hybrid sits on a drive way bed of tiny peat gravel with a border of stone. Coupled with the statement, “New thinking for new possibilities,” and the image that accompanies it, there leaves little room for doubt that the ad for the Sonata Hybrid by Hyundai was designed specifically to appeal to the reader’s pathos and ethos, while the use of logos in this ad is questionable. Hyundai is relying on our pathos, or sympathies, for the well-being of the planet in this Earth conscious, eco-friendly, age of the 21st century. The overall intent of this pictorial image is to...
Words: 961 - Pages: 4
...Global Warming: Challenging the “Settled” Science In December of 1997, political leaders gathered in Kyoto, Japan to contemplate a world treaty restricting human production of “greenhouse gases,” in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). They worried that CO2 would result in a severe and sudden increase in earth’s temperatures, leading to environmental disasters on a global scale. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the preeminent body for the assessment of climate change, humans are responsible for the majority of global warming since 1900, including virtually 100% of the warming since 1970 (IPCC, 2007b, p. 39). In the years since Kyoto, there have been major efforts to bring about worldwide agreement to the treaty, including a recent climate summit—much publicized for its failings—held in Copenhagen. But not everyone is going along with the IPCC. Despite a continuing maelstrom of media hype and alarmist politics, the idea that the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate, due primarily to human influence, is quickly losing ground. This global warming backlash is due in large part to a growing chorus of skeptics and climate experts willing to challenge the prevailing science at the core of the movement. Over 31,000 scientists, including over 9,000 PhDs, have raised concerns over the IPCC’s findings. They have signed a petition stating that the organization’s claims are extreme, that the climate system is more complex than what is now known, and...
Words: 4241 - Pages: 17
...Climate Scare Is all the hype about man made climate change going to destroy the human race. In The 11th Hour by Leonardo DiCaprio, we hear and see the perceived effects man-made climate change is having on our planet. Flooding, hurricanes, and drought, all caused by man’s use of fossil fuels, our only chance of survival, eliminate our use of fossil fuels. Bill McKibben agrees with this theory, in “350 Science” he informs us the current level of carbon dioxide (CO2), 392 parts per million, is much too high. His suggestion is that carbon sequestering is necessary to prevent our destruction. Patrick Moore reiterates this theory in “An Inconvenient Fact”. He contradicts DiCaprio’s belief of curtailing forestry and encourages improved forestry as a tool for carbon sequestering. While The 11th Hour suggests hurricanes, and flooding are caused by man, Scott Mandia tells us differently in “The Little Ice Age in Europe”. In it he describes conditions in Europe during ice age periods that mirror the conditions DiCaprio and others predict in The 11th Hour. We know that the CO2 levels are rising, but the dooms day predictions are false and misleading. All of their predictions have happened in recorded history, during times of colder temperatures and lower CO2 levels. Drought and horrible storms will occur no matter what level of CO2 is in the atmosphere or the average temperature is, we need to dedicate more resources to preparing for these disasters. Leonardo DiCaprio narrated...
Words: 1268 - Pages: 6
...production during photosynthesis, by taking in carbon dioxide as waste material and producing oxygen, which of course we all need to survive. Scientists predict that the daily addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, combined with daily removal of large portions of the world’s forests, will raise the earth’s average temperature by several degrees in the next century. This in turn will raise the level of the sea and potentially create significant changes in weather patterns on a global scale. As we move into the future, many climatologists expect that most of the United States will warm. What we do not know yet is how to scientifically predict which parts of the nation will become wetter or drier. We do know there is likely to be an overall trend toward increased precipitation and evaporation, and more intense weather systems, in the form of violent rainstorms, blizzards and sun-baked, drier soils. The Facts—What Do We Already Know About Changing Global Conditions (Global Warming)? Global temperatures are rising. Observations collected over the last century suggest that the average land surface temperature has risen 0.45-0.6°C (0.8-1.0°F) in the last century. Precipitation has increased by about 1 percent over the world's continents in the last century, with more rain in high latitudes and less rain in many tropical areas. Sea levels have risen approximately 15-20 cm (6-8 inches) worldwide in the last century, due to melting mountain glaciers and ocean expansion...
Words: 5741 - Pages: 23
...history of planet earth is. It is a difficult subject to take in, so the public has to rely on experts for making the information understandable. The problem with relying on a group of people to make decisions for the public is they have the ability to manipulate the data to back their point of view. It has been scientifically proven and accepted by many scientist that mini global warming and global cooling periods have been present in the earth’s history. These fascinating scientific facts of earth’s history have been totally knocked out by the massive hype that man is responsible for climate change. Overall, climate change tends to be reported as explanations about general tendencies and possible outcomes. Climate Change is a Natural Process, not Man-Made It seems like everyone in the world has an opinion about what might be causing the climate of the world to change. Recently there has been a common scientific consensus that claims to know what is causing the climate to change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is stating carbon dioxide is causing the climate to change, the oceans are warming, and the temperature is rising faster than usual. These claims being made are not only incorrect but lack the understanding of how the earth has hosted life for billions of years. There are many different claims about climate change being a man-made challenge facing the world today, but the top three are actually nothing more than a combination of natural cycles and events...
Words: 2963 - Pages: 12
