To The Future

There’s a few things I don’t understand about people who are adamant that global warming does not exist.

Almost all scientists agree that our overall avergae global temperature is rising and that polar ice caps are melting at alarming rates, but many die-hard anti-global-warming advocates even deny the facts.

For the most part, the argument is not really about ‘whether or not’ the globe is warming, as much as it is about ‘why’ the globe is warming.

Global warming proponents mostly agree that the main reason our temperatures are rising is because of increasing carbon emissions by power hungry mankind.

While global warming opponents, who believe that the earth is indeed warming, mostly believe that the warming temperatures are a result of natural warming and cooling cycles that the planet goes through every several thousand years.

Warming opponents who see the trend as being caused by natural cycles tend to scoff at any attempt to reduce carbon emissions because they think we have no control over it.

All the arguments aside; there’s other huge issues that the global warming opponents are basically ignoring all together- Pollution! Stewardship! Conservation!

Whether or not our pollution causes global warming is not the only issue at hand. I enjoy living in a clean world with clean air and clean water. A polluted world leads to tremendous health problems and dramatically decreases the natural beauty of the world around us!

Even if logging, and drilling, and damming don’t cause global warming; we still have to be good stewards of the creation God has given to us.

Over-logging causes erosion and dirty water, not to mention countless other problems.

If drilling doesn’t cause warming, it does up the risk of an oil spill which ruins water quality and only adds to our expensive oil-based economy and smog that can cause major breathing problems and even death.

Even if damming doesn’t contribute to global warming; it destroys the beautiful natural flows of our rivers, along with land both up and downstream of the structure, and can have huge effects on the fishing industry of a local economy.

With a few of the issues associated with pollution and stewardship mentioned, one of the biggest issues being ignored by warming opponents is Conservation.

Our pollution, our logging, our drilling, our damming, our urban sprawl, our farming, and our fishing, if not extremely mindful of the natural cycles of nature, will radically reduce the habitat of our animals and/or will cause health problems with them or their food sources.

We only get one chance with the animals God has made us vassals of. Once they’re extinct, they’re gone forever. It is our pleasure to watch and care for these God-created creatures, why would we want to lose any of them? Most of these creatures have been here (on earth or in the areas we live) much longer than us, what makes us think that they’re lives or not valuable and that these creatures don’t have the capacity to feel and the will to survive?

So the biggest issue I have with the right-wing anti global warming crowd is that they’re not thinking of the future; particularly the future that our children will inherit. Why should we care about what benefits us and makes our lives more convenient if it’s at the cost of our offspring’s future?

The patriarchs of the Old Testament lived for their promises to be fulfilled through their descendants, nut we’re to greedy to even look a few years into the future.

I want children and my grandchildren to inherit a clean world with innovative power solutions and the opportunity to witness wildlife while it is still alive and well.

I choose to look to the future. And however this whole ‘new heaven and new earth’ thing pan out, God’s mandate for us to be good stewards of this unique planet hasn’t changed; and certainly His love and affection for life of all kinds has not either- afterall, His eye is on the sparrow.