Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor.

There's a new book out, called Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor.

From One News Now's review:

Spencer agrees there has been some global warming, but in his book he defends the argument that the warming is due to natural weather cycles.

"Global warming might well just be part of a natural cycle, and that's what I hear from the public a lot," he shares. "They have this intuitive feel that global warming could be part of a natural cycle. The first thing I wanted to do with the book was to support that view with some basic science, saying, 'Hey look, this is how weather basically works. Here's what we know; here's what we don't know -- and you're being misled by the media,'" Spencer points out.

On the flip side, Spencer argues that even if manmade "catastrophic" global warming were true, all the so-called fixes that are touted by Al Gore and the media amount to pandering. "Al Gore's suggestion at the end of his film -- that just buying compact fluorescents, and buying hybrid cars, and turning the light off when you leave the room is going to fix this problem -- is just pandering. And it's going to have no affect on future global temperatures," Spencer contends.

Comments

I'm a little confused. What is the point of this post other than to say that this author has an issue with climate change?

[Kurt Luidhardt]

That's exactly the point. I encourage people to check out the book. I think his book also generally reflects my viewpoint of the current global warming hysteria.

Since I haven't read the book, can you elaborate a little more? Is it the author's feeling (and presumably yours) that climate change is a bunch of bunk?

I'm really perplexed why so many Christians are willing to focus energy on issues like abortion (rightly so), but fail to support environmental issues that do impact Biblical/human values and life. Biblically, it is man's responsiblity to take care of God's creation. We charge ahead with taking care of human life, but seem to ignore the environment that supports the life we fight for.

Why are Christians so afraid of dealing with climate change?

[eric schansberg]

afraid?
huh?

[Kristen Luidhardt]

Christians are afraid? You'll find countless posts on this blog, discussing the issue. And there is a huge movement in the church in this area as well.

What I do think you'll find is that Christians' opinions on the topic vary. I think we can all agree with your statement that man was charged by God to take care of the earth. I also think there is agreement that we should be prudent and seek to live responsibly by recycling and not being wasteful.

There is not agreement, however, on whether or not this is a crisis of epic proportions, or how much of the trend is more of a natural cycle versus purely man-made.

Fear? Not that I've seen.

[eric schansberg]

Thanks Kristen for taking more time to address the anonymous poster!

I just started reading Fred Singer's book on the 1500-year global warming cycle. Very interesting so far!

[Don Sherfick]

I am led to understand that some evangelicals base their opposition to doing anything about global warming in their expectation based on scriptural interpretation that it would be a waste of time, if not delaying God's plan for the end of the world, to take such action. Is this true and is it a widespread belief?

[eric schansberg]

I don't think many Christians hold that view-- at least explicitly.

That said, if one is pre-millennial in one's eschatology (a pessimistic view that foresees the likely, impending end of the world), then that would be a reasonable inference to draw. And whatever its biblical merits, pre-mill is quite popular in conservative evangelical circles.

(It's a tangent, but at least LaHaye's case for pre-mill is utterly incoherent. There may be better versions out there; if anyone knows of one, please let me know. It would come in handy the next time I teach through Revelation.)

Beyond eschatology, there are many reasons to doubt the efficacy of various prescriptions to deal with climate change (assuming it's worth dealing with). And I would assume Christians, like most people, understand those issues to some degree.

[Kurt Luidhardt]

Don: I think that your perspective accounts for a number of Christians' reactions to environmental concerns. I, however, have issues with global warming hysteria not because of my faith. I do because I distrust the alarmists who present one nightmare scenario after the other.

In 1979 (I believe the year is right), when I was born, a headline in Newsweek magazine sent out the alarm for global cooling. Newsweek said that there was a new scientific consensus that the world was cooling and we must take extreme measures to fix it.

I also remember reading Scholastic Magazine in elementary school. I remember being frightened (I actually remember being really scared) by an article that said if we didn't stop cutting down trees in the rain forest in Brazil that there wouldn't be enough Oxygen in the atmosphere.

So although I believe that we should be good stewards of the earth, recycle, have green space, etc. I am highly skeptical of this kind of alarmism as it is likely to pass in a couple years when Hollywood loses interest. In 2020, we'll all be discussing ideas for how to warm the earth.

Thanks for the reply, Kristen.

Perhaps a better way to describe my thoughts would have been to write that Christians seem hesitant to do anything about climate change.

You wrote, “Christians are afraid? You'll find countless posts on this blog, discussing the issue. And there is a huge movement in the church in this area as well.”

Kristen, are you referring to this site in particular, or another site? Can you reference blogs on this site where Christians are proactive in this issue and displaying stewardship? Thanks.

I think that globally, nobody is saying the cause is completely one or the other (man-made or natural). While the earth’s climate changes naturally, the rate of warming experienced over the last century is significant. This is when man really entered the industrial age. The global consensus is that this significant rate of warming could very well be attributed to human activities. In other words, both natural and human.

Do you disagree with the thinking that the earth does go through natural warming trends and that man could be exasperating the situation with pollution and the burning of fossil fuels?

If the possibility that man contributes to the rate of global warming exists, why not change our habits? Because so many people are unsure, they do nothing, rather than something. If we responded that way with AIDS, cancer, etc., man would be in trouble, and it would be unethical to ignore those issues. So why not be proactive in regards to climate change? Especially since we are charged by God to take care of the earth, we should strive to be the best stewards possible for his Creation.

So nobody really knows for sure what is causing global warming. We do know that many of our current practices aren’t helping the environment, which we agree God placed under our care. So why wouldn’t we charge ahead and do what we can to mitigate the issue, especially since it could have many benefits for future generations? Why even toy with risking it?

Kurt, I agree, people are talking about it. How and why could that be bad? I would suggest it is no different that the passion this blog site has for family values when the topics address homosexuality, etc. Someone “on the other side of the fence” might interpret those blog posts as hysteria. Is all this really hysteria? I doubt it. Awareness to issues? Yes. What typically happens with awereness? Action.

There are some great Christian authors out there right now addressing what we are talking about, accept their take is that it is not hysteria. It is becoming aware of the issue, especially from a Biblical standpoint, and our obligation as Christians. They even suggest the notion that Christians are so divided on environmental issues because Christians are predominately conservative, whereas environmental issues are tackled mostly by liberals.

http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=1556

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Earth-Wise/Calvin-B-DeWitt/e/9781592554140/