Cover Story
A threat worse than terrorism?
by Mary Hammond
It has been described by the UK Government’s former Chief Scientist, Sir David King, as a threat worse than terrorism. And even as far back as 2004, Tony Blair commented that ‘I see climate change as the greatest challenge facing Britain and the world in the 21st century.’
Although many sceptics like Ian Plimer1, Professor of Mining Geology at the University of Adelaide, and author of controversial title Heaven And Earth: Global Warming - The Missing Science2, refute such allegations, on a worldwide scale, the perceived problem of global warming is now generally recognised as probably the biggest and most challenging issue currently facing world leaders.
But with many climate change sceptics giving the man on the street – as well as Christians – cause for concern as well as confusion, should we therefore just sit back and hope the latest hot topic will pass? (Remember the doomsday predictions of the Millennium bug?) Or as concerned individuals or Christians, should we take heed to some of the warnings that are being predicted by organisations like the UN’s Nobel3 peace prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC4)?
Copenhagen summit
For the leaders of many nations who gathered in Copenhagen in early December 2009 for a two-week long UN summit on the subject, it was a topic for world concern – as well as commitment. A summit to which the world’s major faiths had called on world leaders to ‘act boldly’. And prior to the summit, Prime Minister, Gordon Brown acknowledged that ‘…there is scientific evidence about the rise in temperature that will take place unless we take action…’
But it’s not just the politicians and world leaders that have become intrinsically involved in this issue that is almost daily headline news – the Christian community too have been raising awareness of the matter.
On the eve of the Copenhagen Summit last month, 16 leaders of Christian Churches in this country attended an ecumenical service in London giving political leaders a message to take to Copenhagen of ‘Act now on climate change’. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance as well as the Chairs of both the Methodist Conference and London Baptist Association headed-up the service at Westminster Central Hall which was attended by around 3,000 Christians from parishes across the UK to highlight the issue which is being shared by a growing movement of concerned individuals. Another message to Copenhagen was delivered by the Parliament of World Religions: ‘This is the single most important issue presently confronting us all. The climate and environmental crisis have far greater consequences than the financial crisis and must be dealt with by even greater determination than that of the financial crisis.’
Climate change facts:
- Eleven of the past 13 years were the warmest ever recorded.1
- Since the mid-1970s, the increase in temperature has averaged more than 0.15 degrees C per decade.2
- Globally, a 4C temperature rise would have a catastrophic impact. Some computer models predict that if emissions continue to rise at the present rate, then an average 4 degree temperature rise is very possible by 2100.3
- One of the primary causes of global warming is the injection of huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere by the indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels.
1. Source: Met Office 2008. Also in Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living by Nick Spencer and Prof Robert White, published by SPCK 2007, ISBN 978-0 -281-05833-4.
2. Source: Met Office 2008. www.metoffice.gov.uk
3. Source: David Adam, Guardian, Climate Change 7 June 2009.
Leading the way?
So if we are to support the belief that indeed climate change and global warming is a reality, it would appear that the actions and influence of the whole Christian community in this country will be key players in shaping future actions – and outcomes.
As one of the major Christian organisations actively involved in lobbying, raising awareness and support of the climate change movement, we spoke to Christian Ecology Link’s5 Chairman, Paul Bodenham – who is also a founding member of Operation Noah6. We asked him about his organisation, and what perhaps we should do about issues relating to climate change – and why.
Much has been reported in the media on the outcomes of that historic summit in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. Some have described it as ‘a political face-saving deal’7 others that ‘the outcome was disappointing in a number of respects’8. So what of our responsibility – if any – to climate change? Maybe the comments in the early days of the establishment of the IPCC of scientist, Sir John Houghton – who was the co-chair of IPCC’s scientific assessment working group – are some worth considering. Sir John said: ‘Our biggest debate [at the time] concerned how to deal with scientific uncertainty. What could we possibly say about the influence of continuing and growing greenhouse gas emissions on future climate? A number of scientists present argued that we knew too little to say much at all and that scientific integrity demanded extreme caution.’
‘For my part, I illustrated the responsibility we had been given by the example of a forecaster who told his TV audience that his uncertainty about tomorrow’s weather was such that he was unable to present any forecast at all. I explained that the forecaster’s job is to present his best story about tomorrow’s weather, despite the uncertainty, and also to warn of possible extreme weather even if it were not very likely….Concerning projections of future climate, I believed our responsibility to be similar. We should present our best climate story but also describe as well as possible our estimation of its certainty.’9
So whether we decide to believe or dismiss the concept of climate change; whether we believe how we live today will affect the world for our children and grandchildren to a greater or lesser degree is up to each of us to make a choice. But as Christians, what we can be sure of is that when God created the earth for mankind, he saw that it was good.10 And then he handed it over to us to look after.11 Why shouldn’t we be good stewards?
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.
The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. Differing viewpoints existing within the scientific community are reflected in the IPCC reports.
1. Professor Ian Plimer claims that volcanoes produce more CO2 than humans. Other scientists state as fact that humans produce 130 times more CO2 than volcanoes.
2. Published by Quartet Books, May 2009, ISBN 978-0704371668
3. IPCC were winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
4. www.ipcc.ch
5. www.christian-ecology.org.uk
6. www.operationnoah.org
7. Mark Dowd, Director of Education, Operation Noah.
8. Ed Miliband in his Statement to the House of Lords, 5th January 2010.
9. Weather in my life by Sir John Houghton, an interview by Prof Paul Hardaker for Wiley-Blackwell, November 2009, Vol. 64, No 11. Royal Meteorological Society. DOI:10.1002/wea.501.
10. Genesis 1:31
11. Genesis 2:15
Interview with Christian Ecology Link’s Chairman, Paul Bodenham >
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