Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day 2009.

It's tempting, at times, to dismiss "climate change" as just a fantasy forced upon us by left-wing airheads. I have a difficult time taking Al Gore seriously and seeing "environmentalist wackos" - such as the ones LarryD writes about [Climate Change Guild] - causes my eyes to roll to the back of my head. The woods are full of these misguided folks. We even have our share of "tree huggers" here in sleepy Rome, Georgia. [Woodsman Spare That Tree.]

I'm no scientist. It's not easy for me to judge the accuracy of the environmental news I come across. I have to depend, on large part, on what others are saying.

Radio talk show personalities - Limbaugh- Hannity and Boortz- put forth convincing arguments that "climate change" is a scheme to promote the expansion of government control. The "solutions" put forth by the environmentalists give credence to that.

On the other hand, I have to take into account what the Vatican and Pope Benedict have said on the subject. Addressing the United Nations in 2007, Archbishop Celestino Migliore said,

"The scientific evidence for global warming and for humanity's role in the increase of greenhouse gasses becomes ever more unimpeachable, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings are going to suggest; and such activity has a profound relevance, not just for the environment, but in ethical, economic, social and political terms as well."

While agreeing that the evidence for climate change is substantial, Pope Benedict has said that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change believe the proper response to the problem is for us to embrace the teachings of the Church and the principles of prudence, poverty and the common good.

Most Christians - both Catholic and Protestants - would agree that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation. We shouldn't let our justifiable disdain for the "environmentalist wackos" and leftists lead us away from that.

1 comment:

Larry Denninger said...

Good post, Robert. Unfortunately, the current administration seems to be relying more on the "consensus" peddlers and less on the Prudential team. That's what worries me and that's what I take issue with. Climate change extremists will not be satisfied with compromise.