All in Climate Change
Climate change sounds benign: good folk want to help the planet stay hospitable. But is that only where this is headed? How do leaders of the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates, and Bank of America envision climate change? How might climate change be used for alternative purposes? I also think aloud about the role and place of a Christian bearing, a churchly bearing, in and to culture. What are the dominant models at work today with regard to Church and culture? Come laugh and think with me.
To save the planet we all need to embrace green and renewable energies, right? Well, perhaps, sort of. This episode works through the dominant renewable energies noting their pluses and minuses. I also explore questions like, can we mine enough global lithium to eliminate all fossil fuel powered cars? Are electrical vehicles as clean and efficient as we are led to believe? The show opens with a reflection on the beauty of vocation in a God-created world. Come laugh and think with me!
Climate Change is expensive. $370 billion dollars just passed by the Democrats shows us just how expensive it really is. So how do those policies impact the indigent? And stemming from that why did the Progressives trade the poor—their ardent concern in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s—for today's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion? What do we learn from that trade? I also think aloud about how economics works like spider webs. This is complicated and sensitive stuff but we can chuckle and smile as we think it through.
With every forest fire, hurricane, snow storm, or hot summer we hear the cry, "climate change!" But are things really getting worse across the planet? Why are we led to believe they are? Then, how do green policies on the West coast actually make things worse? I also talk about my brother who, as an insurance adjustor, worked hurricane Katrina. In this episode I also share some of my own m.o. for doing the show, why the show is formed the way it is.
In 2015 most of the nations entered into the Paris agreement on capping of Earth's temperatures. What standard did they all commit toward? Now after 7 years how is that going? What are the potential pitfalls of the agreement? How might fraud and grift both play into Climate Change? I also work through necessary elements for Christian spiritual discernment.
With global warming all the glaciers are melting and the islands are being flooded, right? We'll take a careful look. We are causing Earth to approach catastrophic levels of sea rise, right? Hundreds of millions of people live under immediate threat of being flooded into annihilation, right? Let's study it. Why do I find the ancient Roman city of Pompeii so amazing? All of that and more in my continuing climate change series. Oh, and what about the recent increase in IRS agents? What does that indicate about where America is headed? Come think and laugh with me.
Are glaciers around the planet melting or expanding? Why? What about icy Antarctica? Do glaciers melt simply due to air temperature? How can cosmic rays and meteors contribute to ice ages? In this episode we explore these amazing rivers of ice that form all over the planet. Also, if you've listened before you know I like the term "PoMo". But what does that mean? And how is our era far different from, more sinister than, the normal conservative vs. liberal pendulum swing? Come think and laugh with me.
The constant public refrain is that humanity is destroying the planet, that we are the problem, that our presence is the single greatest driver of climate. But actually? The science doesn't go so neat and tidy in that direction. What about the power of the sun? What about our position in our galaxy? I also think with you about reducing inflation by spending $370 billion. What is going on? Why?
That the human race is a cancer to planet Earth is becoming a mainstream notion. The media constantly beat that drum but so also do movies like M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening." I think through that movie and then compare its message with a biblical worldview on the relationship between humanity and Earth. Near the show's end I remark on the economic meltdown of Sri Lanka and how its governmental policies have played into the mess. Also, why does (should) culture matter for the Gospel of Christ?
The warnings are emphatic and constant: we are smoking the planet. If we don't adjust course the ocean's icebergs will disappear, and along with them the polar bears. But what does the science say? What did a public lawsuit in the UK conclude? Along the way I also reflect on the Great Reversal I am witnessing among the Leftists, more reflections on Ukraine, and I even cover the Talking Heads' song, "Once in a Lifetime." Come think and laugh with me.
I'll admit it, I have biases that inform how I assess the topic of Climate Change. In fact, I have 2 constant biases. What are they? Also, prompted by a friend, I offer still more information about carbon dioxide. Along the way I also address how helpful catalytic converters really are, gun violence in Chicago, some miracles occurring in Central Oregon, and the question of suffering and meaning. Come think and laugh with me!
The scientists behind the Paris accord use data (a span since the Industrial Revolution) that is too brief to be helpful. Much longer data is required to get a sense of earth's fluctuating climate. So why did the Paris accord, alongside American politicians, use shorter data? What percentage of the earth's history has been ice age? Is CO2 dangerous or beneficial for plant life? Is it—I know it sounds crazy—but is it possible the carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere is beneficial for life on earth? What is going on?
When I was in high school a few teachers warned us of a looming ice age. Then for a couple decades we heard dire warnings of global warming. Today? It's a matter of climate change. Along the way what changed to cause the shift in terminology? And, as we think of it, on what does climate change science rest, computer models? I also reflect on the implications of the recent SCOTUS ruling about abortion. Come think and laugh with me!
Climate change, obviously, is tied to scientific method. But just what is scientific method? How is it different from technological advance? What kinds of things get in the way of increasingly better scientific knowledge? Why, for a show about theology, am I even taking a look at climate change? I also share a fun story from when I was in the 5th grade in Oregon's Willamette valley.
