I remember when I first heard about global warming. It was 1980 and I
was in my senior year of college at Savannah State College (now Savannah
State University). I was reading an article in Omni magazine about how
human activity is causing an increase of greenhouse gases leading to
global warming.
I remember thinking how strange that people would be concerned about global warming when, just a year or two before, climate scientists were warning us about global cooling and a new ice age. After I graduated from college and became an Air Force officer and engineer, I remember discussing it a time or two with others USAF officers/scientists. Nobody believed it. Even though we were not climatologists, we had educations in the hard sciences and knew enough to conclude that something smelled funny about this idea.
Over the last 30 years, I picked up a lot more education (including a Ph.D.) and have had a change of vocation. While some things have changed, others have not. Today, I am a seminary professor teaching Christian ethics to the next generation of pastors. But the science of global warming still smells funny.
No matter how often politicians are wrong, they are rarely in doubt. Some, including the president and leaders in Congress, have bought into climate change alarmism. They believe that something should be done as soon as possible. With a Democratic president and majorities in the House and Senate, it would seem likely that some action will be taken to reduce the supposed dangers of climate change. (The recent defeat of a bi-partisan effort to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide makes this seem even more plausible.)
It should be noted, however, that there are a few problems with restrictive energy policies. Many of the world's largest emitters of CO2 (China and India, for example) are reluctant to sign any sort of agreements about reducing the use of carbon based fuels. So even if the U.S. enacts "cap and trade" or some similar legislation, it will make no difference unless all of the other major economies participate. So far, none of the largest carbon emitters have shown any serious interest, and for good reason.
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Source: Baptist Press | Craig Vincent Mitchell
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