Global Warming & the New Apocalypse
If you are anywhere near a television, newspaper, movie theater or the internet, be prepared to be bombarded with dire scenarios of impending doom. Death and destruction are coming upon us, not because of cataclysmic war, famine, or pestilence. No apocalyptic horseman are in these prophecies. Global warming is the name of the great evil that is come upon the world.
The danger of the current level of environmental hysteria is three-fold. First, misinformation and disinformation about global warming and the greenhouse effect is rampant. Secondly, naturally occurring climate changes are largely ignored in favor of politically correct scenarios. Thirdly, the savior of mankind from this prophesied environmental Armageddon is man himself.
At the heart of the current hysteria is the assumption that man's activity is destroying the Earth. More specifically, mankind is over-producing atmospheric carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" which in turn warms our planet to the point of a cataclysmic climate change. But man-made fossil fuel burners (such as cars, factories, etc) are not the only named offenders. Man's agricultural use of the land has been cited as a factor in global warming as well. Remember the now famous Canadian study of the level of methane (a greenhouse gas) produced by livestock and its greater impact on global warming? Remember also, that carbon dioxide itself is a natural end-product of every creature that breathes, including man. Many global warming alarmists quickly link this issue with the need for forced human population control. Many of these alarmists would have us believe that the government of Communist China was ahead of its time when it started forcing population control by abortion.
The fact is that the "greenhouse effect", the mechanism that warms the earth's atmosphere, is a naturally occurring phenomena. How little or much mankind's activities actually add to the "greenhouse effect" is at best controversial. Most of what we hear is based on projections that can not be proven. Much of what is quoted as scientific "consensus" is not.
Climate change is also a naturally occurring phenomena. Recent ice core and deep-sea sediment samples that were taken contained mineral and fossil records that prove that there have been periods in the earth's history where cataclysmic climate changes have occurred without any assistance from man. Regional climate changes are also a proven fact of life here on Earth.
In 2003 Robert B. Gagosian, President and Director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, stated that,
"Most of the studies and debates on potential climate change, along with its ecological and economic impacts, have focused on the ongoing buildup of industrial greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and a gradual increase in global temperatures. This line of thinking, however, fails to consider another potentially disruptive climate scenario. It ignores recent and rapidly advancing evidence that Earth's climate repeatedly has shifted abruptly and dramatically in the past, and is capable of doing so in the future." (1)
Gagosian made these remarks at the World Economic Forum, in Davos. Gagosian went on to identify the major cause of climate change on the planet.
"Scientists have so far identified only one viable mechanism to induce large, global, abrupt climate changes: a swift reorganization of the ocean currents circulating around the earth. These currents, collectively known as the Ocean Conveyor, distribute vast quantities of heat around our planet, and thus play a fundamental role in governing Earth's climate." (2)
An expert panel commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences also identified ocean dynamics as the mechanism that plays the major role in the stability of the earth's climate. (3) We do know that the polar ice caps are melting. We also know that warmer ocean temperatures are the cause. (4) Even the deep waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific Ocean are warmer. (5)(6) Warmer ocean temperatures have also been identified as the reason for the increased intensity of hurricanes and typhoons.
It is important to note that no real connection has been made between any human-caused (anthropogenic) greenhouse effect and the warming of the oceans. But it is also important for many environmental activists to tie human-caused greenhouse gas emissions to any climate change, whether gradual or abrupt. In this way, they can point to mankind's need for a global government as its savior from this perceived crisis.
The Kyoto Protocol is a United Nations treaty that has already been ratified by at least 163 countries. (7) Under the terms of the treaty, ratifying nations are bound to the greenhouse gas emissions caps that are set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Also under the terms of the treaty, countries like China and India are not required to reduce emissions. (8) The United States has not ratified the treaty, although in 1998 then Vice-President Al Gore symbolically signed the Kyoto Protocol. However the power to ratify treaties is given by our Constitution to the United States Senate. The Senate voted unanimously by a vote of 95 - 0 not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
As we begin to see the effects of climate change, we also see man's inability to deal with the idea that he is not really in control. Many people will point to human activity, warmer oceans, solar flares, and all kinds of probable causes for the events we are witnessing. Volcanic activity is on the rise. Increased earthquake activity has already been recorded, and predicted for these, the last days.
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."
Luke 21: 25-26
Jesus also warned us that wars, pestilence and famine would precede his imminent return. These are the signs that we see in the world today. Are you ready?
(1) Abrupt Climate Change: Should We Be Worried? by Robert B. Gagosian President and Director Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Prepared for a panel on abrupt climate change at the World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, January 27, 2003.
(2) ibid
(3)http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/viewArticle.do?id=10046, accessed 06/04/06; lgf
(4)http://www.spacemart.com/reports/NASA_Scientist_Claims_Warmer_Ocean_
Waters_Reducing_Ice_Worldwide.htmls,
accessed 6/04/06; lgf.
(5) ibid
(6) Bottom Water Warming in North Pacific Ocean, by Masao Fukasawa et al, Nature, Vol 427, February 26, 2004.
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
(8) ibid
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