Please pardon me while I climb up on my soapbox for a moment and speak of something close to my heart:
There are those who eschew efforts by humans to lower our impact on climate change by stating that the earth has always gone through major climatic changes, well before the Industrial Age. They point to the Ice Age as an example.
So, here’s my take on this touchy subject: think of Earth as your child.
Through no fault or impact of your own, your child is running a dangerously high fever. Do you step aside and watch as your child suffers, possibly succumbing to brain damage or even death? Do you shrug your shoulders and say it’s natural? What will be will be? Do you say, you are not responsible for the fever, so you will do nothing, and just let nature take its course? Do you say, it’s God’s will, and it’s beyond your pay-grade to interfere?
Perhaps you would. But I doubt it.
I am confident you would do whatever was within your power to make a positive difference in your child’s comfort and well-being—without weighing how much good it might or might not do. To do nothing, to not even try, would be a betrayal of your love and this precious gift with which God has blessed you.
So, regardless of whether or not you feel humans play a part in negative climate change, why not do what we can to lower our planet’s temperature…just in case it helps? And every effort, no matter how large or small, does make a difference. Even choosing just a single way to help adds up because a lot of small changes among the earth’s population can lead to major improvements.
This isn’t about laying blame, choosing political sides, being politically woke or politically correct, choosing science over theology. It’s a matter of gratitude for the beautiful home from which humanity has grown and prospered. Perhaps you don’t feel that climate change has negatively affected your spot on the planet, but it’s also a matter of looking beyond the present moment and our own lifetimes—doing what we can for our future generations’ lives on Earth.
That’s maturity. That’s stewardship. And after the earthquake and fire, that’s listening to that “still, small voice.”
OK, climbing back down from my little soapbox. Thanks for your patience. Now back to our “regularly scheduled programing!”
Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back, now! (And stay cool.)
Kathryn