First the text from our older daughter who lives in the country, not far from Peterborough. Their power was out and probably would be for a while. That was Friday night, and the electricity was restored midday on Sunday. The same evening our son in Trenton texted to say that shingles were flying off the relatively new roof of the home they've just moved into. Our younger daughter was on the train, coming for a visit from Toronto, and she texted to say that she was delayed for what ended up being four hours by a tree on the tracks. The winds were fierce on Friday, although during the day the sun was out and the temperature was lovely. God knows when we're gonna get smacked these days, and perhaps even the Creator isn't all that sure.
Are people paying attention, I wonder? In April we had what I'm sure was the wildest storm I can recall in that "Spring" month, with all sorts of damage due to ice and wind. Now in May we have weather which is severe enough to leave about 200,000 Ontarians without power, toppling trees, and even killing several people.
It is rather crazy and I don't think people are paying adequate attention to changing weather patterns. And even though climate scientists are telling us that we will experience more and more intense and unpredictable weather as a result of human influence we would rather just hum louder and go about our business, even though it isn't business as usual.
Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist in Texas, has a PBS and YouTube series called Global Weirding which discusses the various issues of climate change in bite size pieces. They are well done and not overly "sciencey" but the scary thing is that a lot of people are in the "don't confuse me, my mind is made up" mode when it comes to climate change.
http://www.pbs.org/video/what-happens-in-the-arctic-doesnt-really-matter-right-pxuqd3/
Hayhoe is also an evangelical Christian and she know that this bunch in the States is a tough nut to crack. She reminds folk that she doesn't "believe" in climate change herself because this is a matter of scientific research and careful projection, not belief. Her science and that of more than 95% of scientists in the field concludes that seven billion plus humans are causing the temperature of the planet to rise, the oceans to acidify, glaciers to melt, and the air to have to have an increasing level of carbon dioxide. Insurance companies "believe" in climate change and their conviction is based on the cold, hard facts of the pay-outs of billions for storm related damage.
Hey, I don't want to hear this, but I have grandchildren and I must listen if I care about their future.
Were the storms in April and this past weekend provably the result of climate change? Nope. But the data will be recorded and scientists will assess it and if have half a brain we will pay attention. Christians should be at the forefront of responding to what is becoming a planetary crisis, not a roadblock.
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