Illustration by Anamaria Morris; photographs by Getty Images
I've written several times about Canadian Katharine Hayhoe who is a climate scientist, living in Texas, and a Christian. She might correct me, politely, and claim that she is a Christian who studies and teaches climate science. I think she is a remarkable woman and deserves the Order of Canada. She seems to have boundless patience as an ambassador for the science of climate change rather than belief. She points out that the thermometer is neither blue nor red. I'm not alone in being impressed by Hayhoe. In September she received 2019 Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour. Here is an excerpt from her recent opinion piece in the New York Times, as well as the link. I encourage you to read it all.
I’m a climate scientist. I’m also an evangelical Christian.And I’m Canadian, which is why it took me so long to realize the first two things were supposed to be entirely incompatible.
I grew up in a Christian family with a science-teacher dad who taught us that science is the study of God’s creation. If we truly believe that God created this amazing universe, bringing matter and energy to life out of a formless empty void of nothing, then how could studying his creation ever be in conflict with his written word?
I chose what to study precisely because of my faith, because climate change disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable, those already most at risk today. To me, caring about and acting on climate was a way to live out my calling to love others as we’ve been loved ourselves by God.
Thank you, Katharine for your excellent work, your role as an ambassador, and for your powerful Christian witness. You deserve to be a household name in Canada.
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