Climate Emergency or Hot Air?

If you scroll through
the internet, more
than likely you’ll see
an article or two about
climate change. It’s the
main topic of the day.
Time magazine named
teenage climate activist
Greta Thunberg the 2019
Person of the Year while
Dictionary.com deemed existential their Word of
the Year. All this climate
change chatter has people
fearful over what’s
supposedly coming.

Many people experience
eco-anxiety,
defined by the American
Psychological Association
as “a chronic fear of
environmental doom.”
In turn, eco-anxiety
has prompted the rise
of eco-anxiety support
groups called the Good
Grief Network.

Further spurring
on the panic, this
past November, 11,258
scientists from around
the world added their
names to a report that declares what
they deem to be a climate change
emergency caused by greenhouse gas
emissions. The report, titled “World
Scientists’ Warning of a Climate
Emergency,” was published in the
journal Bioscience. But things may not
be as dire as they first appear.

William Ripple, professor of ecology
at Oregon State University and colead
author of the study, proclaimed,
“Climate change has arrived and is
accelerating faster than many scientists
expected.”

But if they’re really trying to prove
a climate emergency, then shouldn’t
the majority of scientists who
contributed to the report be qualified
environmental scientists? You would
think so. But one researcher found that
only 240—just 2%—of the scientists
who signed the report were considered
experts in climate-related fields.

In reality, only a small sampling of climate
scientists believes we are facing imminent doom.
So why all the insistence on anxiety and panic?

In defense, Ripple explained, “What
we wanted was a wide diversity of
scientists in many different disciplines
because climate change has
moved beyond a topic just for climate
scientists.” The study’s numbers were
bolstered by experts in unrelated
fields such as paleontology, nutrition,
computer science, and linguistics.

In reality, only a small sampling of
climate scientists believe we are facing
imminent doom. Furthermore, thousands
of scientists with climate-related
degrees have sent letters and signed
petitions arguing against a climate
crisis, further emphasizing that the
scientific community can’t reach a
consensus on the issue.

So why all the insistence on anxiety
and panic?

Secular scientists approach the
climate debate from an unbiblical
perspective, believing that humans
alone manage the rising temperatures.
Certainly when we have clear evidence
that we are abusing creation, we
should take actions to correct it. But
Christians know that God designed our
magnificently complex climate and has
promised that the present earth will
be inhabitable until he creates a new
heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17).

SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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