In November 2016, the United States of America elected a President who denied the reality of climate change and simultaneously showed that he doesn’t understand what it is. More recently, he said that he would be open minded about the issue and that perhaps we should reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but in both cases he emphasized that signed Executive Order 13783, in which reducing pollution is secondary to maintaining economic superiority. The fact that he was elected shows that a large portion of the population shares his sentiment in one of three ways:

Does not believe that Earth’s climate is changing at an alarming rate or at all Does not believe that climate change is caused by humans Believes that other issues are more important than climate change

Of course, elections are not the only places where Americans make their views known.* Pew Research recently published survey results showing that 20% of Americans believe there is no evidence for climate change and 31% believe that climate change is not caused by human activity. While that leaves 48% who accept that climate change is real and is caused by humans, only 36% say they care about the issue. In addition to survey results, simple observation of American behavior (like fossil-fueled rush-hour traffic) shows that very few people know/care enough to give up even the smallest luxuries.

Some argue that this belittlement (or outright denial) of climate change and its effects is entirely driven by the malicious efforts of the petroleum, natural gas, and coal industries. I, however, am more optimistic. While those industries do have a history of unfairly influencing public policies to their own benefit, I believe that most people would disregard the lobbyists and propaganda and would act responsibly to end climate change if they only understood it. So in the spirit of Proverbs 3, I will try to bridge that gap in understanding.

Note: For those who are suspicious of the motives of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), I have not used them as a source for any of this information.

Earth’s Climate is Changing

The state of the Earth (and its atmosphere) is measured by many scientists with many backgrounds from all over the world. They work together to collect data about many different factors, and they use that data to calculate global averages. It’s important to note that these changes are measured on a global scale and are not measured by looking at local phenomena like a heat wave or a snow storm. The distinction between climate (global) and weather (local) is often understated, which has led to a common misconception that if it’s snowing, the Earth isn’t getting warmer, or if it’s raining, there is no drought.

“It’s late in July and it is really cold outside in New York. Where the hell is GLOBAL WARMING??? We need some fast!” Donald Trump (28 July, 2014)

As Stephen Colbert points out, the statement above is equivalent to saying, “I just ate lunch. Where is global hunger?” To understand this issue, we must look beyond our immediate surroundings and personal perspectives. We must look at the bigger picture using objective measurements. Below are some ways in which Earth’s changing conditions have been measured by reputable sources.

Carbon Dioxide

The following graph shows the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere for the last 400,000 years (source) (as long as humans have existed). This information was gathered by measuring the amount of CO 2 captured in each layer of the polar ice caps (like the rings in a tree). Notice the large spike that began in the industrial revolution.

This graph was last updated in 2009. We actually exceeded 406 ppmv in March 2017.

Temperature

The following graph shows the surface temperature of the Earth from the year 1880 to 2015 (the period of global industrialization). This increase has a strong correlation with the spike in the previous graph. Increased global surface temperature is the result of increased concentration of CO 2 and other gasses via the greenhouse gas effect.

Rising Sea Level

The following graph shows the sea level as measured by tide gauges and satellites (source) with past data shown in purple and future projections shown in red (high CO 2 emissions) and blue (low CO 2 emissions). The sea level is not only rising; it is accelerating.

The two main factors contributing to this rise are melting ice** (glaciers and polar ice caps) and thermal expansion of the ocean. Thermal expansion simply means that water gets bigger as it gets warmer. Both of these are the result of increasing global temperatures. Some estimates indicate a rise of 2.5-6.5 feet by the year 2100 (in my children’s lifetime). That’s enough to permanently flood most coastal cities and make whole countries disappear. The sea level is rising quickly and that is quite alarming given that over half of all people live within 30 miles of the sea.

Extreme Weather Events

As the atmosphere and ocean temperatures rise, so do the frequency and the intensity of extreme weather events. The warmer atmosphere causes more evaporation, and the warmer air is capable of holding more water vapor. The results are more extreme rainfall and snowfall near the equator and longer droughts at higher latitudes. Droughts are obviously harmful to the global food supply, and extreme precipitation events cause erosion, landslides, and flooding.

Season Creep

The following animation (source) shows that as annual average temperatures increase, each month is getting warmer, which means shorter winters and longer, hotter summers. Shorter winters cause plants to flower before bees are active enough to pollinate, which severely impacts agriculture. Longer, hotter summers have already led to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons at the cost of many lives and homes.

These are just the metrics that do not require a scientific background to understand. There are many more factors (e.g ocean acidification, clathrate gun, positive feedback, thermohaline circulation) that show similar trends. Looking at all of these factors, it is irrefutable that the climate is changing. Moreover, it shows no signs of slowing. Most scientists believe that we have not yet reached the point of no return, but if we continue on the current trajectory, we will push the Earth beyond its limits before the end of this century.

The Change is Caused by Human Activity

Every few years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes an assessment on the facts and consensus provided by the global scientific community. The latest report (2014) says that, since the industrial revolution, anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gasses have increased to levels that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. As a result, the report concludes that human activity is “extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” In case you doubt the IPCC’s credibility or if you’re just wondering how anyone could determine whether climate change is natural or human-caused, here are two conclusive indicators. (WARNING: Science)

Human Fingerprint

Not all CO 2 is the same. There are three different types of stable carbon atoms (14C, 13C, and 12C) called isotopes. They have the same chemical properties, but they don’t weigh the same. Plants absorb CO 2 , but they have a preference for the lighter carbon (12C) so they absorb it more. Then the plant material containing the carbon eventually breaks down and is stored in the ground to eventually become oil, coal, and natural gas. After millions of years, the result has been less of the light carbon and a greater concentration of the heavy carbon in our atmosphere. We can measure this fairly easily by using special equipment to weigh the air in our atmosphere. When humans burn fossil fuels and forests, they release the lighter carbon back into the atmosphere. Because they don’t weigh the same, we can tell the difference between naturally occurring CO 2 and human-generated CO 2 – almost like a fingerprint on each carbon atom. Since 1850 (the beginning of industrialization), the lighter (human-generated) CO 2 has increased five times faster than the naturally occurring CO 2 . This is a substantial effect of human activity on the climate.

Models

The scientific method always includes the following basic steps.

Create a hypothesis. This could be a completely arbitrary guess or a theory based on lots of evidence. Create a model. Creating a model means calculating what the logical outcome of a hypothetical scenario would be if the hypothesis were true. Gather data to verify the hypothesis. This could be an experiment in a controlled environment or it could be an observation of an environment that already exists.

As scientists from many fields have followed these steps in an effort to understand climate change, their biggest challenge has been step 2. Due to the complexity of our climate, creating an accurate model has proven very difficult and has taken time to hone. However, with the advances in technology in recent decades, scientists have created models of past events, which have been proven accurate by subsequent observations. The ability of these models to describe past naturally occurring climate shifts even before they are discovered indicates that the models are now quite reliable and are useful for predicting future natural climate shifts. Over time, we can measure how the climate is shifting and compare our observations to the models of natural climate change. Any difference between the actual change and the predicted natural change would therefore be the effect of human activity. In recent years that difference has been growing as the frequency and intensity of extended droughts, extreme rainfall, and record temperatures are rising more quickly than can be explained by natural changes.

Climate Change Should Be One of Our Highest Priorities

As I already pointed out, 48% of people in the United States already believe that the climate is changing and that the change is caused by humans. Yet for most of them this issue is not a high priority, and that makes sense if you consider their perspectives.

First, they live in the United States, which has not yet been impacted as severely as other countries, so it is hard for them to imagine how this could affect them.

Second, American culture is built on buying stuff, so it’s hard to understand that endlessly consuming stuff is actually a bad thing or to envision a lifestyle that doesn’t involve that.

Finally, there are lots of other legitimate problems that are mistakenly treated as higher priorities than climate change. Some examples include marriage equality, religious freedom, and abortion. While these are very important issues, their urgency is all too exaggerated by their appeal to emotions such as anger and affection. However, in the event that one must decide what’s more important, one must not react emotionally. The issue of climate change should be near the top of the list, because it presents an imminent threat to the lives of all humans and most plants and animals.

Threat to Wildlife

Climate change and over-consumption have already proven fatal for half of all wildlife on Earth. Coral reefs, which sustain 25% of all ocean life, have failed to cope with rising temperatures and 10% have already died. Some species are threatened more than others because their habitats are more susceptible to changes in the environment. The polar bear population, which lives in the quickly disappearing Arctic has been reduced by 22% since 1987.

As badly as our wildlife have already been impacted, the situation is expected to get much worse. All coral reefs are at risk of dying by the year 2050, the polar bear population will be reduced by 30% to only 9,000 by the year 2056, and orangutans will be extinct within 10 years if we don’t make major changes.

Threat to People

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “the overall health effects of a changing climate are likely to be overwhelmingly negative.” As temperatures have risen, heat-related deaths have followed. Heat waves that would be otherwise normal are thus amplified as demonstrated by events like the 1995 Chicago heat wave (739 deaths in five days) and the 2003 European heat wave (70,000 deaths in two months) . The spread of mosquito-born diseases like malaria (600,000 deaths per year) and dengue is usually slowed by cold winter months, but shorter winters have led to longer transmission seasons. Malnutrition already causes 3.1 million deaths per year, and global climate change threatens more famine in the poorest regions. All told, the climate shift that has already occurred causes about 150,000 deaths per year.

These are just the casualties that have direct ties to climate change. There are surely many more indirect effects that cannot be measured like the reduced health caused by breathing higher concentrations of greenhouse gasses and the immense monetary costs of healthcare and structure repair.

A little-known effect of climate change has recently had a major impact on the planet. The correlation between drought and conflict has drawn attention only in recent years. Studies have concluded that the added stressor of famine is likely to escalate conflicts. The current Syrian civil war is a prime example of how a bad situation can be made much worse by unprecedented drought as explained by this helpful cartoon. The fallout from this conflict has been huge (4.8 million refugees, 7.6 million internally displaced, and over 400,000 killed) and it’s not over yet. The conflicts that are sure to be escalated by future droughts caused by continued climate change will cause many more refugees and casualties. In addition to those seeking refuge from war, in the coming decades millions will be forced to seek higher ground as sea levels rise. The combined results will be mass migrations that dwarf our current refugee “crisis.”

Obligation to God

Mankind’s negligence of the planet is a flagrant violation of our God-given obligation to care for his creation, including the plants, animals, and people (especially the marginalized). God’s value for life is first expressed in the creation story. In Genesis 1:29-30 God gave the fruits and grains to humans for their sustenance and gave animals their own food so that in the original created order there was no competition for resources and no violence of any kind. In Genesis 1:28 and 2:15, God gave humans the special role of creation’s caretaker in order to maintain the goodness of creation. In Genesis 3:18-19 God reminds humans that despite man’s sin, tending to creation is still man’s responsibility. In the biblical account of creation, God demonstrates his value for Life (of all kinds) and goodness and he assigns mankind to be its steward, bearing his image and likewise valuing Life.

God reaffirms his love for all Life in the story of Noah’s ark by guiding Noah to protect all the animals. But in Genesis 9:5-11, in addition to appointing mankind as the protector/governor of plants and animals, God says that he will hold man responsible for spilling the blood of another human.

But God does not only forbid humans from killing one another. The instructions that Moses gave the people, the wisdom of Solomon, the prophesies, the teachings of Jesus, and letters of Paul and James all express the responsibility of God’s people to look after the brokenhearted and those who have been oppressed and marginalized.

“…the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…to comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61:1-2

We are failing to care for creation and we are failing to care for our fellow man. Climate change disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our society. By contributing to the problems that plague them, we are ignoring and further marginalizing them.

“[Climate change] risks are unevenly distributed and are generally greater for disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all levels of development.” IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2014)

Pope Francis recently acknowledged our negligence of the planet as a sin, saying, “The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact.”

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

During November’s election, many people supported Donald Trump on the basis of abortion, claiming to be pro-life. Many of those same people commute in large, gas-guzzling SUVs dozens of miles daily to white-collar jobs. Many of them sit in self-imposed drive-through traffic jams, engines idling, waiting for someone to hand them unhealthy food that they will eat with disposable cutlery. Many of them fail to consider that their lifestyles are destructive and unsustainable. They are ignorant of the consequences of their actions – the extinction of wildlife, the destruction of the oceans and forests, and the deaths of thousands of the most vulnerable people. These actions are definitively non-pro-life.

What To Do About It

This blog post has been rather depressing up to this point, but there is good news – we can do something to stop the effects of humanity on the climate. In fact, this news is even better, because all of the things that we can do to stop it have very good side-effects, including making us all richer, happier, and healthier.

Personal Changes

While climate change contributes to the destruction of natural resources, the converse is also true and to a much larger degree. The destruction of natural resources (like forests, mountains, and oceans) is a major contributing factor in climate change, and that destruction is driven by our consumption.

The best thing we can all do is consume less. By reducing the demand for palm oil, fossil fuels, beef, and disposable products we can reduce both the destruction of resources and the release of greenhouse gasses. This simply translates to buying less stuff. Cook your own food from scratch instead of buying prepackaged foods,which contain palm oil. Eat more vegetables and less meat. Drive an electric car, hybrid car, or bicycle or just travel less. Raise your home thermostat in the summer and lower it in the winter. Stop buying disposable stuff. Riding a bike, making your own food, and eating less meat will make you healthier, and all of these things will save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars per year.

People often fail to act because they believe that one person’s actions will not have a significant impact, and that may be true for people in some parts of the world. However, the United States is the second largest producer of CO2 emissions and seventh in emissions per capita. That means that the average American produces 3.3 times more CO 2 than, for example, the average French person. That also means that if a single person in the United States changes his/her actions, it’s equivalent to 3.3 people changing their actions elsewhere.

Collective Changes

Beyond personal changes, we can band together to form and support organizations, and we can encourage existing organizations (e.g. governments, corporations, and non-profits) to be more proactive.

When employees and shareholders show that this issue is important to them, the corporations respond in kind (Google, Anheuser-Busch) and the results are huge. I work at a large corporation. When I started, my team went through reams of paper like candy, but I have taken steps to reduce our waste by volunteering to centralize our documents on shared network folders and to train my teammates on how to access them. Now our efficiency has increased, our mistakes have decreased, and our printer is rarely used. Also, a couple of months ago, I got a special pass so that when I ride my bicycle to work I can ride on company property all the way to the door of the building I work in. Already, a coworker has asked me how I got the bike pass, and now he too rides his bike to work every day.

The easiest thing that every person (in a free democracy) can do is vote for candidates who value the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants and recognize that that is an essential element in achieving peace and prosperity. During every election cycle, some candidates stand on a platform of helping the planet. They are usually ignored and rejected. Other countries lean forward by investing heavily in wind, solar, fission, and fusion. Meanwhile Americans choose leaders who encourage dependence on limited, harmful, and increasingly expensive resources.

Consider the following analogy. Nineteen oncologists tell you that you have malignant cancer. Another oncologist says you have cancer, but he’s not sure if it’s malignant. Your insurance company tells you they won’t pay for any cancer treatments due to the ongoing debate over whether or not you have cancer. The governments and people of the United States do not want to use taxpayer dollars to aid the victims of climate change (everyone) or fund alternative energy development because they claim that the debate is ongoing, but it is not. The information I have given here is reliable and the conclusions are sound.

There will always be skeptics just like people who say the moon landing was faked (It wasn’t.) or the Holocaust never happened (It did.). The Earth’s climate is changing measurably and quickly. The best information we have indicates that the change is our fault, that many have already died as a result, and that it continues to threaten the lives that we are required to protect. In light of that, we have a responsibility to act with urgency in every way that we can until this problem is resolved. Let your choices be determined by actionable facts, and don’t get caught believing on the edge, acting on selfish feelings, ignorance, and conspiracies.

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.” Proverbs 3:27

* In choosing a leader, one’s first consideration should be whether a candidate meets the biblical standard for leadership. People should not vote based on how well a candidate values their own personal solutions to the problems that they personally think are important. However, it is well known that Americans do exactly that.

** A common argument made against climate change is that Antarctic sea ice is actually increasing year-over-year, which is a conclusion generated by a study of data gathered from 1992-2008 using the ERS Satelite (1991) and ICESat (2003). By contrast, a later study with data from 2010-2013 using CryoSat-2 (2010) drew the opposite conclusion. Regardless, even if the first study is correct, it does not mean that the sea level is not rising – it’s just rising 0.5% slower than was previously estimated.