Editorial

Man-made global warming: new religion?

Michael Gilchrist

Contents - Mar 2008 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Man-made global warming: new religion? - Michael Gilchrist Tribute: B.A. Santamaria: ten years on - Cardinal George Pell News: The Church Around the World Man-made climate change: another great hoax? - Peter Finlayson Recovering the sacred in modern church architecture - Moyra Doorly 40 Years On: Vatican II at its mid-life crisis - Br Barry Coldrey Easter: The Sacred Triduum in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (1962 Missal) Crescat amor: What is the nature and purpose of theology? - Fr John O'Neill PP La Sapienza: Benedict XVI: the papacy and the university - Pope Benedict XVI Vocations: The priesthood: a special relationship with Christ - Fr Pat Stratford Vocations: Signs of hope in US diocese Letters: Christ's Church - Frank Mobbs Letters: Married clergy - Frank Bellet Letters: Canadian Lectionary - Matt Walton Letters: Language - Kevin McManus Letters: Liturgical abuses - Dennis Macdonald Letters: Response - Richard Stokes Letters: Homosexual 'marriage' - Arnold Jago Letters: Altar rails - Corinne O'Loughlin Letters: 'Re-ordered' churches - Brian Tooley Letters: Abortion laws - Robert Prinzen-Wood Letters: From India - Fr. A. Joseph Poetry: Time-Warp - Bruce Dawe Books: GOD AND CAESAR: Religion, Politics, and Society, by Cardinal George Pell - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: SEARCHING FOR AND MAINTAINING PEACE, by Father Jacques Philippe - Tim Cannon (reviewer) Books: JOURNEY OF A FAITH COMMUNITY, compiled by Tom Johnstone - James E. Scarlett (reviewer) DVD: NO TURNING BACK: Confessions of a Catholic priest, by Fr D. Calloway - Fr Martin Durham (reviewer) Books: Books available from AD2000 Books Reflection: Benedict XVI on Lent: 'authentic conversion to the love of Christ' - Pope Benedict XVI

Nowhere today is the human race's tendency to follow fashion, regardless of facts or social and economic realities, more evident than in the remarkable manner in which the "truth" of man-made global warming is being embraced with an almost religious fervour by politicians, journalists and some Christian leaders.

Predicting weather patterns is a notoriously imprecise science, even from week to week, let alone over the next century with the aid of computer models. Yet those who point this out are derided as "sceptics" by the true believers.

There are billions of pieces of information about weather which can be programmed to "prove" almost anything about the future with the help of computers. The more reliable approach is to investigate past temperature fluctuations through the study of ice cores, tree rings or plant remains. These and other tried and tested scientific approaches can identify climate patterns over many thousands of years, which in turn can shed light on likely future trends.

As the article by Peter Finlayson (pages 6-7) indicates, solid scientific evidence points to cycles of warming and cooling over periods of around 1,500 years. The earth is currently in a warming period which began in the 19th century, similar to what occurred in ancient Rome and during the middle ages (when agriculture flourished in Greenland). There is nothing unusual about the present slight rise in average global temperature.

In addition, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere do not cause a rise in the average global temperature. Ambitious programs to reduce carbon "footprints" are therefore a waste of time and money, even if they enable those spending taxpayers' money to occupy the moral high ground.

Indeed, much of the present mania about alleged man-made global warming resembles a new fundamentalist "religion" conveniently filling the spiritual vacuum for some in our secular age. Such people, it seems, have a deep-felt need to fear a future apocalypse, experience a newfound sense of guilt and do penance, all because of mankind's sins against Mother Earth.

This is not to question sensible measures to reduce or eliminate local air and water pollution, protect endangered species or to look for alternative forms of energy. But let's keep these separate from any Green "religion".

Michael Gilchrist is Editor of AD2000 (email address available on request).

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 21 No 2 (March 2008), p. 2