Generally, I conclude most of my climate change presentations with the phrase, “It’s not about the climate; it never was.” Here, I would like to start with that statement. In this brief article, I will discuss why carbon dioxide isn’t the dangerous gas it is made out to be, why climate change is not an ‘existential’ threat to the planet, and why the Green New Deal is not a solution to climate change. Let me begin with a series of questions. Is our climate changing? The answer is clearly … [Read more...]
Climate Change and the Christian Faith
Professor Katharine Hayhoe spoke on "Climate and Faith in the Public Arena" in her John Stott London Lecture November 16. Like Dr. Hayhoe, I'm a climate scientist; like her, I'm a Christian; like her, I care about my neighbors and want to protect them from harm; and like her, and I'm committed to stewardship of God's wonderful creation. Nonetheless, for these very reasons I cannot help questioning some of what she has said about climate change. In announcing the lecture, A Rocha … [Read more...]
Climate Science or Climate Advocacy?
For almost thirty years, I have taught climate science at three different universities. What I have observed is that students are increasingly being fed climate change advocacy as a surrogate for becoming climate science literate. This makes them easy targets for the climate alarmism that pervades America today. Earth’s climate probably is the most complicated non-living system one can study, because it naturally integrates astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, geology, hydrology, … [Read more...]
Does the “Precautionary Principle” Favor Fighting “Climate Change”?
Proponents of efforts to mitigate climate change often appeal to the “Precautionary Principle”—Principle #15 of the Rio Declaration in 1992: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities … [W]here there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” In light of that, we … [Read more...]
Climate Change, Climate Policy, and the Precautionary Principle: An Appeal to Christian College Faculty Members
Four-part Series: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4 Burke, VA, July 29, 2015 Greetings in Christ’s name! I’m David R. Legates, Professor of Climatology and Geography at the University of Delaware, a Senior Fellow of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, and a Christian committed to Biblically sound environmental stewardship and the reduction of poverty around the world. Proponents of efforts to mitigate climate change often appeal to the “Precautionary Principle”—Principle #15 of … [Read more...]
A Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor 2014: The Case against Harmful Climate Policies Gets Stronger
Click here to read the full paper (PDF). Protect the Poor: Ten Reasons to Oppose Harmful Climate Change Policies Epigram The greatest threat to the alleviation of the structural poverty of the Third World is the continuing campaign by western governments, egged on by some climate scientists and green activists, to curb greenhouse emissions, primarily the CO2 from burning fossil fuels. … [I]t is mankind’s use of the mineral energy stored in nature’s gift of fossil fuels … accompanying the … [Read more...]
Testimony To the United States Senate Environment & Public Works Committee June 3, 2014
“When scientific views come under political attack, so too does independent thinking and good policy-making” Read Dr. Legates's Full Testimony Here (PDF). Over the years, I have applied for several federal grants. Two in particular, submitted to NASA and the USDA (the latter involved using precipitation estimates by weather radar to enhance agricultural planning which had nothing to do with climate change), were never reviewed. It is not that I have received bad reviews; indeed, I have … [Read more...]
Does Caring for “the Least of These” Demand Fighting Global Warming?
Recently, my fellow evangelical scientists and academics sent a letter to the United States Congress urging immediate legislation on climate change. In an effort to care for the planet—God’s second greatest gift to humanity—they argue that our uncontrolled use of fossil fuels will disproportionately affect the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. I applaud their concern for the environment and for those in defense of whom Jesus commanded us to be especially diligent. But their call to … [Read more...]
Does Caring for “the Least of These” Demand Fighting Global Warming?
Recently, my fellow evangelical scientists and academics sent a letter to the United States Congress urging immediate legislation on climate change. In an effort to care for the planet—God’s second greatest gift to humanity—they argue that our uncontrolled use of fossil fuels will disproportionately affect the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. I applaud their concern for the environment and for those in defense of whom Jesus commanded us to be especially diligent. But their call to reduce … [Read more...]
Carbon Dioxide and Air Temperature: Who Leads and Who Follows?
On the Evangelical Environmental Network’s Creation Care Blog, Mitch Hescox shows a slide purporting to show the relationship between air temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) over the past 800,000 years (http://creationcare.org/2012/11/27/my-meeting-with-brother-cal/). His slide is taken from Jouzel et al. (2007) and Lüthi et al. (2008) and he asserts that “carbon dioxide levels and temperature track identically” (emphasis added) with the implication that rising carbon dioxide levels … [Read more...]
