Global Warming - Will God Help Us Solve The Problem?

Orange Groves on the East coast, Palm trees in New Jersey, where is God’s hand in all of this? Are we going to end up like a bunch of fried Bananas?

According to the latest scientific evidence revealed by ABC News and featured in Time Magazine recently, the world we live in may be warming at a dangerously rapid rate due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide, and other man made pollutants. Glaciers are melting and our shorelines are in danger of being overrun by water. What else would they be overrun with? At the same time, the sun it is hypothesized, is dying. Well, which is it, are we going to burn up or freeze to death?

Climate change is out of the closet and no longer the stepchild of a minority of do-good environmentalists. Today almost everybody is worried about global warming. What is so bad about things heating up? Are people worried that we are creating an environment more friendly to the devil than to God? I for one am not worried about it. I have faith that God will come to our rescue and save us from ourselves. We may be the cause of carbon emissions, but God is the source of all carbon elements. Thank God for God. Where would we carbon-based elements be without God’s inspiration?

What would be so bad about having fresh orange groves or banana plants growing in New York? Perhaps they could supply the fresh juice some Eastern liberal establishments need to develop a more centered philosophy on the environment as it relates to the economics of an expanding gross national product due to the fruits of our labor. Although over the last fifty years the East has been cooler and the West warmer. There is no evidence to suggest that this anomaly is part of an Eastern liberal conspiracy against the conservative leanings of our heartland or that the trend won’t reverse itself, but then there is no evidence to the contrary. On the other hand if we burn up or freeze to death what will it matter? Who is going to be around to enjoy a man made prosperity whatever the political origins of the underlying economic boom are?

I think it’s all a matter of allowing evolution to take place under God’s good grace. Let’s not underestimate God’s grand design or His capacity to reinvigorate and keep our environment safe for all of humanity. As even the most brilliant of scientists will admit, there are some things we just don’t understand. I believe that there are some things we just have to take on faith.

I was wondering the other day what would be so terrible if the average temperature in the world increased by fifteen degrees over a ten-year period of time. This would mean that in some places we could fry eggs on the sidewalk without the benefit of using cooking gas or electric ovens. Stop and think about how much fuel consumption this warming trend would save.. How much could we then reduce heating fuel emissions into the atmosphere by burning less fossil fuel? Maybe global warming is a self-correcting problem. What would be so bad about having palm trees and coconuts grow in New Jersey. I love coconuts. And as far as our shore lines eroding, I thought we could all use more water to help make the planet flourish. Maybe this is God’s way of improving our natural habitat so that it will offer us a more human friendly environment to say nothing of the aquatic wonders it might do for the diminishing swarms of fish we use to feed ourselves with.

Now lets turn to this big deal people are making about a hole forming in the stratosphere or the ionosphere -- I always get my spheres of influence mixed up -- and the potential danger that ozone depletion in the atmosphere poses to human life due to ultra violet ray poisoning etcetera. Maybe it is time some of us grow a thicker skin and stop worrying about the effect of climate changes in the atmosphere that only God can control. Let’s not forget the potential of the Sun dying. Although none of us reading this article will be around to see it happen, I sure have a ray of hope and do believe that God has taken that possibility into account. Again I am not worried. I firmly believe that God has the capacity to effect change. I hope and pray that my great, great, great, great grandchildren are around to experience the kindness and mercy of His actions.

I think we would all be better served to worry about the catastrophic consequences that nuclear annihilation poses to our society. If we don’t stop nuclear proliferation we may all end up living on oranges, coconuts, and bananas again. That would surely eliminate the freezone emissions from refrigerators and automobile air conditioners, but would definitely put a crimp in any travel arrangements we had in mind in our gas guzzling SUVs as well as eliminate the need for food storage except possibly in caves. Is the return of the primitive within us just around the corner?

At the risk of sounding glib, what’s to worry? We are all in God’s hands. Whatever happens it is His will. I do think that there is a chance that God will give us the inspiration to see the error of our ways before it becomes necessary for Him to make all the adjustments necessary for our survival Himself. Have you thought about asking God how hot it is going to get around here before we come to our senses and start protecting our environment not only from global warming, but also from the threat of nuclear devastation?

By: Arthur Levine

Plastic Pollution And The Plight Of The Planet

By negligently discarding plastic items, especially plastic water bottles, fishing gear and plastic bags, people are unknowingly causing the deaths of millions of mammals, fish, birds and reptiles each and every year. We defile the face of the earth with plastic refuse creating waterway contamination.

Since the invention of plastic earlier this century, it has become a popular material used in a wide variety of unique and innovative applications. Plastic is used to make, or wrap around, many of the items we buy or use. The problem comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used in wrapping or packaging. Plastic is handy, lightweight and easily discarded. Too easily discarded.

Plastics are utilized because they are easy and inexpensive to manufacture, strong and durable. Regrettably these same useful characteristics make plastic an overwhelming pollution problem. Inferior quality and low cost means plastic is readily discarded. Plastics take around 300 years to photo degrade. Its long life assures it survives in the environment for extended periods where it can do great harm. Because plastic does not easily decompose and requires high energy ultra-violet light to break down, the volume of plastic waste in the world's oceans is steadily increasing. Plastic is now found in virtually all the oceans and rivers of the world, even the most remote and once pristine.

American oceanographer Charles Moore reports the volume of plastic pollution in the worlds oceans is so extensive it's beyond cleaning up. A toxic plastic mass of refuse double the size of Texas swirls in the waters of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii. There the crew found that the water contained six parts of plastic for every part plankton, with a five fold increase in the amount of plastic between 1997 and 2007.

Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. That is an unconscionable amount of waste, so much that more than one million bags are used every minute and their impact on the planet is devastating. Plastic bags are only part of the problem. America alone, produces in excess of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle pollution every year, and the amount is growing. World-wide our precious planet is defaced and poisoned with more than 100 million tons of plastic pollution annually.

According to California Costal Commission, over 80 per cent of refuse within waterways, most of it being plastic, originates on land rather than coming from boats.

Fish, shellfish, sea birds and all other forms of aquatic life require a delicate balance of oxygen, nutrients and clean water to survive. Even small quantities of toxic products in the water can disrupt this balance, with long-lasting effects. Plastic pollution affects marine wildlife in deadly ways: entangling creatures and by being consumed.

Turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution. All seven of the world's turtle species are already endangered or threatened for a multitude of reasons. Turtles become entangled in fishing nets, and many sea turtles have been found dead with plastic garbage bags in their stomachs. Studies indicate turtles mistake these floating semi-transparent bags for jellyfish and eat them. The turtles die an inhumane death from choking or from being unable to eat. A turtle carcass found off the coast Hawaii had more than 1000 pieces of plastic in its stomach including part a toy truck wheel, a broken comb and lank of nylon rope.

There is great environmental concern about the effect of plastic trash on all marine mammals. These elegant creatures are already under threat for a variety of other reasons. Seal and whale populations have been decimated by unregulated hunting. A recent study concluded that in excess of 100,000 marine mammals die needlessly each year from the lethal effects of plastic pollution alone.

Worldwide over 100 bird species are known to ingest plastic particles. This includes more than 35 species located off the coast of South Africa. A recent study of blue petrel hatchlings at South Africa's remote Marion Island showed that 90 per cent of the baby chicks examined had plastic in their digestive systems, apparently fed to them accidentally by their parents. South Africa seabirds are the highest affected seabird population in the world. Plastics remain in the bird's digestive systems, impeding digestion and causing starvation.

Scientific studies are not conclusive about how much plastic birds and fish are ingesting, however scientist agree that plastic toxins in seafood are likely to be harmful when eaten by humans. Plastic is compared with toxic materials such as mercury.

Plastic acts like an absorbent sponge when in contact with poisons such as PCBs, concentrating them at levels that are millions of time more toxic than those found in uncontaminated in seawater.

The ingredients in plastic have been linked to cancer and reproductive abnormalities. Bisphenol A, found in plastic water bottles, has been shown to produce cancer in lab rats, to disrupt hormone levels and is associated with diabetes and obesity.

Scientists also voice concerns that these massive swirls of floating plastic could contribute to global warming by creating a dense shade canopy that makes it difficult for plankton to grow.

Let's look at a few ways where together we can make a difference.

The crisis of plastic pollution demands urgent study and action. Business should be encouraged to reduce the amount of plastic used in packaging and to re-cycle.

Plastic wrapping and bags should be required to carry a warning label advising of the dangers of plastic pollution and shoppers should be encouraged to use earth friendly shopping bags of organic, natural materials or recycled plastic fibers. Please tell this to our law makers. The situation only continues to worsen. We must act now!

Support re-cycling programs and promote environmental awareness in your local community. Be pro-active in asking governments to make changes and consumers to re-think their attitudes. Set an example to your family, friends, fellow workers and neighbors. Volunteer for neighborhood clean up projects, be involved.

Purchase products that minimize the amount of plastic packaging and inform store management why you are doing so. Together we can speak with a loud voice when we speak with our dollars.

Choose to drink tap or carbon filtered water from a glass lined reusable container. If you do purchase plastic bottles, dispose of the container properly. Please recycle.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

With the increase in environmental awareness, it has become obvious that there is more that we can do to create a sustainable society. If everyone of us would take a few tiny steps, make a few different choices and consciously consider our impact on the planet, there might be a way to restore the world to its original beauty and resources.

by Marlene Affeld