Bob White on Christianity and Climate Change

Last week I mentioned I was off to hear Cambridge geophysicist Bob White speak on why Christians ought to care about climate change. I went into the seminar still very convinced by the arguments of another Bob, marine geologist Bob Carter, that the impact of human activity on climate change is minimal. However, I walked out having crossed the centre from skeptic to believer.

Professor White showed a graph which, if its source information is accurate and trustworthy, all but proves an undeniable correlation between climate change and human-induced carbon and methane emissions. This graph plotted climate change against both human-induced emissions and non-human emissions observed and recorded over the previous century. It showed no relationship between the non-human emissions and climate change, whereas the level of human-induced emissions correlated directly to climate change at every point.

At the end of the day, proof or otherwise of climate change will have very little effect on the way I live my life, and the sorts of resource management policies I would advocate. Prudence and caution are virtues that should be applied whether we can prove the exact limits of the earth's finitude or not. I do my best to minimise my own ecological footprint out of humility and prudence, against lust, greed and compulsive consumption. This is because I see earth as a gift, with a creator who holds me accountable for how I treat this gift. There is nothing about me, or the earth, that indicates to me I have some intrinsic right to consume as much as I want. So, in my view, the most interesting thing about Bob White is not that he can prove that climate change is a reality, but that he advocates for a link between Christian theology and prudent living.

On the Saturday following the seminar I attended, Bob White was interviewed by Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand's Saturday Morning programme, and the points addressed were more in fact more to do with the relationship of Christianity to climate change, rather than being about the proof that exists for human-induced climate change. The level of candicy and depth of theology conveyed in this interview is unsual, especially for an interview with a radio interview with a Christian with orthodox convictions.

And perhaps the most profound theological statement comes from the lips of Kim Hill:

"So we got Jesus instead of the Flood?"

Click here to listen to the interview.

Faith and Climate Change

Some have said it takes more "faith" to be an atheist than a Christian. Faith is often seen as that blind lunge into the wild realm of the unknown, counter to the claims of science, reason and rationality. When faith is understood this way it seems offensive to an intellectual that their religious or philosophical persuasion might be regarded in such a manner.

But just as atheism is often seen today as a pseudo-science, requiring more from blind faith than scientific reason, so also is the theory of human-induced climate change accused of being pseudo-science - a matter more of faith, speculation, paranoia and hysteria, rather than simple scientific fact.

This Tuesday night, Cambridge University Professor of Geophysics Bob White will be speaking on Climate Change, Science and Religion at Old Government Buildings, Wellington, at 5:40pm. Professor White will be exploring themes of faith and science, Christianity and Climate Change, perhaps the two most hotly debated subjects in the 21st century west. Click image below for details.