"We’re the first
generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that
can do something about it.”
President Obama
spoke those words on August 3 as he announced the final rules under the federal
Clean Power Plan. (You can listen to his full speech here and read an
overview of the Plan here.)
In the overview,
the EPA states, “The Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from power
plants, the nation’s largest source, while maintaining energy reliability and
affordability.”
The EPA document
goes on to say, “Fossil fuels will continue to be a critical component of
America’s energy future. The Clean Power Plan simply makes sure that fossil
fuel-fired power plants will operate more cleanly and efficiently, while
expanding the capacity for zero- and low-emitting power sources.”
The day following
the President’s announcement, a coalition of Christian leaders issued a
statement (see this article)
calling on the presidential candidates to address climate change in the first
presidential debate on August 6.
They didn’t do that,
though. There was not one mention of global warming or the President’s Clean
Power Plan. Most of them will likely oppose the President’s plan, however.
The day before Pres.
Obama’s broadcast, Senator Ted Cruz was one of five presidential contenders who
attended the Freedom Partners forum held in a southern California resort hotel.
(Freedom Partners is composed of around 200 members, each paying a minimum
$100,000 in annual dues; it is partially funded by the Koch brothers.)
At that 8/2
meeting, Sen. Cruz expressed “full out denial” of global warming, saying that
“the data and facts don’t support” the claim that humans are causing climate change.
He also criticized the Clean Power Plan on that day before its final details
were made public.
James L. Powell (b.
1936), who holds a doctorate in geochemistry from MIT and has served as
president of two colleges as well as the Franklin Institute Science Museum in
Philadelphia, has assembled every peer-reviewed study published in 2013 that
addressed the issue of climate change. The total was 10,885 essays/articles.
Of those 10,885,
just two peer-reviewed studies challenged anthropogenic climate change. (See
more about that here.)
So what does Sen. Cruz know that the writers of 10,883 articles acknowledging
human-caused global warming don’t?
It is embarrassing
for many of us Christians that Sen. Cruz is so outspoken about his Christian
faith.
In responding to
the question on August 6 about whether he had received any word from God, Cruz
said, “I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the
scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible.”
Unfortunately, Cruz
seems not only to ignore what most scientists say about global warming but also
what the Bible says about caring for creation.
In contrast,
Interfaith Power & Light (IPL) is a religious organization whose mission
“is to be faithful stewards of Creation by responding to global warming through
the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.”
(See IPL’s full statement here.)
The IPL has
organizations in 40 states, and an August 3 press
release by the Kansas IPL applauded the President’s announcement of the
final Clean Power Plan rules.
Earlier this summer
Pope Francis issued a significant encyclical on climate change. That 184-page
document emphasizes that the problem is urgent and calls for “a new dialogue
about how we are shaping the future of our planet.”
I truly hope a
steadily increasing number of people will join the Pope and the IPL, and the President,
in combatting global warming—before it is too late.
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