Religious beliefs hurt our ability to fight global climate change?

FreedomSeeker · Apr 1, 2018

Question: how specifically do religious beliefs hurt our ability to fight global climate change? I've heard rumblings about this, but haven't paid much attention to it yet. The religious people are generally the ones that deny science the most (but not always), so is that simply a part of it? Climate change is one of the biggest political issues of our time.

Me, I'm not 100% convinced that religious beliefs thwart efforts to combat climate change, but the regressive nature of religions might. I don't know.

YOUR opinion?

undertheice · Apr 1, 2018

i'm confused. we have the pope, the head of the roman catholic church and god's representative on earth for over a billion souls, publicly denouncing those who question acc and we have religious leaders around the globe pretty much split between jumping on the global warming bandwagon and just sidestepping the issue altogether. despite all this there are clowns out there that insist on painting the religious as backward hicks. i've got news for y'all, the church is no longer burning witches and heretics. aside from a few foolish tribes of ultra-fundamentalist literalists, the religious look on scientific discoveries with the same skeptical eye that science itself should adopt.

it is, however, refreshing to see someone admit that the climate change agenda is a political one and not purely a matter of science.

waltky · Aug 1, 2018

Uncle Ferd got Heat Wave playin' on his stereo...

Climate change could increase heat wave deaths 2,000 percent by 2080: study
8/01/18 - Deaths from heat waves could increase by up to 2,000 percent in certain parts of the world by 2080 as a result of climate change, according to a new study released on Tuesday by PLOS Medicine.

"Future heatwaves in particular will be more frequent, more intense and will last much longer," Yuming Guo, the study's lead, said in a statement to Reuters. “If we cannot find a way to mitigate the climate change (reduce the heatwave days) and help people adapt to heatwaves, there will be a big increase of heatwave-related deaths in the future.” Guo's study looked into 20 countries on four continents, finding that the increase in mortality was likely to be highest near the equator. The team said the country hardest hit by rising temperatures would be Colombia, which reportedly could suffer 2,000 percent more premature deaths due to extreme heat from 2031 to 2080 compared with 1971 to 2010.

The study's authors say even under best-case circumstances, deaths would increase, which is why it's necessary to take steps to combat climate change. Those measures could include opening cooling centers and painting rooftops white to reflect light and keep homes cool. The study comes as some areas around the globe have been experiencing record-breaking heat. The Washington Post reported in Junethat temperatures in Quriyat, Oman, never dropped below 108.7 degrees over a 24-hour period.

It was also reported this week that California's Death Valley broke its own record for hottest month on Earth since record-keeping began. The desert region averaged 108.1 degrees last month, a half-degree increase from its record average in July 2017.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...-related-deaths-by-2000-percent-by-2080-study
Click to expand...

Spooky · Aug 1, 2018

As a die hard Christian I can honestly say that my religion has nothing to do with climate change.

Yes, we Christians do believe in science you know and climate change is science.

Do I believe people are responsible for it?

Nope, but Jesus didn't tell me to say that, you know, He actually did give me a brain to make up my own mind.

waltky · Sep 15, 2018

Florence, Mangkhut and Climate Change: Yes, No and Maybe...

Florence, Mangkhut and Climate Change: Yes, No and Maybe
September 15, 2018 - The seas are angry this month. While the remnants of Hurricane Florence soak the Carolinas and Typhoon Mangkhut pounds the Philippines, three more tropical cyclones are spinning in the Western Hemisphere, and one is petering out over Southeast Asia. Experts say some of this extreme tropical weather is consistent with climate change. But some isn’t. And some is unclear.

It’s unusual to have so many storms happening at once. But not unheard of. “While it is very busy, this has happened a number of times in the past,” said meteorologist Joel Cline at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mid-September is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. If there are going to be storms in both hemispheres, Cline said, now is the most likely time.

Stronger storms, and a grain of salt

Scientists are not necessarily expecting more hurricanes with climate change, however. “A lot of studies actually (show) fewer storms overall,” said NOAA climate scientist Tom Knutson. “But one thing they also tend to simulate is slightly stronger storms” and a larger proportion of Category 4 or 5 hurricanes, Knutson said. Florence made landfall as a Category 1 storm but started the week as a Category 4. Knutson and other experts caution that any conclusions linking climate and hurricanes need to be taken with a grain of salt. “Our period of record is too short to be very confident in these sorts of things,” said University of Miami atmospheric scientist Brian McNoldy. While reliable temperature records go back more than a century in much of the world, comprehensive data on hurricanes only starts with satellites in the 1980s.

Extreme rainfall

Scientists are fairly sure that climate change is making extreme rainfall more common. Global warming has raised ocean temperatures, leading to more water evaporating into the atmosphere, and warmer air holds more water. Florence is expected to dump up to 101 centimeters (40 inches) of rain in some spots, leading to what the National Weather Service calls life-threatening flooding. One group of researchers has estimated that half of the rain falling in the hurricane’s wettest areas is because of human-caused climate change. Knutson agrees in principle but can’t vouch for the magnitude. “We do not yet claim that we have detected this increase in hurricane rainfall rate,” he said. He points to earlier studies that blamed climate change for 15 to 20 percent of the devastating rainfall Hurricane Harvey poured on Texas last year.

Waves from Hurricane Florence pound the Bogue Inlet Pier in Emerald Isle, N.C.

However, these studies looked at all kinds of rainfall, not just hurricanes, Knutson notes. “We think that hurricanes are probably behaving like the other types of processes, but we have the best data for extreme precipitation in general,” he explained. The latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has “medium confidence” in the link between climate change and rainfall extremes. As Florence trudges across the Carolinas, one recent study suggests that hurricanes are moving slower, giving them more time to do their damage. But that may be natural variation more than climate change. “I think we’re still early in the game on that one,” Knutson said.

Rising sea levels
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Religious beliefs hurt our ability to fight global climate change?

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