Tag Archives: Environment

At least 1,500 years until next ice age

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Even though movies like The Day After Tomorrow scare us about a pending ice age that can strike in weeks, the scientist believe it will not happen for at least another 1,500 years and should take two to three years to set in.  Learn more in the Next ice age not likely before 1,500 years: study at Reuters.

The big question is: how can global warming cause an ice age?  It does not make sense – heat does not cause cold.  But, the complexity of earth’s environment provides a way for it to happen.  The theory is that global warming will melt Arctic ice and the resulting fresh water will disrupt the ocean’s Gulf Stream, which warms the northern Atlantic.  Find out more at How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age at Common Dreams.

Going green with Edison’s DC over AC

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Thomas Edison, best known for inventing the light bulb, pushed for DC current for transmitting electricity, but we went with AC since it could transmit better across distance. AC has been used heavily for over 100 years, but now green requirements and data center demand are forcing people to look at DC again.

Edison told associates Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”  Read the full Insight: How renewable energy may be Edison’s revenge story at Reuters.

Environment at Risk Pictures

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These two Editor’s Choice pictures at Reuters are worth more than a thousand words:

  • Trash along Lagos beach.  Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria, the eighth most populous country in the world.
  • Red polluted water in China.  The Jianhe River in Luoyang in Henan province of China is bright red from chemical waste.  I wonder if this is what the Nile looked like in Moses’ time.
We in the United States should not think we are any better with our trash mountains outside of each large city and a history of our own chemical river issues as seen in this Cuyahoga River Burning in Cleveland.

Saint Francis of Assisi

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Saint Francis lived in Italy during the Dark Ages from 1182 to 1226. He was born into wealth and lived a carefree adolescence singing with the troubadours. After a couple stints of military duty, a serious illness, and a vision of Jesus telling him to repair his church which was falling into ruin, Saint Francis renounced his wealth, became a beggar, preached in the streets, and repaired old churches.

Many people followed Saint Francis and he ultimately established the Franciscan Order. As his health declined and his eyesight progressively worsened, he returned to his ascetic life in a hut and communed with nature. Birds were said to have landed on his arms and eaten from his hands. Later in life during a 40-day fast, he received the stigmata, wounds on his wrists, ankles, head and side that mimicked those of Christ. Learn more about Saint Francis of Assisi at Wikipedia.

Why is St. Francis one of my favorite people? To the dismay of his family and friends, Saint Francis renounced his wealth and did what Jesus called him to do. He accepted a hard life, one of an ascetic and his health suffered for it, but also a life of great purpose. This simple man initiated an order of the church that continues to do great things even to this day – 785 years after his death. Everything that Saint Francis did was out of love, so much so that even animals did not fear him.  He is considered the patron saint of animals and the environment.

So, when people question what you are doing with your life, even if it flies in the face of convention, tell them the story of Saint Francis. Follow Christ’s example and you too can make a difference for hundreds of years to come, even if just through your own family. Use the lyrics of the Prayer of Saint Francis to guide you.

Creation (Gen 1)

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Initial:

  • Kid Story: The creation story seems like it was made up to answer kids’ questions of how the earth, sky, animals, and humans came to be.
  • Introducing God: Like all great stories, the main character God is introduced in the first sentence.  We are not told what He looks like, though presumably “He” is male. We are not told where He was before He created the universe and during the story He seems to be in some “out-of-universe” lab creating everything.
  • We are in Charge: God put us in control of the earth.  It is very interesting that a storyteller from over 4000 years ago, when there were only 35 million people scattered around the world (per Wiki World Population), realized that humans would populate every corner of the earth and control its outcome.  We are in charge of the animals, birds, and seas, whether we realize it or not.  It is our collective actions, deliberate or consequential, that affect our environment.  I truly believe that over-population of humans is the biggest issue of our time.  Everything else is just a symptom!
  • Stop and Smell the Roses: On a lighter note, the first story of the Bible includes some self-management tips like “God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased.”  I read this to mean stop and smell the rose once in a while.  We are so caught up in doing so much in our lives that we never seem to stop, look back, and admire what we have accomplished.  Take a day off this weekend and write down what you have achieved.  Be positive and include things no matter how small they seem to you.

Controversy:

The story of creation has been rocked by controversy between creationists and scientists since the days of Galileo (1633), to the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925), and even to today. Both sides seem to be converging on common ground, though ever so slowly (think centuries).  The biggest advance has been that scientists are approaching the limits of their abilities and have no other explanation except that God did create the universe.

  • God is in the Details: Cosmologists, scientists who study the workings of the universe,  have worked their way back to a “singularity”, the point where all the matter of the universe was compressed into a single, very dense mass no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence.  They believe that singularity exploded in a Big Bang to fill our universe with galaxies, stars, and ultimately planets.  However, scientists get hung up on three things: (1) what existed before the singularity, (2) what created the singularity, and (3) what made it explode into the universe?  Many scientists have concluded the only explanation is that God created the universe.  “Let there be light” sure sounds like a Big Bang.
  • On a Small Scale: Cosmology is very intertwined with Quantum Physics, the study of the real small.  Physicists have peeled back the layers of matter to ever smaller levels of molecules, atoms, protons and electrons, and particles of quarks, leptons and muons.  Scientists are still chasing the “God particle”, the smallest portion of matter that makes up everything.
  • Size of a Dime: Along the lines of quantum physics is the realization that ALL matter is mostly made up of “air”.  An atom is composed of a tiny nucleus of matter circled by an electron (see Wiki Atom).  So, in reality most of what we see and what we are is just air.  For example, a Carbon-12 atom is 33,000 times larger than its nucleus (per Georgia State University).  In comparison, a 165 pound person removed of all “electron air” would be just the size of a dime!
  • Try to Understand Each Other: Back to the controversy.  Wherever there is more than one there will be a difference of opinion.  Life is too short to doggedly cling to one idea “because I am right” or simply because it is tradition.  Times are changing, and quickly.  We need to be able to adapt.  Try to understand other’s thoughts, ideas, views, and concerns.  At the very least, agree to disagree but don’t continue down the path of an inquisition to the exclusion of other ideas.  You never know from when or where a great idea or person shall come.