Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The origins to Earth Day began on April 22, 1970. Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WISC) was the Senator who was instrumental in establishing this day. He desired to bring attention to environmental issues in this country. The oil slick in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 motivated him to bring awareness to environmental issues. One of the things that's so frustrating when it comes to the issue of the environment is it's so difficult to hold an intelligent environmental discussion. The reason why it's so difficult to have an intelligent environmental discussion with fundamentalist Christians and Americans that consider themselves moderate to conservative is because of much of the false propaganda by the Left. We've had people like Al Gore propagating his "global warming" theories across America and the world for the last several years. There's dispute within the scientific community on whether or not man-made global warming is real. With the cold winters we've had the last couple of years, it has cast dispute on whether or not man is the cause of global warming. Recently they've changed the terminology on us and now call it "climate change" instead of global warming.
I don't buy into the propaganda of global warming. Some of the statements the Left use to promote their global warming theories is to blame man-made global warming on Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti, and even the volcanic eruption in Iceland. The name of the volcano is Eyjafjallojokull. With the volcanic eruption taking place President Obama wasn't even able to attend the funeral of the Polish president. Air travel was disrputed due to the Icelandic volcanic eruption. I'm just wondering, considering all the ash and plume that spews from the volcano into the sky, couldn't that have an affect on climate conditions? I would think so. I read where the volcanic eruptions of Mt. Pintaubo in the Phillippines and Mt. Saint Helens in Washington state affected climate conditions. It would make more sense to insinuate volcanic eruptions could affect climate change than vice versa. The Left has to make the assertion man-made global warming caused the volcanic eruption so they could press for a socialist agenda to control mankind. There are some incidents such as volcanic eruptions that are beyond man's control. I do believe in climate change, but I believe it is cyclical. We've had hot weather even before the age of Industrialization. Hot weather is a natural part of the summer season. There was a time back in the 1970's when scientists were saying that we were entering an age of global cooling. It revolves back and forth. We have four different seasons each year. During the summer we have hot weather and during the winter we have cold weather. There are seasons when the weather is less than normal, but that's due sometimes to natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions.
As much as I'm opposed to all the propaganda of global warming or climate change, it doesn't give us an excuse to totally ignore the environment. Most of the time we hear two extremes about ecology. The Bible says we aren't to worship the creature, but it didn't give us permisson to pollute the environment. God gave man dominion over the earth. However, common sense should dictate we have a responsibility to be good stewards of this earth. Not for the sake of this world, but of our neighbors as well as future posterity. It's not right to pollute our rivers and our land. We aren't to be careless with the environment. For example, I'm a believer we should drill for oil, but caution needs to be exercised to ensure there aren't major oil spills. A major oil spill is unhealthy for the environment. It's not good for the wildlife, for sea animals, for the oceans, and not even for the economy. There are some fishermen that make a livelihood out of fishing along the Gulf Coast. There should be safeguards in place when drilling for oil. Otherwise, a major oil spill could be an ecological disaster. Also, there's nothing wrong with chopping down trees when needed. However, we shouldn't chop down trees for the sake of chopping them down. When we chop down trees, we should replenish them. Trees are good for the atmosphere. Concerning the issue of strip mining there needs to be caution used when that's done.
I'm not a radical environmentalist nor am I a member of the Sierra Club. However, it's important to recognize that we have a responsibility to be good stewards and take reasonable care of the environment. I don't believe we should worship the land, but we should take care of it and beautify it. When Lyndon Johnson was president, his wife, First Lady, Lady Bird Johson, pushed to beautify the landscapes with flowers. Congress passed a law required medians in the road to be beautified. That was a good measure. We should plant flowers and trees to beautify the earth. We should take proper care of the land and use it as needed. It's a good testimony for Christians to take reasonable care of the environment. We should treat God's creation with respect. I don't promote the philosphy of pantheism or the belief that nature is in everything. Humans are assigned a different value in comparison to animals or plants. Human beings are of a higher value than plants or animals. But that doesn't give us the excuse to abuse the planet. Another thing to remember is there are other people that inhabit the planet. We all have a responsibility to exercise common courtesy and observe environmental measures to make this world a better place for everyone that's presently living as well as for the future posterity.
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