OK. Despite the fact that we are all about full and responsible freedom here at Contratimes, you must read "Global Warming As Mass Neurosis" by Bret Stephens. It is simply and unequivocally brilliant.
Mr. Stephens poses a very serious challenge to global warming "science" this morning in today's Wall Street Journal, and this excerpt is particularly daunting:
"This ... is, of course, a forecast, not an empirical observation. But it raises a useful question: If even slight global cooling remains evidence of global warming, what isn't evidence of global warming? What we have here is a nonfalsifiable hypothesis, logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God. This doesn't mean God doesn't exist, or that global warming isn't happening. It does mean it isn't science."
No dispute here. Should there be?
And then he tosses us this gem:
"A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence."
And then:
"Listen carefully to the global warming alarmists, and the main theme that emerges is that what the developed world needs is a large dose of penance. What's remarkable is the extent to which penance sells among a mostly secular audience. What is there to be penitent about?
"As it turns out, a lot, at least if you're inclined to believe that our successes are undeserved and that prosperity is morally suspect. In this view, global warming is nature's great comeuppance, affirming as nothing else our guilty conscience for our worldly success."
Mr. Stephens ends strong referencing William James' stellar Varieties of Religious Experience, though I believe he fudges a bit what Mr. James meant by "sick-souled." Nevertheless, this is a tight and astounding essay, written to the pith, cutting to the marrow.
(If you have not read "Yellow Science" over at First Things, you are missing something special. Author James Kerian convincingly compares global warming science to yellow journalism. Fascinating.)
Peace.
BG
6 comments:
You have been away from the Episcopal Church too long. Our esteemed theologian in residence (Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori) has it all worked out and is preaching the new gospel message as we saw in her Easter Message,
"We are not respecting the dignity of our fellow creatures if our sewage or garbage fouls their living space. When atmospheric warming, due in part to the methane output of the millions of cows we raise each year to produce hamburger, begins to slowly drown the island homes of our neighbors in the South Pacific, are we truly sharing good news?"
Dear UP,
I have fallen so far from the church I am nearly lost to Perdition. How could I have missed Ms. Schori's fine message?
I recall reading somewhere, or perhaps I had heard it spoken from a pulpit, that humans are fallen creatures. I think there was even some reference to the novel-sounding concept called something like "original sin." It is a quaint and precious idea, hinting, as it does, that humans and the world might not be perfect. Perhaps Ms. Schori has recently heard of it too. I even have vague and distant thoughts that Christianity might actually have something to say about imperfection and corruption. But I could be guessing.
"How lovely upon the mountains WERE the feet of him who brings good news." Now he is not allowed to tread across the mountains. Too invasive. Too destructive. The good news is to stop living altogether.
(I am wondering what the Episcopal Church does with all its old prayer books, or its empty bottles of wine. Of course, one moment's thought leaves me quite sure there is no waste whatsoever, no damage to the planet, in the manufacturing of BCPs or patens or vestments or that crucifer leading the procession.)
Completely carbon free elements in the Eucharist is the next great awakening.
Peace,
BG
Don't forget the carbon footprint of burning candles and incense!
Dear UP,
How could I have forgotten?! See, I really am apostate!
Gnade
Dear UP,
And just for a moment, I thought I found where the church's discarded wine is taken.
Interesting waste of 2 carbon units. Why does the EU puts limits on British wine makers? Look for a French connection.
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