A few year ago, when I was working through one of the earlier iterations of A Very Convenient Truth, I read with disdain the words of a maritime lawyer, who opined that global warming would actually be good for commerce, since it would open up the Northwest Passage to shipping and allow for quicker routes between world markets.
Well, that was then - this is now; and while looking at the economic benefits of something that others are bemoaning doesn't quite seem right to me, I'm also less inclined to look at something like global warming/climate change as the "disasters" that many others say it is.
Recently, CBC Radio's science program, Quirks and Quarks, looked at the latest discoveries about the Kaffeblubben Sø -- the world's most northern lake (it's in Greenland). As New Scientist notes in its article about the same research, the lake, which has been pretty much frozen solid for thousands of years, is now showing signs of life. Algae are multiplying again, after being dormant for all that time. While algae bloom has generally been associated with pollution from human sources, the scientists looking at Kaf-etc. have determined that this change is solely to do with global warming.
Global warming, in other words, has brought life back to a place that was virtually barren for millennia.
This, of course, is bad news, according to Geology magazine.
Wait a sec'. How is the appearance of life bad news? I'm not talking about cases where an invasive species like zebra mussels or snakehead fish have been introduced artificially: I'm talking about a situation where conditions have changed to allow life forms to flourish where there had been nothing before.
The boffins with the Geological Society of America (publishers of Geology) point to this as a sign of how the Arctic is our "early warning system" about climate change, tipping us off about the "threat".
Why not look at this as another sign that God is in control, is working out His plan, and confirming that by restoring life where none had been before?
It's rather like the Pharisees saying, "What shall we do with this man, for He works many miracles?" or John the Baptist's disciples, asking Jesus if He was the Messiah. The signs were all there, but Jesus didn't fit in with their world view, so they refused (at least temporarily, in some cases) to recognize the signs.
The trouble with a lot of our climate change research is that it's mostly after-the-fact. When the researchers say the Arctic is our "early warning system", they're still not saying that these warnings will have been in time for us to do anything about it. Nor have they actually established that there's anything mankind can do to prevent these changes from happening.
God, on the other hand, has already told us this would all happen. He's told us what to expect next, too, and while we're not supposed to fight Him, He's given us explicit instructions: clean up our environmental act, seek Him first, and lead others into the Kingdom.
A Very Convenient Truth has gone through another revision, and I think it's the last now. It also has a new title: A Very Convenient Truth - or, Jesus told us there'd be days like these, so stop worrying about climate change and get with His program.
That version will replace the one that's currently online at Smashwords (or any online bookstore) in the first week of November.
