The end of global warming?
October 26th, 2008(graph courtesy NationalPost.com)
As we can see from the above graph, white people have saved the earth by buying Toyota Priuses (Prii?). Either that, or maybe climate change wasn’t quite so man-made after all.
Climate change has never really been about “the science;” it is a method for turning the guilt people feel for living in the wealthiest civilization the world has ever known into votes for the political left.
The indispensible Mark Styen found a great quote from James Delingpole which expresses this truth in the context of the current economic downturn:
Global warming anxiety was a Nineties and early Noughties fad — the product of a too affluent age in search of a hair-shirt religion to assuage its guilt at having had it so good. Now that everyone has something real to worry about, cutting carbon emissions seems about as relevant as the Jitterbug or the Rubik’s Cube.
So far, depressingly few of our politicians have understood this.
Steyn laments just how correct Mr. Delingpole is:
Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice in a two-party system to have maybe one candidate who said stuff like that? I suspect that, were it not for the sadly dated obsessions of her chief, it’s the line Sarah Palin would have given when Joe Biden said anyone but a fool knows the impending eco-apocalypse is all man’s fault.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:01 am
So then what’s the right thing to do with all that guilt? At least some of it is deserved – don’t great riches come with great responsibility?
And what will white people drive, if not a Prius?? ;)
October 27th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Great blog! I do agree about the guilt trip. Maybe now the “scientists” will actually have to prove to us more facts about global warming.
October 27th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Good question, Stephanie.
I think that the wealthy (which would describe nearly all Americans) should be rich in good works and abounding in generosity (1 Tim 6:17-19). But I do not believe that they should feel any guilt for their riches. Guilt is the appropriate emotional response to sin — to the commission of injustice. So unless they have stolen their wealth, prosperous Americans should not have any guilt at all. Instead, they should rejoice in their blessings and give thanks to the Giver of all good gifts.
October 27th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Yet, I don’t think global warming is the only reason for living conservatively. All that garbage has to go somewhere. All those chemicals are killing us, whether they are warming the globe or not. There is still much to be said for “green” living, but just like any other moral choice, it should not be legislated or mandatory, but a personal response to the responsibility man was given to care for the earth. Just my two cents.
October 31st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Hey, i just saw you responded to my question! Cool!
While I don’t think that prosperity itself is a sin, there’s no doubt that greed is. Loving/idolizing money is, as well. Sometimes this goes along with wealth. If you “have had it good” and have been selfish with the wealth you’ve been given, there is good reason to feel guilty and re-evaluate your actions.
Maybe some of the people people who believe in man-made climate change try to turn guilt into votes for the left. But, on the other hand, some of the people who *don’t* believe in man-made climate change use that to excuse bad stewardship, wastefulness, etc. I’m not saying you’re advocating this position (throwing out the real need for responsibility along with the proverbial bathwater of environmental extremism). However, I think it’s important to look at how we are using the resources we’ve been given – regardless of the climate change data.