I Can Hardly Wait For This...

This should be good. The whackaloons over at Answers In Genesis are peddling this silly book about global warming. Interestingly, it apparently does not deny the reality of global climate change, but rather seeks to write it off as something that doesn't matter because it's what Yahweh wants. Check out this snippet of the AiG synopsis:

The truth is that the earth has always been warming very gradually and that the current warming is insignificant—especially considering the scope of God’s ultimate plan for each and every one of us. Unlock important clues to this contemporary
controversy. Includes Scripture references, scientific data, and biblical prophecy for the future. This book clearly illustrates that the concept of “man induced global warming” is totally unfounded, and that God alone is in control of our destiny.

I think I may have to order this one. It was written in part by Dr. William M Curtis III, but seeing as how his doctorate is in theology and his other education (which does include degrees in aeronautics and physics) does not seem to actually have anything to do with climate science I'm not sure what actual expertise he brings to the subject.

One thing that I've never quite gotten is the weird opposition lots of conservative religious folk have to the idea that global warming a.) exists b.) may have anthropogenic roots and c.) could conceivably be a problem. Is it as simple a formulation as "God made the world, therefore we cannot possibly do it serious harm"? Surely it's more complex than that. There are certainly religious groups that also have an environmentalist slant, and their position (Something to the effect of "God made this, ergo we must take care of it".) seems to make a bit more sense than the head-in-the-sand position that AiG seems to be advocating. But then again, very little of makes any sense to me at all.

And then there was snow...

Last week we got a monstrous thunderstorm that spawned tornadoes all across the south and did untold property damage throughout Louisville, including my childhood neighborhood and my parents' yard. Well, hot on the heels of the worst thunderstorms ever to hit Kentucky in February comes the worst winter storm we've had in several years. It's been snowing for almost five hours and we have several inches of accumulation, and now it's sleeting. They even canceled work for me tomorrow, and it's no easy feat to get social work canceled due to adverse weather.

All this crazy weather sure seems new. I mean, I certainly never remember getting tornadoes in the winter when I was a kid, nor can I recall being more surprised that it actually snowed in February than I am right now. (Louisville has had essentially no meaningful snowfall in something like three years.) It's almost as if the weather, the "climate" if you will, is somehow...changing....

Hmm...