Global Warming Spotlight Heats Up; Evangelicals Speak Out
Observers say climate change is damaging the earth at an alarming pace and years of warnings from scientists about global warming are now coming in loud and clear for the global public.
"Be worried. Be very worried," states the most recent issue of TIME Magazine.
Observers say climate change is damaging the earth at an alarming pace and years of warnings from scientists about global warming are now coming in loud and clear for the global public.
"There will be no polar ice by 2060," said Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, according to TIME, whose Apr. 3 cover was adorned by a polar bear on crumbling ice lands. "Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out."
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According to reports, glaciers and ice caps are melting, some more than twice as fast, sea levels are rising, summers are becoming more blistering, more than double the percentage of Earth's surface is suffering drought since the 1970s and the species that most say are causing the problems – namely, mankind – has begun to feel the devastating effects.
More people have awakened to the radically changing planet and the critical need to set margins for life to thrive. According to a poll conducted by TIME, ABC News, and Stanford University, 85 percent of respondents agree that global warming probably is happening; 87 percent believe the government should either encourage or require lowering of power-plant emissions; and 85 percent think something should be done to get cars to use less gasoline.
"Even Evangelical Christians, once one of the most reliable columns in the conservative base, are demanding action," stated the TIME report.
Three out of four evangelicals support environmental issues and two thirds are convinced that global warming is actually taking place, according to the Ellison Research center. Four out of ten believe global warming must be reduced and half feel the issue must be addressed immediately.
Evangelical leaders have taken a stronger foothold on the issue, most notably revealed when 86 Christian leaders signed "The Evangelical Climate Initiative" early February. The new initiative calls Congress to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions.
Activist ministers like the Rev. Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelicals Environmental Network, and the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, have been some of the forefront players on the issue.
Climate change is not a left-wing, tree-hugging issue, said Ball, according to TIME. "It's a people problem. It's about loving your neighbor."
Even movie stars and music artists are voicing the problem. A new documentary by Stonehaven Productions called "The Great Warming," narrated by Keanu Reeves and Alanis Morissette, is slated to spread even more awareness and wake up a larger population to nature's inevitable changes. Called "the best film about global warming ever shot," the documentary made its world premier in New York on Mar. 23. And more global-warming resources are being pumped out and are set to hit bookshelves in the next coming months.
