Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
Is 65,17
Yesterday I read an AP article Tweaking the climate to save it: Who decides?about a group of scholars, scientists, philosophers, lawyers, and politicians who gathered in Chicheley Hall in a remote English countryside to discuss the possibility of reflecting sunlight away from earth in order to counteract global warming.
As Kenyan earth scientist Richard Odingo said, playing God can be tempting. Another countered with the remark that the whole idea was unsettling. The problem is that not enough is being done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and unless that changes rapidly, disaster could result if a “Plan B” is not in place.
The problem with Plan B is, well, we are not God and we don’t know what long term effects of such a “sunshade project” would be. Who would decide what to do and when? Researching technologies does not mean they should be used, but humanity has been down that road a few times: If it is possible, it is usually done.
Reducing greenhouse emissions is hard work. It requires changes in lifestyles, in worldview, in energy production. President Obama recently laid out an energy plan that included aggressive research and development of alternative fuel sources. Such research has been proposed for decades with little actually done about it. Doing something now is imperative, but I wonder if it is too little too late.
Knowing that such a group has seen the need to convene and discuss what had been unthinkable in the past is unsettling. Are the people of this planet able to come together to address such a dilemma? Evidence suggests not.
“We have a lot of thinking to do,” the Kenyan Odingo told the others. “I don’t know how many of us can sleep well tonight.”
We have a lot of praying to do, too.
© 2011 Mary van Balen
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