Category Archives: climate

Looking Through the Telescope, Part 2: Climate and Religion

December 10, 2024 By in climate, Galileo 3 Comments
Looking Through the Telescope, Part 2: Climate and Religion

Four moons landed Galileo in trouble. 

The seventeenth century Church assumed that the earth was the center of All There Is. But here comes Galileo with his fancy new telescope and visual evidence of four moons orbiting Jupiter. 

Galileo set his telescope up in public and invited critics to look for themselves. 

But opposition to Galileo was never about the evidence. Opposition was so much NOT about the evidence that some people simply refused to look through the telescope. Hard pass, they said. I’m good, they said. Nothing to see here.

It’s easy to be judgy about the scientific positions of 17th century folk. After all, doctors still believed that disease was caused by an imbalance of bile, blood, and phlegm. What a sick person really needs is a good bloodletting! 

In the Year of Our Lord 2024, religious beliefs still obscure the telescope for many people, and climate science always makes the top three in religion-rooted denial. 

A new study found that the more strongly a person believes “God is in control of the earth”, the LESS likely they are to (1) believe that climate change is a real problem, (2) attribute climate change to human activity, and (3) support policies addressing climate change. 

Disappointing to say the least, but not the most disconcerting finding . . .

Those who were told that only God is in control of earth’s future, were less likely to request (when offered) climate-related evidence from NOAA. A peek in the telescope? No thank you. 

This last finding tracks with the contemporary melding of evangelicalism and right-leaning politics, both of which are predictors of negative environmental attitudes. 

Here’s former Trump staffer and SBC activist William Wolfe: “At the end of the day . . . we know that God has given us everything in creation to be used for our good and His glory. And yes, that includes plastic straws and big trucks. . . This world will be brought to an end when God decides that it is time, and not a moment before.”

Then there’s Tim Walberg (R-MI): “I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

Politicians and pastors speak with authority, but seldom with expertise. 

People of faith in a modern scientific world need to speak with evidence-informed voices. 

Don’t be afraid to look. 

LINKS:

Kane, J.V., Perry, S.L. Belief in divine (versus human) control of earth affects perceived threat of climate change. npj Clim. Action 3, 78 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00163-9

Preston, Jesse L., Shin, Faith. Opposing effects of Spirituality and Religious Fundamentalism on environmental attitudes. Journal of Environmental Psychology (Vol. 80) 2022. 

Pew Research (November 14, 2022) Highly religious Americans are less concerned about climate change, less convinced human activity is causing warmer temperatures.

The World’s Most Dangerous Animal (it’s probably not what you think)

July 10, 2023 By in climate, malaria Leave a comment
The World’s Most Dangerous Animal (it’s probably not what you think)

It’s Final Jeopardy and you can win it all with the correct response to this clue: The answer is: “the most dangerous animal on the planet.”

Sharks, right? After all, there’s an entire week of television dedicated to our fear of them and six (6!) movies terrorized us by dropping them from tornadoes. 

Not even close. Sharks kill less than ten people per year.

Ok, hippos? Crocodiles? Snakes? Elephants? No, no, no, no.

The deadliest animal on the planet, responsible for the deaths of 700,000 to one million people every year, is the vicious and fearsome . . .  mosquito. 

Yet, no one is marking their calendars for Mosquito Week. 

Malaria alone kills 600,000 per year, mostly young children. 

Just a few weeks ago, a case of locally transmitted malaria was confirmed in Texas. Four cases of locally transmitted malaria were confirmed in May and June in Florida.

These were the first documented cases of local transmission in the United States in twenty years. Malaria is spreading in southern states, and it was not brought in by travelers infected in other countries.

Oh, malaria in the U.S. isn’t new. George Washington had it, as did many others until the middle of the twentieth century. In fact, the CDC was created to respond to the threat from malaria.

We solved the problem by spraying huge layers of insecticide in order to kill the parasite responsible for malaria. Think Rachel Carson and “Silent Spring”.

We killed the parasite, but other environmental factors for malaria remained.

Several mosquito species that carry malaria are still present in the U.S. 

All it takes for local spread is a mosquito biting a recently returned traveler from a malaria-endemic country, and then that mosquito bites someone locally. 

Malaria is also dependent on an optimal temperature for spread. If it’s too cold, the mosquito reproduction cycle slows. Warmer weather means more mosquitos and more mosquito babies. 

Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina warns that human-caused climate warming isn’t a definitive cause of malaria spread, but it certainly doesn’t help. 

During the week of July 4th, our planet shattered “hottest day ever” records for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW.

Already, other mosquito-borne diseases like Zika and dengue are making inroads in the U.S. (My son brought home dengue as a fun souvenir from a college internship in Panama. It’s a horrible disease – there’s a reason dengue is called “break-bone fever”). 

Climate warming makes all mosquito-borne illnesses worse, globally. 

Malaria has a fascinating history, and understanding evolution is key. Watch this space for Malaria Part 2!