The Evangelical Christian Climate Scientist

When gathering information to form opinions for my climate column I have, and continue to, search out the position papers of the most reputable science organizations looking for common threads or lack of common threads. I also attend as many presentations given by leading climate scientists and professors as I reasonably can. I have had the privilege of listening to and asking questions of world-renowned people such as Dr. Ben Santer, Dr. Robert Jackobel, Dr. Jonathan Patz, Professor John Cook, and Retired Rear Admiral and Professor Dr. David Titley.

Just a week ago at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, an influential climate scientist gave a great no holds barred presentation. She did it smiling and being positive. Her name is Katharine Hayhoe. Dr. Hayhoe, like the other people I mentioned, has an impressive education and a litany of awards. She is a professor at Texas Tech, holds a PHD in atmospheric science, and is a respected member of the scientific community having written 125 peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Hayhoe is not publicly famous for her intellectual achievements. She is famous because she is an Evangelical Christian. She is the daughter of missionary parents, and a pastor’s wife; a mom and a knitter to boot. She is renowned as one of the best climate science communicators. After listening to her I understand why the American Geophysical Union* awarded her the 2014 Climate Communication Award.

 As a scientist and a devout Evangelical Christian, she refutes the idea that climate science and religion are in conflict. Science is the study of God’s Creation that we may understand what we have been given and promote the common good. She reminds us our “Dominion” over earth is not a license to destroy any part of the planet, and certainly not the atmosphere. If we have dominion, she insists, we also have the responsibility to be stewards of that dominion.

 She reminded us the poor will be the first, (but not the last), to bear the brunt of climate change and suffer greatly. If Jesus’s command is to love thy neighbor, and to protect the less fortunate, then we cannot destroy the atmosphere. It violates the Christian imperative of love.

She admits only 28% of white evangelicals believe climate change is reality. She attributes this to the unfortunate politicization of the church. Until I studied sociology, I was flabbergasted 72% of any population who uses refrigerators to store food, or routinely flies on airliners, could then deny proven science. But we are tribal creatures and if we hold stronger allegiance to our tribe than to the rational application of science, we can be conned into nearly anything.  

She insists that to change this irrational 28% statistic and heal the atmosphere we should start by talking about climate change. The best way to start, she says, is to recognize our shared values. There are many values we share as Americans, but I believe the #1 shared value is our children’s future. I think we can all agree a benign climate is something our children will appreciate.

If you have been reading my column, you know 97% of practicing climate scientists and 100% of reputable science organizations are in fierce agreement climate change is real and we can solve it. If you get a chance to mention this in any climate conversation, you have accomplished a lot. Most people are not aware of the 97% consensus.

As I mentioned earlier, I have always tried to search out the most reputable institutions and respected speakers with a keen eye and a keen ear searching for messages that disagree. For five years I have found few.  The message is always the same; climate change is real and needs to be combated. To combat it we must wean ourselves off coal, oil, and gas. Additionally, we will have to employ ways to drawdown the current levels of carbon dioxide.

There has been one unmistakable change in the last year. The warnings now are more united and more strident. The “window of opportunity” to act is now small. When I first started my investigations five years ago, the day of reckoning was a relatively long way off. Prior to the Paris Climate Accord scientists told us we had until 2100 to wean ourselves free of fossil fuels. It wasn’t long after the agreement was signed new troubling data came in.

 The latest reports, one from the US National Academies of Science, one from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and most recently from 300 of our best climate experts in the Fourth Climate Assessment tell us we must reduce emissions by half in twelve years. 

Professor Hayhoe did not address this in her presentation until a student asked a question at the end of the evening in the question and answer period. The student asked if governmental roadblocks stifling the will of the people should be removed first.

To this question, Professor Hayhoe simply said, “We do not have time to correct these problems. We must act now.”

*The American Geophysical Union, or AGU, is a union of 62,000 geophysicists from 144 countries. Dr Hayhoe’s awards are not limited to the scientific community. She was listed, by TIME magazine, as one of the 100 most influential people in 2014.

Note: Dr Katherine Hayhoe has a series of short You-Tube presentations titled, “Global Weirding”.  I invite you to share in her award-winning wisdom which includes both insights into science and religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpjL_otLq6Y

Note: One promising piece of climate legislation in Washington is the “Energy Innovation and Carbon Act”. The non-partisan, science and economics-based climate organization, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, has the details of the bill on their web-site. www.citizensclimatelobby.org.