Published: October 27, 2007 10:25 pm            

VASICEK: Confused and more confused

The philosopher said, “I think, therefore I am.” Ed Vasicek says, “I am confused, therefore I am.” Some things just don’t make sense to me.

Take this goofy weather and global warming. Is fall here? Or has the greenhouse effect completely taken over? Or has the notorious El Nino decided to be a permanent condition? According to an Oct. 22 AP article, we have indeed been greenhouse gassed!

“Just days after the Nobel Prize was awarded for global warming work, an alarming new study finds that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected. Carbon dioxide emissions were 35 percent higher in 2006 than in 1990, a much faster growth rate than anticipated, researchers led by Joseph G. Canadell, of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization [reported].”

Although former Vice President Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, it seems obvious that no one REALLY understands the situation. The AP article added, “‘It turns out that global warming critics were right when they said that global climate models did not do a good job at predicting climate change,’ [Alan Robock, associate director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers University] commented.’ But what has been wrong recently is that the climate is changing even faster than the models said. In fact, Arctic sea ice is melting much faster than any models predicted, and sea level is rising much faster than IPCC previously predicted.”

If global warming is as big a threat as it appears to be, perhaps we should take steps to deal with it, rather than make token efforts to slow it down. Like shooting a rifle shot at Godzilla, such efforts make us feel better but accomplish little. If we can’t stop volcanoes, lace our animal feed with Beano, or get China to be concerned, we know the problem must get worse; the only issue is the pace, and it is apparent that we have no idea what that pace is.

A wiser approach would be to assume global warming and its consequences; we should turn our attentions toward coping with higher water levels, develop irrigation technology, and create some “brave new engineering.”

Although I opined that rebuilding New Orleans in its present location seemed foolish, the rebuild could prove to be a case study in “below sea-level containment.” After all, most of the Netherlands is made up of reclaimed ocean. Our coastline cities might soon become like Amsterdam or Venice, but we need to start building now.

Some people see a positive side to increased levels of carbon dioxide. Tom Kuennen writes, “Elevated levels of carbon dioxide enhance plant growth. What once was a commonplace high school biology teaching has become a news item from coast to coast: From endangered rain forests in the Amazon Basin to the prairies of the Great Plains, elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will help plants grow more vigorously, resist disease better, and even better utilize water.

“In The Netherlands, researchers at the Glasshouse Climate & Technology Research Station for Floriculture & Glasshouse Vegetables grow vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, lettuce and radishes at two to four times the atmospheric CO2 level.” Kuennen then documents that such conditions result in yield increases between 25 and 40 percent.

But it is not just our refusal to accept global warming that has me confused. Last week I wrote about California legislation that effectively removes the idea of mothers and fathers from children’s textbooks. This simply makes no sense to me.

According to Channel One News, the No. 1 thing (75 percent) that makes kids feel happy is spending time with their parents. Additionally, 62 percent of children who live with both parents wake up feeling happy while 47 percent of children whose parents are divorced wake up with that happy feeling.

I don’t understand this. If kids so value spending time with their parents, why is California seeking to ignore the feelings of their own students? Yes, there are a lot of things I don’t understand, like why people put Right Guard under their left arm?

Ed Vasicek is pastor of Highland Park Church and a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune.

        

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