Michael Mann
Dr. Michael Mann speaking at the climate change science panel held by Sydney Environmental Institute. (Mar 2, 2020) (Photo Courtesy of Penn State University)
A United Methodist Insight Column
After days of uncertainty, apprehension and confusion over our current plethora of crises, there’s some good news in today’s Crisis Watch.
First, on the climate emergency front:
Michael Mann, a geophysicist and professor at Penn State University, is one of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. He says humanity may have more time to forestall the climate’s breakdown than we thought previously.
Dr. Mann was interviewed recently in a 60 Minutes segment titled “Cause And Effect” that looked at the connection between climate change and California’s ongoing wildfires. He’s quoted in an interview in The Guardian: “There’s about as much scientific consensus about human-caused climate change as there is about gravity.”
The Guardian's Mark Hertsgaard quotes Dr. Mann regarding new interpretation of climate data: “Using new, more elaborate computer models equipped with an interactive carbon cycle, ‘what we now understand is that if you stop emitting carbon right now … the oceans start to take up carbon more rapidly,’ Mann says. Such ocean storage of CO2 ‘mostly’ offsets the warming effect of the CO2 that still remains in the atmosphere. Thus, the actual lag between halting CO2 emissions and halting temperature rise is not 25 to 30 years, he explains, but ‘more like three to five years.’”
In other words, Hertsgaard writes, “Rather than being locked into decades of inexorably rising temperatures, humans can turn down the heat almost immediately by slashing emissions promptly. ‘Our destiny is determined by our behavior,’ says Mann, a fact he finds ‘empowering.’”
The catch to this new opportunity, says Dr. Mann, is that it depends almost entirely on the United States getting back into the global effort to reduce carbon emissions. That action in turn depends on Americans voting out President Donald Trump, who intends to pull the USA out of the Paris climate agreement, says Dr. Mann.
“It's time for America to reassert climate leadership. It starts with voting,” he said. “The future of this planet is now in the hands of American citizens.”
For an opportunity to learn more about the role that faith communities play in fostering creation justice, sign up for the virtual United Methodist Creation Justice Summit scheduled Oct 16 at 6:30 p.m. – Oct 17 at 1:30 p.m. The Creation Justice website offers more resources for getting involved in creation care.
Religious life persists at Duke
Here’s a bit of pandemic good news from UMC-related Duke University: 'Not God’s first pandemic': Religious life groups persist on and off campus.
Writer Milla Surjadi reports: “During a time when most groups have had to redefine normal in unconventional and often virtual ways, religious life leaders are continuing to grapple with the question of fostering meaningful community, connection and spiritual faith during a moment marked by isolation and instability. The answer has changed over the course of the pandemic.”
Vignettes of those changed answers are well worth a few minutes to read the article. Kudos to the Duke Chronicle for recognizing the vital role religion plays in helping people cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Media Mentions as of Oct. 7, 2020
Stop telling Black people to pray for Donald Trump – Religion News Service
Praying for a reckless president – The Dispatch
I can pray heartily for the president and still hold him accountable – Christianity Today*
Why Trump, the prosperity gospel president, can't be honest about COVID-19 – Religion News Service
Trump evangelical advisers exposed to COVID-19 flout CDC guidelines, preach in public Religion News Service
President Trump is sick. How can we pray for him when we hate his policies? – The Washington Post*
New book links the decline of religious authority to the end of empathy – Religion News Service
Interfaith demonstrations across California demand release of incarcerated people amid COVID-19 – Religion News Service
For Trump, COVID-19 is about toxic masculinity – Religion News Service
*Paid subscription required
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.