2000: Tipping Point For An Overheating Planet?

This National Geographic photo accompanies an article that highlights the unprecedented melting of ice sheets in the Arctic region. This is in Norway's far north Svalbardthe archipelago.

"God spoke: Let us make human beings in our image, 

make them reflecting our nature

So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,

the birds in the air, the cattle,

And, yes, Earth itself."  (Genesis 1:26, the Message)

In the year 2000 voters in one of the most influential nations on earth faced a critical choice. In an extremely close presidential race, the loser was a relatively moderate candidate who was a dedicated environmentalist. While he was justly criticized as hypocritical for living in an expansive Tennessee mansion, he would likely have influenced the nation and the world toward more earth-friendly policies. 

His opponent was an equally decent and honorable candidate, but less committed to pushing for change when it came to environmental issues, and whose administration later mired the nation in two protracted wars. One of these appears to have been at least in part to help ensure the US would have a reliable and cheap supply of Middle East oil.

Multiple pros and cons factored into the decision, of course, and as always voters had no perfect options. But would the world have been better off with a stronger US advocacy for the wellbeing of the planet?

All political considerations aside, very likely. 

According to a recent report of an extensive study of Greenland's glaciers in USA Today, that island's ice sheets alone are dumping over 300 million tons of melting ice into the ocean every year, a seven-fold increase over the past two decades. The study concludes that even if global warming were to end now the ice sheet will keep on disintegrating, resulting in a sea level rise of over 3 feet by 2100, submerging whole islands and rendering many coastal communities uninhabitable.

And in an article in the Independent, Siberia has experienced record-breaking temperatures that are thawing vast portions of its permafrost. This is causing animals and plants frozen for thousands of years to decompose and send megatons of additional carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere, further accelerating climate change. Huge potholes are forming, buildings are collapsing and many of Siberia's inhabitants have become climate refugees.

Meanwhile, warmer ocean and atmospheric temperatures are contributing to ever more frequent and more destructive hurricanes, tornados and other extreme weather events, along with increased famines, droughts and wildfires that are causing untold suffering and loss.

This is not about politics. I can't imagine God really caring much about the political divides in our 5% of the world's population. Nor does the planet have any political preferences.

But God surely cares deeply about the care of the earth. And so must we.

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Did a handful of Mennonites in Florida contribute to the 2000 tipping point?  https://harvyoder.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-handful-of-florida-mennonites.html?fbclid=IwAR0y-amU6h6jmnh6GpXu_Ay4WX2OMvpEofRQYEq-VH570w7xadRTMatfhUs