The Truth about Climate Change
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Marc Katz is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center. He is a graduate of Tufts University. |
On Friday, Jerry Falwell released a statement blasting moderate evangelical groups, like the Evangelical Climate Initiative, for advocating a “sweeping reform to combat global warming.”
However, the information that Falwell sites and the reasoning that he uses is faulty at best. Falwell explains that:
“According to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, the last two months in the continental U.S. have been cooler than average. The organization reported: “The combination of a cooler-than-average September and October dropped the year-to-date national temperature from record warmest to third warmest for the January through October 2006 period. The record warmest January through October occurred in 1934.”
The problem with using these figures is that they are given without context. There is little doubt that spikes and anomalies occur in the natural cycle of nature. However, we must look at trends to get a more complete picture of the state of climate change; 20 of the 21 hottest years in recorded history have all occurred in the past 25 years.
Falwell’s argument is filled with false and misleading facts and figures like this. When faced with arguments like Falwell makes, it is important to fight them with good information. Click here for a list of recent scientific studies about climate change and a list of actions you can do in your everyday life to curb your personal pollution.