350

I happened upon Speaking of Faith as I was running errands this evening. Every time I've heard the show (on NPR) I've been intrigued. Krista Tippett was interviewing Bill McKibben about climate change. His personal journey led him to somewhat accidentally become an activist in this field.

I've been on the somewhat concerned side about climate change for a while. Some of those close to me have said, "Oh it's just a natural cycle." Others have said the now infamous, "It's all going to burn anyway." May God grant that this self-fulfilling prophecy doesn't come true.

My position has been, yes, climate always changes on a long enough scale. But humans have never caused an ice age. My major concern is whether we're causing the climate to change. If we are, we must stop! If it's other "natural" causes, so be it.

Bill McKibben gave the clearest perspective I've heard on the matter. He's not an alarmist, but he's sounding a very loud alarm. For millennia the count of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been 275 ppm +/- 10. This started to climb shortly after the industrial revolution when coal became the fuel du jour. With coal, gas, and oil burning becoming ubiquitous, we have now reached about 390 ppm. A couple of years ago, scientists using pluriform models calculated that our Earth can sustain a maximum of 350 ppm. According to McKibben, we're in desperate shape.

However, all is not lost. He likens this to a visit to the doctor. A doctor might tell you, "You need to watch what you eat or you're going to have trouble down the road." That's where we were 50 years ago. Now the doctor is saying, "I'm surprised you haven't had a heart attack. Stop your bad habits now, or you're dead!"

McKibben is campaigning to get people to live more neighborly. That's what I love about his climate approach. He doesn't think we need more technology per se, though that will help. Fundamentally we must change our lifestyles or, for instance, hundreds of millions of people will die from dengue fever. With a small increase in temperature, the dengue bearing mosquito is becoming far more prevalent. And it's an all-day mosquito, so netting won't help. Four percent of the world's population accounts for 25 percent of the carbon emissions. And that says America isn't being very neighborly if we're helping to inflict debilitating diseases on folks in Bangladesh who ride their bikes everywhere.

This has already gone long and there are several other fascinating ideas to share. Listen to Bill McKibben on Speaking of Faith or at Q, and he mentions how we've flipped the script in Job. That was the thing I set out to write about! But he tells it well. McKibben's website is www.350.org.