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The incredible shrinking species

23 Oct 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s second reading closes with a reference to “Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.” Those who warn of the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming have a new piece of evidence to add to climate change’s already alarming laundry list of effects such as melting glaciers and rising sea levels: A number of animals are shrinking in physical size in response to warming. “I don’t think that organisms will shrink to the degree that you’ll walk outside and see that trees are suddenly half the size that they used to be,” said Jennifer Sheridan, a conservation biologist at the University of Alabama and a coauthor of a paper describing the phenomenon in the journal Nature Climate Change. But the shrinking among species in general is noticeable, Sheridan said, at least to scientists studying them. And in the long run, she suggested, changes in species sizes could have major implications for crop production and the availability of protein sources like fish. Judging from the fossil record, creatures like beetles, spiders, and pocket gophers shrank during periods of warming in the past, the researchers wrote. Scientists are increasingly relying on fossils to predict what the planet might anticipate over the next century. Although climate change is now unfolding at a much faster rate than in past periods of warming, the researchers said, the basic message is the same: Warmer temperatures equals smaller animals. Source: An article by Rachel Nuwer for the New York Times

global warming climate change species jennifer sheridan fossils

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Could China warm to a binding climate agreement?

11 Dec 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

On this Gaudete Sunday the prophet Isaiah rejoices heartily in the Lord, the psalmist rejoices in God, and Saint Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “rejoice always.” A glimmer of good news may be visible on the global warming horizon this week when two of China’s top climate officials suggested the country might be open to a new, enforceable global warming agreement by 2020--if certain conditions are met. The latest two-week round of United Nations-sponsored climate talks got underway Monday in Durban, South Africa. But whether substantial progress will be made is an open question because China’s conditions for signing are not sitting well with the United States. And tempers flared Wednesday over the glacial pace of progress thus far, with the European Union (E.U.) berating the U.S. and China for blocking the way forward. "What is really frustrating is to see for the third time . . . that this U.N. conference is hijacked by the ping-pong game between the U.S. and China," said Jo Leinen, a leading environmental expert in the European Parliament. The E.U. will not commit to a second climate treaty after the Kyoto Protocol signed in 1997 expires next year unless the world's two largest pollution emitters get on board. The U.S. never ratified the first Kyoto agreement, and China was exempted as an emerging economy. Todd D. Stern, the American climate-change envoy, said that the U.S. would be happy to discuss a formal treaty and then spelled out his conditions, which also were not new and appeared to rule out any sort of deal such as that envisioned by China. For a legally binding agreement to take hold, “it’s going to be absolutely critical that it applies to all the major players, and China obviously is one of them,” Stern said. “All the major players are going to have to be in with obligations, with commitments that have the same legal force,” he added. “And that means there’s no conditionality, they’re not conditional on receiving technology or financing, there’s no trap doors, there’s no Swiss cheese in that kind of an agreement.” Whether or not nations make much progress in these talks, some young Christians are bringing their passion for change to the conference, eager to learn how to spread the message that God's creation needs better care. About 28 youths from church and faith-based organizations on six continents are taking "Youth For Eco-Justice" training during the conference. Sources: Articles by Pat Reber for the Miami Herald, EcumenicalNews International, and John M. Broder for the New York Times

china united nations united states climate change european union kyoto protocol jo leinen todd d stern youth for eco-justice

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Skeptic warms to evidence of climate change

05 Aug 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?” the skeptical crowds ask Jesus in this Sunday’s gospel. One of global warming’s most prominent skeptics has become a believer after a closer look at the signs of climate change. Global warming is real, and greenhouse-gas emissions from human activity are the main cause, said Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, who called his new stance “a total turnaround.”The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of other climatologists around the world came to such conclusions years ago, but the difference now is the source: Muller is a long-standing, colorful critic of prevailing climate science, and the Berkeley project that led to his change of heart was heavily funded by the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, which has a considerable history of backing groups that deny climate change.Some leading climate scientists said Muller’s comments show that the science is so strong that even those inclined to reject it cannot once they examine it carefully. Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, said Muller’s conversion might help shape the thinking of the “reasonable middle” of the population “who are genuinely confused and have been honestly taken in” by attacks on climate science. Source: An article by Neela Banerjee and Andrew C. Revkin for the New York Times

global warming climate change michael e mann charles koch charitable foundation richard a muller

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Even Venice can flood

18 Nov 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Both the gospel and the first reading this Sunday speak of a time of tribulation when people will be forced to move. Fast-rising waters forced hundreds to flee their homes in Venice, Italy Monday as nearly three quarters of the fabled city was inundated by near-record levels of floodwater that filled shops, homes, and historic palaces.Elevated water in Venice reached nearly 5 feet, one of the highest stages since records began in 1872, forcing residents to wade through waist-deep water. Tourists in bathing suits sat at cafe tables under the water. There was no immediate estimate of damage to the city.In Tuscany, 9 inches of rain fell in four hours, causing several rivers to flood, according to the regional government. “It has been devastating,” said Roberto Pucci, the mayor of Massa Carrara in Tuscany, one of the worst-hit areas. “I saw at least six bridges destroyed in the hills, floods, landslides, vineyards, and olive groves swept away. If there hasn't been a death it's a miracle,” he said.Local media said dozens of people took refuge on their roofs after rivers burst their banks in central Italy. It was the fourth time since 2000 that Venice had been hit by record-high water, and the city's environment officer said the latest flooding was the result of global climate change. A barrier to protect the city from repeated winter flooding, which has been planned for decades, is due to be finished by 2015.By Wednesday the situation in Venice was improving, but several bridges and roads in Rome had to be closed as the swollen Tiber river rushed through the capital and flooded outlying regions.Homily hint: The power of nature unleashed, which the East Coast of the U.S. may feel one week and Italy the next, reminds us of our vulnerability to even the smallest changes in climatic conditions. A few degrees of warming can give a storm greater power, melt a glacier, kill a magnificent coral reef. We honor our Creator by living in harmony with the rest of creation. Sources: Articles by Steve Scherer, Naomi O’Leary, and Philip Pullella for Reuters

global warming flooding climate change venice tuscany

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Climate change bugs crops

08 Sep 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist’s prayer this Sunday, “Prosper the work of our hands for us!" is also the plea of many a farmer each year. But climate change, apparently, is getting in the way. A new study suggests it is helping pests and diseases that attack crops to spread around the world.Researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Oxford have found crop pests are moving at an average of two miles a year. They were heading towards the north and south poles, the team said, and were getting established in areas that were once too cold for them to live in. All signs point to global warming as the culprit, said the researchers.Currently it is estimated that between 10 percent and 16 percent of the world's crops are lost to disease outbreaks. The researchers warn that rising global temperatures could make the problem worse.Said Dr. Dan Bebber, the lead author of the study from the University of Exeter: "Global food security is one of the major challenges we are going to face over the next few decades. We really don't want to be losing any more of our crops than is absolutely necessary to pests and pathogens."Homily hint: Food security—knowing where the next meal is coming from—is something most of us in developed countries take for granted. Not so for much of the world’s population. By supporting moves to slow global warming we can contribute to the development of a safer, more stable food supply so that one day all can eat securely. Source: An article by Rebecca Morelle for BBC World Service

global warming climate change crops university of oxford pests dan bebber university of exeter food security

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Could "polar vortex" be flowing from global warming?

12 Jan 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The heavens opened in this Sunday's gospel story of the baptism of Jesus. This week the Arctic heavens opened when a weather phenomenon known as a polar vortex brought record low temperatures to a large portion of the United States. Ironically, some researchers say, the vortex could show how global warming is changing climate dynamics in the Arctic.A buildup of Arctic air, its chill deepened by 24 hours of darkness during winter, breached its meteorological "fence" to pour deep into North America. Such outbreaks often involve tendrils of cold air which can leak through the fence. This event, however, saw a large expanse of chilled air carved from an initial mass of cold air that can range from 600 to 1,200 miles across.Paradoxically the event may be a harbinger of winter outbreaks to come in the northern hemisphere as Earth's climate warms, some experts say—a result of shrinking Arctic Ocean summer sea ice and the projected changes in wind and snowfall patterns triggered by the ocean's warmth and moisture.It's been dubbed the warm-Arctic, cold-continent effect—one that doesn't show up well in seasonal forecast models but does appear in the real world, said Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a weather-risk management company based in Lexington, Mass.The change has been most obvious in the long-term decline of Arctic summer sea ice during the past 30 years. As the summer ice thins and shrinks in expanse, more ocean is exposed to longer hours of sunlight and absorbs heat that otherwise would have been reflected back to space.Homily hint: While it may be difficult to think about a warming climate when you're experiencing extreme cold, the possible connection between the frigid weather and rising global temperatures illustrates the complexity of the problem of the degradation of the envirnoment and its effects on creation and should encourage all of us to educate ourselves on the issue and take appropriate steps. Source: An article by Pete Spotts for the Christian Science Monitor

cold global warming climate change polar vortex arctic

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Prospects warm for worldwide climate accord

16 Nov 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s psalm extols the blessings that may come to a couple with a close relationship with the Lord, such as children gathered “like olive plants around your table.” Those worried about climate change, who have for a generation urged industrial nations to think of the environmental damage we are leaving to our children, had reason to cheer this week as President Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping publicly committed to substantial cuts in their nations’ carbon emissions.The agreement has given a fresh jolt of optimism to negotiations aimed at reaching a new international climate treaty next year in Paris, where the American and Chinese targets are expected to be the heart of the deal. “For the world’s biggest emitters to be coming together and announcing concrete numbers, serious numbers, sends a signal to the world,” said David B. Sandalow, who was Obama’s assistant secretary of energy for policy and international affairs until May 2013.Nearly two decades ago, the world’s first climate change treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, failed to stop the rise of planet-warming carbon pollution in large part because of a standoff between China and the United States, which never signed the deal. For the world's two largest economies--and largest emitters of greenhouse gas--to announce a sustained commitment to reducing carbon emissions by almost a third by the year 2030 is a watershed moment for climate politics.Homily hint: Perhaps you’ve heard the shorthand NIMBY applied to dangerous or unsightly structures and projects—Not In My Backyard. Policies toward pollution for decades reflected this attitude—until we began to realize that the planet is everyone’s backyard—and our children are playing in it. Let’s make sure that when they grow up and have children of their own, they still have a yard to play in. Source: Articles by Coral Davenport for The New York Times and David Holmes for CNN

environmental policy pollution climate change environmental degradation

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Americans prefer change in climate to change in lifestyle

30 Nov 2014 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Look down from heaven,” the psalmist implores of the Lord this Sunday, “take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted.” Seems most Americans have priorities greater than protecting the planet from the damaging impact of climate change. A new study suggests a majority would rather adjust their routines to extreme weather than adjust their lifestyles to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.The new study explores the relative influence that extreme events, a person's spot on the political and ideological spectrum, as well as gender, age, education, and perceptions about the existence and causes of global warming have on their views on the subject.Some scientists, policymakers, and activists "have this belief that as more and more Americans experience climate change, their opinions will change. That's a fairly strong belief," says Aaron McCright, a sociologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing and the lead author of the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Nature Climate Change.But the study indicates that "this is not as reasonable an assumption as we think. We'd have to see stronger extremes hitting you over and over again to see people's views change."People have relatively little trouble acknowledging that extreme events are occurring when their perceptions are compared with weather data on these events—whether it's the prolonged, severe drought in California, up to seven feet of snow burying communities near Buffalo, or in the study's case, an unusually warm winter in 2012.But when it comes to blaming climate change, the strongest predictors of a person's response are their existing views on global warming, the level of scientific agreement they perceive on the issue, and their party identification, the study found. What was actually going on around them had virtually no influence on people's response when asked about global warming.At the same time, the recognition across ideologies that an extreme event has occurred or is under way means "there's hope for adaptation," McCright adds. "At a bare minimum, for adaptation you need people to accurately perceive what's happening around them. If they do, you can give them tools to adapt" to the changes.Homily hint: Perhaps you’ve heard that if you drop a frog in boiling water it will jump out but if you drop in cool water and slowly warm it up, the frog will not notice until it is too late. Are we going to make the same mistake? Let’s jump to it now and curb greenhouse gases before the pot boils over. Source: An article by Pete Spots for The Christian Science Monitor

global warming climate change

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Pope warms to climate control

21 Jun 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation,” this Sunday’s second reading attests. It’s time for us humans to make some changes and take better care of creation, Pope Francis argues in his encyclical on climate change, an unauthorized copy of which was released early this week. Francis calls for changes in lifestyles and energy consumption to avert the "unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem" before the end of this century and for a new global political authority tasked with "tackling … the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions." Homily hint: It is encouraging to see church leaders treating climate change as a religious and moral issue, which it surely is. For centuries industry has consumed the resources of the world with little understanding of the consequences. Now that science has demonstrated the incredible interdependency and sensitivity of our ecosystem, we have a moral obligation to act. Read up on the message of this important papal statement on global responsibility. For more on Pope Francis’ climate change encyclical, see: Pope Francis' Climate Change Encyclical Just Leaked. Here's What It Says; Pope’s Views on Climate Change Add Pressure to Catholic Candidates

Pope Francis climate change

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U.S. and Brazil warm to climate controls

05 Jul 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist is sent to bring “glad tidings to the poor,” we hear this Sunday. A week after Pope Francis highlighted global warming’s impact on the poor, the U.S. and Brazil, two of the world’s largest economies, are pledging to work together to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change Homily hint: Pope Francis emphasized the impact of global warming on the most vulnerable among us. We do well to evaluate all public policies in light of their impact on the weakest, poorest, and most vulnerable, who always suffer first and longest. For more on climate change plans, see: US-Brazil Climate-Change Plan: More Renewables, Less Deforestation

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