A slowdown in the world economy may give the planet a breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on Tuesday.
Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who has in the past floated the possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to cool the earth, said clouds gathering over the world economy could ease the earth’s environmental burden.
Slower economic growth worldwide could help slow growth of carbon dioxide emissions and trigger more careful use of energy resources, though the global economic turmoil may also divert focus from efforts to counter climate change, said Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the depletion of the ozone layer.
[i]Slower economic growth worldwide could help slow growth of carbon dioxide emissions and trigger more careful use of energy resources,[/i]
Oh joy. And meantime, who cares that the global economic / food crisis means that malnutrition is rising sharply in places like the African city where I work?
Malnutrition as measured by wasting (moderate to severely low weight in relation to a child’s height) is up 33% here in 2 years.
Prices of basic staples such as rice, vegetable oil have risen over 40% in 10 months.
I can’t rejoice in reduced carbon emissions when my friends and neighbors can’t feed their families… and this situation is likely to only get worse in the light of the current financial crisis as nations and individuals cut their foreign aid and giving to charity.
Response to Karen B .’s (#1.) concerns.
NOW is the time for Christians to ‘live their Faith’ by giving to those who are much ‘worse off’ than they are.
This means giving to the truly needy who are in dire straits both at home and in the Third World.
Waiting for governments to provide aid is not a Christian act, directly giving from one’s own personal resources is a true act of charity. Particularly if one doesn’t have that much to give.
Remember the parable of the widow and the penny?
Governments have no hearts or souls, only individual persons have hearts and souls, and therefore government giving to the needy always falls far short of true Christian giving that comes from the hearts and souls of followers of Jesus Christ.
And often, Government intervention just makes the problems worse, especially for those on the low end of the economic spectrum. Which is what ‘climate change’ initiatives will do.
Wow, there’s an incredibly cruel silver lining.
Yes, Mr. Jones, your house is engulfed in flames, but just think of the opportunity you now have to roast all kinds of marshmallows.
isn’t there some initiative to teach them sustainable farming practice that won’t destroy their wildlife populations? seems like i read that somewhere awhile ago. that to me, really seems like the best solution instead of relying on a small segment of nations to feed the world. what about that ‘heifer international’ org? i don’t really keep up with what is going on there, but what i watch on telly or hear on the radio, seems to indicate that they cannot cooperate together on anything and like to wage genocide on each other. i am sorry about it and would like to help, but after all that money raised from live aid, it seems that money is not the answer to the problems.
Isn’t the current economic crisis [i]caused[/i] by global warming? Everything else is.
magnolia,
There have been and are many ministries and secular organizations that teach sustainable farming method to those in ‘developing’ nations. And these have been around far longer than the media hysteria on ‘climate change’. Hopefully, they will be around olong after the hysteria is forgotten, as previous phases have passed on since the 1880’s!
Square foot gardening; hydroponics; solar light for Africa; heiffer project; Oxfam; and many others are making tremendous inroads in this area. Support them, and encourage your church to support them as well.
The problem arises in areas where dictatorships and tribal factions rule and ruin a country. In those cases outside ‘interference’ is considered a criminal act, and the people suffer and starve. Pray for them.
In His Peace
Jim E. <><