Global Warming Train Readies for Departure
- Jun 3, 2008 - 2
The global warming debate is now center stage in Washington. After months of preparation by both sides, the debate on a massive bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions in hopes of controlling global temperatures is officially underway in the Senate. Fortunately, the political climate will not allow this battle to be easily won.
Opponents of the bill are eager for the fight, armed with plenty of ammunition to shoot down arguments fired their way. The unsettled science on human contribution to global warming and the adverse effects the policy would have on the economy and the poor are the underpinnings of why this bill should be rejected.
Richard Land, president of the ERLC, is urging concerned Christians to help to stop the legislation, citing “hype” and “good intentions” as the engines driving it toward “devastating consequences.”
“Alarmists are calling all senators to board their global warming train this week in Washington to avoid what they consider to be a looming climate catastrophe, despite warnings that it could wreck our economy, destroy jobs, and harm the poor,” he stated yesterday in an action alert.
The latest version of the bill, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 3036), includes a slew of amendments offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). But no number of amendments could make this bill worth salvaging.
It would still impose a cap-and-trade system mandating that the heart of our economy—electrical, industrial, and transportation sectors—cut emissions annually, scaling back to 2005 levels by 2012 and up to 70 percent below 2005 levels by 2050.
Further, the bill assumes energy sectors can readily adopt new technologies that will enable them to significantly reduce emissions. Indeed, industries should pursue alternative energies, particularly to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, but federal policy can not coerce research and development to roll out yet-to-be-discovered technology.
The bill would produce significant blows to the economy, noted Land, including residential electricity prices rising 40 percent in 2020 and the outsourcing of 1.8 million jobs that year and another 4 million in 2050 to nations not bound by emissions standards.
Most significant, wrote Land, is the effect on the poor both here and abroad who “would suffer the most as the rising costs of all goods make mere subsistence increasingly burdensome and millions of people in underdeveloped regions of the world would find it even more difficult to have the cheap and abundant energy they need to escape their desperate circumstances.”
A recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research demonstrates that Southern Baptist pastors have not warmed to the issue. When asked whether “the Southern Baptist Convention has been too timid in its resolutions on climate change,” 65 percent disagreed, with 39 percent of that subset strongly disagreeing. Just 17 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed.
Additionally, 86 percent of SBC pastors “believe that the media has overstated the threat of global warming,” and 75 percent disagreed with the idea that “the government should take significant action to reduce carbon emissions to combat global warming, even if the action causes serious, negative economic impact on average Americans’ living standards.”
The White House issued a statement yesterday noting President Bush would veto the Lieberman-Warner bill should it reach his desk.
But the clash over climate is destined to continue. Both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who is on the cusp of locking up the nomination for the Democratic Party, favor a federal mandate to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Now is the time to move those who support the bill or are on the fence. As the debate rages, it could prove more and more difficult for senators to hear the voice of reason amid the chorus calling them to rush headlong toward emissions policies that would have devastating consequences.
To express your concern on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, please click here.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is involved in representing Southern Baptists on issues such as creation care and environmental stewardship. If you would like to help us continue our efforts, please click here.
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comments
1 On Jun 3rd, 2008, at 2:32pm, Matthew Gregory wrote:
I think it is interesting how the ERLC is now concerned with political issues such as helping the poor when all of a sudden it benefits the ideologies of the Religious Right.
In other articles (abortion) on this website Richard Land seems to put priorities on children that we can’t directly help over those who need our help now (those in poverty). It is a shame for this site to exploit the “needs” of the poor by trying to vote down a seemingly increasing threat to our earth. Why can’t you be consistent?
A shame.
2 On Jun 5th, 2008, at 12:52pm, Dorothy Kettle wrote:
I know this is going to sound silly to many, but do we really think we can control what happens to the atmosphere? I understand intelligent conservation, those things that increase the usefulness of soil and water, controlling undergrowth to prevent forest fires, etc. However, the idea of controlling the world’s air and temperature is a bit lofty. e.g., Clear cutting conservation of forests was stopped by ‘tree huggers,’ and look at all the forest fires that have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of forests in the past few years following that legislation.
At some point we need to just leave it up the God, and use some common sense. All this legislation is like trying to lasso a tornado!