It was a simple experiment, but one which presaged our modern understanding of climate change. Educated in biology and chemistry, in 1856 Eunice Foote put thermometers into two glass containers, one willed with air, he other with carbon dioxide and then placed them in the sun. The carbon dioxide cylinder heated more quickly and when measured against the cylinder with air, it was clear that carbon dioxide was the winner, hands down.
A few years later Irish scientist John Tyndale stated “every variation” would have an effect on the climate. And in 1901 Swedish meteorologist Nils Ekholm commented that the practice of coal pit burning would cause a rise in the mean temperature of the earth. The 1965 Report on Environmental Quality warned of rising temperatures as a result of burning fossil fuels.
Not to be outdone by the fires burning in the American West, massive first are spreading in Siberia --the place full of ice and snow, but no longer. Politely put, if the politicians don’t get moving, there will be nothing left to move.
Prayer for the Day
Awakening to a day full of possibilities, O God,
We pause but for a moment to consider your creation;
Wondering what this time in our lives holds for us,
We search for you, O God, for we fear the uncertainty about us.
Ground us in the faith of your certainty, O God,
And open a way for us to envision a future of hope.
In the name of him who is our future,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Christ wears two shoes in the world: Scripture and nature. Both are necessary to understand the Lord, and at no stage can creation be seen as a separation of things from God.
Duns Scotus Eriugena, Irish theologian (815-877)
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Joy Harjo, Muscogee (Creek) poet, "Remember"
Let me exalt you, my God the king, and let me bless your name forevermore;
Every day let me bless you and let me praise your name forevermore.
Great is the Lord and highly praised, and God’s greatness cannot be fathomed,
Let one generation to the next extol your deeds, and tell of your mighty acts.
Psalm 145: 1-4