Monday October 7th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
When Science And Faith Intersect… A New Moral Imperative To Save The Amazon
I and many others are now convinced that humanity won’t be saved from environmental ills by just presenting facts and statistics via science alone. As a species we are highly religious, basing a lot of how we morally act and meld as societies on faith. Too, faith alone can’t give people clear direction, or not in a direction that progressively evolves our species. I am one of those rare birds that believes that the Creator slowly, in fits and starts through science, gives us direction, but only when we as a species are ready to handle new knowledge.
That being stated a few weeks ago when news broke of massive wildfires in the Amazon, and science showed us how bad the situation was through satellites, something was missing to shame Bolsanaro’s Brazilian government into action. Perhaps the key missing ingredient to stop the conflagrations and those of the future would be some moral imperative. Since Brazil and most of South America is primarily Catholic, what better moment than to have Pope Francis, who of course is originally from Argentina, to strongly denounce practices that essentially harm part of the planet’s lungs, and to meet with local leaders.
Once again, one man of faith can help all of us to go in a new direction in which science has given us clear markers, roadway lights and warning signs.
Over the weekend while many of us in the U.S. South were recovering from a blistering and strange heat wave brought about by more carbon pollution, the Pope did indeed call for a very important meeting on the Amazon. Here is a report from Inside Climate News:
As Amazon Fires Burn, Pope Convenes Meeting on the Rainforests and Moral Obligation to Protect Them
Two of the most powerful forces in Brazil, the president and the pope, are pulling in opposite directions on an issue critical to climate change.
By Georgina Gustin
Oct 6, 2019
Quoting Inside Climate News:
“The three-week Synod presents an opportunity for the pope to listen to representatives of the nine countries in the Amazon region who will inform his thinking and church teaching, and it has drawn the ire of the Brazilian government, which has essentially told the Vatican and worried countries to stay out of its affairs.
We will see what, if any, effect the Synod has, but to any of my agnostic friends, at least their is more weight to solving the problem than what science alone tells us. Let us all pray.
Here is more climate and weather news from Monday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article.)
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Guy Walton- “The Climate Guy”