Category Archives: Global Climate Change

Warming Rates Significant Since First Earth Day

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In an article on warming rates in the US it becomes clear that there is CLIMATE change and all that is a micro-picture to what is happening on a GLOBAL scale.

WindowView Press is really geared to the data and evidence that describe change and how that plays into a “Science and Scripture in Harmony.”  As unlikely as that harmony may be at first look … the material world is experiencing change that is forcing us to take a spiritual look at who we are … how we treat one another … and the chance or purpose to being alive.  We think the window begs us to examine purpose … and if so … then to look at how we live life.  In so doing, we might think of stewardship and environment … and as such we see climate change as a product of how we live on our planet.

From the article cited above …

“In commemoration of Earth Day, 2013, Climate Central has created an interactive graphic that shows a state-by-state analysis of temperature trends since the first Earth Day took place in 1970. That occasion marked a significant change in America’s environmental consciousness, and led to the creation of, among other things, the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.”

Take a look at the graphic and if you click on a state … you’ll see evidence for temperature rise in many highly populated areas of the US.

Again, the evidence is telling us something … and if the material world is changing all around us … might this say something about humanity’s future.  And remember, temperature is only a single change in a HUGE matrix of changes across the globe … which is something we address in the Change Area at WindowView.

Director, WindowView.org

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The NEW FOOD World … Changes in the Background

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At WindowView we are not stating opposition when we relay information such as appears below. Fact is, biotech crops are on the rise.  Simple point, but food for thought … and we are here to provoke a look.  So, no one here is going to say biotech is bad … although we know there are individuals and groups who are desperately fearful of what Genetically Modified crops may bring to the future of our planet. We respect the cautionary note provided by those who have a focus with diverse perspectives. They too are looking and thinking.

All the above said, what we want you to recognize is that agriculture and food production is in fact experiencing change … on a massive scale. The world you live in is filled with driving forces we turn a blind eye to each day. Do you really want to fill each day with fears over global economic turmoil that threatens the world … even if there may be a global collapse in monetary markets. Ask folks in Cyprus about their bank accounts! Or do you really embrace the true magnitude of the number of abortions that occur each day, each year, or each decade? Probably not, unless you watch a bunch of these first hand, but a shift in how food is supplied to the entire world is no less significant … what will you put on the dinner table tonight … and how this poses a challenge to human life should farmers and biotech firms  totally recharacterize food production … with as yet unrealized benefits or consequences … frankly, it’s uncharted territory.

We recently ran across a report of the recent TOP TEN facts about biotech crops … and we think you might look at the top five and think about the NEW world food supply … You should at least realize that changes ARE happening … in spite of the daily routine you have … this too is the reality of the world you live in!

FACT # 1. 2012 was the 17th year of successful commercialization of biotech crops. Biotech crops were first commercialized in 1996. Hectarage of biotech crops increased every single year between 1996 to 2012 with 12 years of double digit growth rates, reflecting the confidence and trust of millions of risk-averse farmers around the world, in both developing and industrial countries.

FACT # 2. Biotech crop hectares increased by an unprecedented 100–fold from 1.7 million hectares in 1996, to over 170 million hectares in 2012. This makes biotech crops the fastest adopted crop technology in recent times – the reason – they deliver benefits. In 2012, hectarage of biotech crops grew at an annual growth rate of 6%, up 10.3 million from 160 million hectares in 2011. Millions of farmers in ~30 countries worldwide, have made more than 100 million independent decisions to plant an accumulated hectarage of ~1.5 billion hectares, equivalent to 50% more than the total land mass of the US or China; this reflects the fact that biotech crops deliver sustainable and substantial, socioeconomic and environmental benefits.

FACT # 3. For the first time in 2012, developing countries planted more hectares than industrial countries. Notably, developing countries grew more, 52%, of global biotech crops in 2012 than industrial countries at 48%. In 2012, growth rate for biotech crops was at least three times as fast, and five times as large in developing countries, at 11% or 8.7 million hectares, versus 3% or 1.6 million hectares in industrial countries.

FACT # 4. Number of countries growing biotech crops. Of the 28 countries which planted biotech crops in 2012, 20 were developing and 8 were industrial countries; two new countries, Sudan (Bt cotton) and Cuba (Bt maize) planted biotech crops for the first time in 2012. Germany and Sweden
could not plant the biotech potato “Amflora” because it ceased to be marketed. Stacked traits are an important feature – 13 countries planted biotech crops with two or more traits in 2012, and notably, 10 of the 13 were developing countries – 43.7 million hectares, or more than a quarter, of the 170 million hectares were stacked in 2012.

FACT # 5. Number of farmers growing biotech crops. In 2012, a record 17.3 million farmers, up 0.6 million from 2011, grew biotech crops – remarkably over 90%, or over 15 million, were small resource-poor farmers in developing countries. Farmers are the masters of risk-aversion and in 2012, a record 7.2 million small farmers in China and another 7.2 million in India, elected to plant almost 15 million hectares of Bt cotton, because of the significant benefits it offers. In 2012 over one-third of a million small farmers in the Philippines benefited from biotech maize.

There are five more to the top ten … maybe we’ll post those soon. But think about the first five for now.

If life is merely a material experience, then any concerns over food supply are magnified as long as you have material life. If life is material and spiritual, then the biblical dimension comes into play. And the biblical information tells us food at some point comes in very short supply … and maybe to no fault of biotech.

The real question is … with all the change we see in our world … what kind of life is it?

Director, WindowView.org

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A Window Perspective on Species and Asteroids

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One goal we have … as we sit at the window … is to think about concepts that span science and Scripture. To pull together what often appears as two distinctly different spheres of thought may seem abstract at first. Or actually lacking relevance if you don’t feel comfortable with one of the two!

Still, think about the news headlines from science that appear below. The first opens the door to what only Hollywood could have imagined … until now. To bring back lost species also, almost, harkens to stewardship and the biblical mandate to be stewards over all life on the earth. Might the resurrection of past species be biological redemption? Read the news clip and we’ll give this more attention at the end of this blog post.

A second thought comes to mind as the topic of near misses by asteroids comes to our attention. Might our ability to detect these passing asteroids bring to mind something of scriptural importance. This idea is consistent with the notion that all of science information really subtends and dovetails with scriptural information. Why? The answer is simply: All information exists to our attention. If there is a spiritual realm and God, then all the information serves to inform us of what is an ultimately coherent experience … even when at first we don’t see connections. But that is why it’s worth sitting at this window to look, think and understand.

Read the clip on asteroids and we’ll give some added perspective … something with a twist … at the end of this post.

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HEADLINE: Should we restock extinct species?

Researchers are looking at ways to use ancient DNA to resurrect long-extinct species. Species such as the Tasmanian tiger and the passenger pigeon may be good candidates for “de-extinction.” In particular, scientists are exploring three possibilities: cloning, “reverse engineering” using the extinct species’ closest living relative, and “breeding back” using strategic mating to bring back characteristics of the extinct animal. National Geographic News (3/10)

HEADLINE: Round of passing asteroids reminds scientists that we’re not alone

A 460-foot-long asteroid, discovered a week ago, passed the Earth this weekend at a distance of about 600,000 miles, scientists say. Asteroid 2013 ET was about eight times larger than the one that exploded over Russia in February and was among a few space rocks to pass by this weekend. Astronomers warn that many others will likely follow suit. “We’re not sitting here on our pale, blue dot on our own in nice safety. … This should be a wakeup call to governments,” said Paul Cox, a telescope engineer. Reuters (3/9)     
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Instead of stewardship, the first thought might be that resurrected species may only help to prove creation as opposed to (macro-) evolution. Recent discoveries in epigenetics and the role of junk DNA may come to assist our understanding that “switches” (turning genes on and off) outside of structural genes make a species what it is. If ancient DNA fails to bring back the exact species gone extinct, we may learn further that appearance of species is not so mechanical as evolutionary theory often suggests. The way switches are set in motion may pose an extra-material dimension to the otherwise material biological perspective. Even worse, the habitat, the niche or place in the ecosystem that previously allowed an extinct species a place to live is gone … will remind us how much global changes and human impacts have altered the earth for all life—present and past!

Regarding asteroids, those of us who have studied Scripture know of biblical passages that refer to what seem references to material bodies hurled to the surface of the earth. Such events are part of prophecy and a defined sequence of events. While the topic of an asteroid disaster of biblical proportions seems good stuff for a Hollywood script, the window view thought is one of looking to the future. If divine influence directs an asteroid or meteor to strike the earth with impeccable timing … it will be biblical and not just chance timing. The idea of such a strike is simply greater due to recent heightened awareness from the scientific community. Until that biblical timing … so many space rocks have simply missed us!

Might our thoughts at the window help to unify a view that is inclusive of science and Scripture … possibly so. The point of this post however is as simple as saying that there is no need to be sensational … the reality of life just falls within both realms—sufficient to cover a span from science to Scripture. And if you hadn’t pulled ideas and facts together in such a way … the window is a place to think, consider, and even decide what you see has an eternal aspect beyond this material moment.

Broaden your horizon, throw back the shutters, take in the full view and look to the future … today and over the time horizon ahead.

Director, WindowView.org

“Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” (Revelation 8:10 NKJV)

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A Coral Group Sings Change Tune

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Sadly, a swim along the shore of a tropical island … these days … brings us to an encounter with change in the form of vanishing coral reefs.

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St. Croix and all the islands of the Caribbean suffer the same plight. Water temperatures, chemistry, and perhaps other factors now lay waste once fertile reefs. Some evidence of the occasional brain coral or fan still populated the more vanquished areas. In some areas vast under water fields of Elk horn coral lay bleached and lifeless.

There are on our planet select areas that support dense living coral, but even the Great Barrier Reef in Australia now is undergoing dramatic change.

The Bible states we are to be stewards. Elsewhere it refers to the earth wearing out like an old coat. And regardless of whether change is directly due to human activity, or other factor, is less relevant when we take a sobering look at the fact that three decades ago, yes THREE, the corals were all relatively healthy … all over the planet. Change comes quicker than we want to acknowledge.

What is the value to coral life, or any life for that matter? How integrated is coral to the greater scheme of all life on earth? … so as a Ph.D. Biologist I’ll just chime in and say it is all so integrated as to be on purpose. To visibly see one part fade brings the thought that earth’s life support is fading.

While not wanting to sound dour, reality speaks through visual data. Follow the evidence … where does it lead us? One thing about WindowView is we say: “Look, Think, and Discern!” Discern based on your window observations! Snorkel the shoreline and LOOK for yourself. We did … today.

There are signs that some corals are resistant to factors that bleach and kill all others. But would the resistant ones bring back the larger reefs? Not soon perhaps.

The coral today sing a tune that grows softer … to nearly a whisper. To this we say: “Take some time to think about life and its importance!” Are you here by chance or purpose? And if on purpose … how will you respond? Remember, WindowView is about looking … but it’s your window through which you see the evidence for life, relationships, and purpose that really matters the most. Might this be the bigger view where there is a Science and Scripture Harmony … Welcome to WindowView!

Director, WindowView.org

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Global Conditions to Messiah’s Return

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WHEN WILL MESSIAH COME?

In “Fiddler on the Roof” Tevye takes a moment to look to the heavens and asks G_d, “Wouldn’t this be a good time for Messiah to come?!”

We look around the world, with Bibles in hand and say … things are looking bleak and conditions just have that feeling of “we are heading to the end of the age” … in other words, the time the Bible speaks of when Messiah comes!

HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE IT?

In the June 15 issue of Science magazine, Dr. Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist from Brazil, comments on an upcoming conference on global conditions. He compares the Rio de Janeiro 2012 UN Summit meeting to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development also held in Rio de Janeiro. While the climate and global issues are similar, then and now, there are three key differences Dr. Nobre highlights in his editorial.

First: the obvious degree of interconnectedness among nations, which he notes “would have been unimaginable in 1992.”

“Today’s global society is linked culturally, socially , and economically. Highly interconnected systems can confer remarkable stability, but they are prone to abrupt change, as shown by the global financial crisis and recent food security issues.”

Second: the concept of the “Anthropocene” describes an era we now live in where human behavior is recognized as a key driver for change. This influence may have surpassed what our planet is able to bear, including significant loss of biodiversity .

Third: In the past 20 years is geopolitical change where emerging economies play a larger role than before. Examples here include the rapid growth and productivity in Brazil, China, and India.

WHAT KEY INGREDIENTS DO WE NEED for MESSIAH TO RETURN?

While all three points made by Dr. Nobre are all so very true, there is one more ingredient that has come in recent time. So, into the window we add a fourth factor!

Fourth: Global communications and the linkage of commerce make Messiah’s coming much more possible now, than ever before.

The fact that the entire world will be able to SEE events in Jerusalem is not only part of the prophesy that describes events wrapping up the age, but now this is possible in a big way through hand held devices including video and audio that streams wirelessly around the globe.

A study concerning the “two witnesses” described in the last book of the Messianic Writings (a.k.a. Revelation) provide the vital example of what the entire world will see … everyone will see these two and what happens to them. Everyone will know, see, understand with the help of streaming technologies. Twenty years ago, no one could have imagined what we have today.

Linkage in commerce also makes for a computerized system that ultimately opens the way to total control of sales and purchases of all goods.

The Bible’s description of a “mark of the beast” without which one could not buy or sell anything speaks to a global control … entirely possible via the Internet. In fact, hand held devices are quickly becoming electronic credit cards. The UPC symbol and scanner codes we see all around us become like a mark that is necessary for buying anything.

SO WHEN?

Our point is that we have arrived at a global state where the interconnectedness, like Dr. Nobre’s first point above, has advanced so swiftly that Messiah’s return can clearly be described as imminent, soon, at any moment now … the globe is wired wirelessly and ready.

Are you seeing what we see here? Are you ready?

For those who look at the big picture, all the perspectives in the Window’s View give a clue on what is coming our way.

Director, WindowView.org

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Political Stupidity AND Solar Smarts

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The other day we wondered what the total cost of the Iraq was was … and doing a Internet search led us to the total figure of $797 BILLION.

Next question: What might that money have accomplished aside from conducting a war effort.  If humans could generate more electricity to power homes and electric cars, might that help turn the US away from other energy dependencies.  Might it combat global change and even benefit the entire planet?

In hind sight, political leaders in Washington (present and former Presidents, current and past Congress persons, PACS, NGOs, the whole lot of the intellectual elite … all get a finger pointed at them here) can be blamed for following a really dumb strategy.  What does war accomplish in this case?  This is not a plea for peace and love, etc. This is a look at the window’s view!

Lets consider this a view to CORPORATE all inclusive blame. Actually, is anyone or everyone aware of what humans might have done?

Yep, hindsight is great stuff for sure … but we sit in the window and look out at the world and this is what we see.  There are approximately 69 million single family homes in the US.

QUESTION: If a typical basic solar installation for a home is $25,000, then how many homes might be covered if the US Government had offered a 50% subsidy ($12,500) to those homes adding solar to supplement power in the home and local power grid?

ANSWER: 63.7 MILLION homes could have added solar with the 12,500 dollar subsidy.  Okay, so not every home is a prime candidate for solar.  What if the Government gave a $25,000 subsidy to all homes that qualify for a full subsidy.  That halves the total installations to half the number of dwellings, but also remember these would be selected from the more efficient installation sites.  Total installation fees to cover 31.9 MILLION homes would mean power from the sun to create a more robust power grid and to help support a more broad electric car transportation base.

The added electric input from solar would also reduce dependence on coal, oil and gas … and even with current technology, less efficient solar collectors, the implications are still HUGE.

The real lesson to learn here is that the US and other countries around the world are short sighted on political and nationalistic conflicts and not making decisions for long term benefit … benefits to the country and addressing global change concerns that will certainly confront us for generations to come.

And what of Iraq?

Well, civil unrest in the Arab states recently taught us how the political leadership in Iraq would have been ousted over the same period we could have been installing solar collectors. And the real crime is … mounting debt, lost jobs, deferred clean energy, and avoidance of other benefits.  Is anyone paying attention?

The writer of this article is not particularly political, neither conservative nor liberal, not really Democrat nor Republican … but from an OBJECTIVE view looking at human choices we all can think of … that is the Window’s View!

What do you think?  Have you written a politician a note recently?  Well?

Invite them to the window!

Director, WindowView.org

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The State of the World Changes NOW

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This post is being put to both our ‘Press’ and ‘Harmony’ blogs because the topics that we have just posted to our WindowView time line speak of a convergence of events on both the scientific and Scripture sides of the window’s view.

WindowView

If you wish to visit the recent events of this year, go to the TimeLine  and scan down the page.

Take note, that in a true biblical fashion, we are seeing a turn of major events in a number of significant venues.  This is incredible pause for thought, yet it’s not some dire straights scenario, not yet anyway.  Yet, that’s the point that many are wondering about in the back of their minds.  Is it another depression coming over the surface of the entire globe, or does this fit something else equally significant.

Put it together in the following fashion, some events occur in the natural world (fire, drought, tsunami, earthquakes, weather events) that cause significant impact on the human psyche–globally, not just in one or two local areas.  Then there is the economic venue which is of human making and this is of proportions that could topple governments, stock markets, and retirement funds–employment and commerce are at risk.  A third factor is the unrest between nations.  Events around the globe can all spin down to a critical focus on the Middle East.  Unrest in the Middle East can undo a lot of progress or recovery elsewhere might that come along.

And we see signs of progress and ends to technical accomplishments as medicine finds solutions to disease and mean while a space program comes to a historic end.

The global signs are ‘Signs of the Times‘ as expressed in the Bible.  This all unfolds slowly, right before our eyes.  to the material minded, the physical well-being seems uneasy.  To the spiritually minded, the words of Scripture echo in the background.

One of the most popular areas of the WindowView is the Time Line.

Come for a look and think about what changes are altering the state of our world today!

Director, WindowView.org

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Where Have All The Predators Gone?

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This WindowView is a holistic look … that’s a ‘big picture’ view. This isn’t a Twighlight Zone treatment of reality. But if you stop to look at what both the science data and scriptural texts say, it may strike you as something odd is happening these days. Scientists are frightened by the prospects of our Earth’s life support systems are spinning off into an unbalanced state. Food webs and ecological relationships may be dynamic, but what if conditions go so off course that a recovery is marginal or even impossible. That, today, is a reality.

For the reader of Scripture there is a storyline where in a final segment of time, many things hit end time events that in themselves seem part of natural scenarios, including: famines, earthquakes, and events described as birth pangs (leading us out of this current era and into the next).

On Thursday, July 14, 2011, Darryl Fears published an article in the Washington Post concerning the loss of predators in the wild. The article starts with: “The decline of large predators such as big cats, wolves, sharks and giant whales may be “humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world,” causing prey animals to swell in population and throw food chains out of balance, a new report says. Humans have touched off the world’s latest mass extinction, according to the report, published Thursday in the journal Science, and the consequences are being felt on land and in water systems as large predators vanish.”

lion © 2011 windowview.org

WindowView contains a number of articles related to ‘warning signs’ and ‘storm warnings’ for the times we live in. Further, these buttress the notion that all the data and denial over climate change is just a tip of an iceberg of woes that go to global changes. Narrow-sighted minds focus just on climate, discerning people step back to see the awesome and monolithic effects of cumulative changes sweeping the globe. What if predators aren’t there in the wild to balance out the natural dynamic that has given us stable ecosystem relationships?

Fears states: “Recent research suggests that the disappearance of these animals reverberates further than previously anticipated,” says the report, “Trophic Downgrading of Planet Earth.” In addition to creating an overabundance of prey, the dwindling number of predators contributes to the spread of disease, wildfires and invasive species. The decline of wolves in Yellowstone Park is cited as an example of what can happen. Elk and deer in the park once flourished on willow trees and saplings, threatening a crucial part of the forest on which other creatures rely.”

“The report also mentions the slaughter of lions and leopards by hunters and herders in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of the killings, disease-carrying olive baboons have thrived without their top predators and inched closer to food crops and people.”

Changes are not merely limited to Earth’s land surface.

“The decimation of sharks along the U.S. Atlantic Coast has allowed their main prey, the cow-nosed ray, to proliferate and dine heavily on the threatened Chesapeake Bay oyster.”

And one impact brings other consequences … this is why change is a matrix of events and not simply one cause and one consequence … there are cascades of consequences we see today:

“A reduction of big herbivores such as buffalo and wildebeest in East Africa through hunting is also a problem, the report says. Their demise has led to increases in plants that fuel giant wildfires in the dry season.”

Our point here at WindowView is taking in the broader view and thus appreciating changes humans are seeing around the globe. The effects become integrated into significant consequences!

Fears’ article notes: “Other studies have examined the collateral damage caused by the near-extinction of large predators and herbivores. But the report in Science is the first to tie together the impact on land animals as well as salt and freshwater marine life, … .

Much of the science in this area of study has focused on the threat to life at the bottom of the food chain, theorizing that small animals and plants are important because so many creatures rely on their survival.

Although “bottom-up” research is fundamental and important, the report says, “top-down” research deserves wider consideration “if there is to be any real hope for understanding and managing the workings of nature.”

The report acknowledges that top-down research of the food chain is difficult to conduct, noting that it can take decades to measure the effects of the disappearance of large predators.

“The irony . . . is that we often cannot unequivocally see the effect of large apex consumers until after they have been lost” and the ability to restore the species has also been lost, the report says.

“Large predators, or apex species, include animals that people adore, such as otters, and others not so popular, such as vultures.

“On the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to the southern tip of California, sea otters were hunted in the 1900s to near-extinction for their pelts. Their absence started a chain of events that nearly eliminated the kelp forests that nurture all manner of marine life on the coast.

“Sea otters feed on sea urchins, which dine on kelp. Without otters, the sea urchin population exploded. The kelp forest started to disappear. When sea otter populations elsewhere were re-introduced to a few areas along the coast, the kelp started to rebound.

“A telling consequences of the absence of large predators can be found on the Scottish island of Rum, where wolves have been gone for more than 250 years and red deer thrive, the report says. The once forested island is now treeless.”

In an era of social, economic and national crises, the impacts and consequences in nature go on without close attention. A global response to natural systems would be needed and until humanity can corporately deal with global issues, Earth’s infrastructure is revealing consequences … indeed, what do we do when the predators are gone?

Director, WindowView

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An End on Planet Earth

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Many of our readers to this blog have come with a mind set on explaining our being as a result of something material. We are born out of a biological and physical explanation. On the surface, and by a lot of scientific thinking, that might explain it. But it doesn’t hold much water in the face of some other facts. While this blog space is reserved more for the science side of the Window’s View, let’s mix it up a minute.

Calling Out © 2011 WindowView.org

The End Approaches

Why? Because of some biblical reason? Inherent in each of us is some kind of awareness that life, being alive, just existing right in the present moment, goes beyond reason. Like why is this even happening? Why am I in this? It all might not have happened, but is!

So, science is great at explaining the stage of life, but it just doesn’t give us the philosophical or the theological. Science is one part in three. But what is happening now on the world stage, right now in front of our very eyes, is also not philosophical. Biblical maybe, beyond mere philosophy, and in the material space science describes well in so many ways.

GLOBAL WARNINGS

The stock markets crash and tumble, again, and again. They are saying it’s just another cycle in the economy and it’ll turn around. Economies are weak, fragile, teetering on a brink of collapse, globally, nation to nation. Is there stability and if not who caused instability? The famine on the news will go away with the next rainy season. Rain comes and it’s not enough, it’s too much, floods, famine returns later. The scale is unprecedented! Intense storms, earthquakes, sea level rise, are just physics in reality. But on the flip side, everything described thus far is a spring board for our entering the last stretch of road to what the scriptural texts recorded a long way back. That truth, in truth, is catching up with us. But can you see the validity to this? Ah, the blog post is here for this very question.

Signs We Ignore or Bring Awe

Here are a series of SPIKES that have come in time. Let’s think of these in a logical series. Only in relatively recent time have the ranks of humanity grown. Not slowly now put in a population spike of alarming proportions. This unchecked progression of stratospheric growth means a crash is inevitable in biological terms. The spike of upward human numbers is unsustainable. We live in the microbiologist’s petri dish and the resources within are limited. Earth is limited. Resources are being burnt at a rapid clip and climate changes stress the reserves quickly, by flood, heat, fire, storm, and more. Read about the Population spike here.

Consuming OUR WAY to an End Time

The interesting thing is we could make materialism a culprit and say we are consuming ourselves into oblivion. Material markets only measure success in greater growth and greeter consumption.

The Consumption Spike grows along side and along with the Population Spike. As we turn to smart technologies and recycling materials, it looks hopeful, but just remember, the sins of consumption past have left the entire northern Pacific Ocean a sea of shredded plastic particles afloat without anyone concerned for the clean up or consequences. (read about the desperate state of our global oceans at OCEANA.org!) Materialism and global consumption made the ocean a wasteland of debris! You don’t see it, but it’s a consequence and it IS out there!

Consumption Drives Extinction

Ah, yes, one more spike for Extinction of species. We have stripped the ocean of species to feed ourselves. Over 1 billion people depend on ocean species for food. The rest of the world will eat of the same resource and the demand has not only over-fished the desirable species but driven nets to catch the less desirable and so we strip the food web of the seas’ diversity. But worse, we have changed the atmosphere by carbon inputs from fossil fuels (Carbon Spike) and that means carbon dioxide enters the oceans waters … and that means the acidity of the bottom waters now creates another complex threat to sea life. Fishing from the surface, acidity from within, the oceans are shrinking and we are headed to the end of this age.

The Coming Horizon © 2011 WindowView.org

STORM WARNINGS

The WindowView includes a series of articles that relate to change. The real storm warning puts the physical realm on a footing with the spiritual awareness we have all been given deep from within our being. Read about this added sense of what is really happening from the mix of warning signs recognized a while back.

Then think about the headlines today. The markets are in ever greater turmoil today because the global scenario and multiple weaknesses are revealing how humanity has made its own mess, but can’t clear it up. We have boxed ourselves in by famines we cannot respond to, wars that keep on going, banking and mortgage sins that rob the honest investors, shortages and stockpile inventories putting our being at risk … and all of a sudden we wonder, how do we get out of this mess.

There is one added scenario that was recorded well over 2000 years ago that actually describes the historical track we are now on–today! We will call this Chapter 15 and if you are interested, we recommend a read. If you are perceptive enough you’ll see that the world is ripe for a single leader who will tell you that if you give him complete control he’ll make life on earth work well. But this story is a wolf in sheep’s clothing … read why in Chapter 15 (Download the PDF document to read at your leaser, while the world continues on its present hectic course of events).

Director, WindowView.org

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Climate for a Tribulation

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Blog posts have to say the conclusion up front or you’ll move on quickly.  The main point here is that too much has changed in recent decades that all of the troubles humanity faces are getting beyond our abilities and resources to effectively respond.  Here is an UPDATE and even a link to a report on change. [Read the full article on the WindowView page on Climate for a Tribulation]

The POINT IS a present material dilemma soon leads to revisiting a spiritual question.  What is life?  How do we respond to mounting global woes?  Is change leading us to some kind of tribulation period?

The following account is an update of sorts.  WindowView.org could include hundreds of articles and commentaries on climate change, but in reality, just a little information comes to some basic conclusions.  You can go everywhere else to read all the rest.

Our MAIN CONCLUSION is, in the face of global changes, not just climate change, we as a human race face the biggest dilemma on a spiritual scale.  How we respond to change and respond to humanity in a time of need and trial, that’s the point.  How you respond is sustainable, even if life on the planet loses its sustainability over time.  Our responses will encounter psychological stresses and a growing cry to fix it, do something, reverse the damage, make the planet a safe place for life.

————–  CHANGE UPDATED   —————-

There are numerous sources documenting humanity’s impressions on climate change–some scientific and others not so.  In fact, we paused on writing a lot about climate change due to the multitude of science sources and numerous doubts expressed by non-data driven counterpoint groups.  Why?  Simply because a key WindowView conclusion is that the most vital element to change is not in the OMINOUS consequences but instead it is HOW humans will respond.  Part of that response is to one another and ultimately relates to a spiritual reality beyond our physical condition. What we believe matters a great deal!

From the believer’s perspective, all things work together to God’s will and purposes.  In that context we need to accept what ever changes are at play, globally, and then consider the broader and deeper implications. The ultimate reality comes down to the interface between events and the dilemma of finding faith in the midst of chaos and emotional responses.  THIS IS the point we are highlighting here.

Belief is not an emotional response if also based on well grounded truth.  Let’s consider some information related to immediate episodes of change and think how the human condition is confused before grasping well founded faith.

The Australian Climate Commission just released their publication entitled: THE CRITICAL DECADE Climate science, risks and responses.  As we recall elsewhere in WindowView, the Sigma Xi scientific society called the 90’s a critical decade for responses to global change–to no avail–humans sat on their hands.  At the start of the Aussy Climate Commission’s document they note the following:

“Climate science is now being debated outside of the normal discussion and debate that occurs within the peer-reviewed scientific literature in the normal course of research. It is being attacked in the media by many with no credentials in the field. The questioning of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the “climategate” incident based on hacked emails in the UK, and attempts to intimidate climate scientists have added to the confusion in the public about the veracity of climate science.”  [Get your own PDF copy of the 2011 report HERE]

 

So clearly we have a population that sees both evidence for and against validation of climate change. Ironically, within the WindowView, we see so much evidence for precipitous GLOBAL changes (the list is long and way beyond climatic parameters) just by what an ever enlarging human population does, and that regardless of any CLIMATE considerations. People are just blind to the obvious implications.  As long as the consequences are not yet local, denial is okay. Once the reality sets in by some kind of poverty under the superficial affluence, or outright bare bones impoverished state of just surviving, then the cries of the affected are glossed over. Are we hoping the consequences can be ignored long enough the effects will just go away.

In biblical terms, consequences bring a kind of self inflicted or unintended judgment.  But how does one “get the concept,” as intended here?  If one says dry conditions are due to drought driven by extreme episodes of local climate change, then dry ground and brush fires occur.  But is that all?  Might other consequences reveal a more histerical component that will drive people askew?

The Climate Commission notes:

“For example, there is little doubt that extreme weather events such as bushfires and floods have significant impacts on human health and well-being. The 2011 Queensland floods have led to long-term, mental health and related problems, such as depression, bereavement, post-traumatic stress disorders and other mood and anxiety disorders; and the 2009 Victorian bushfires also led to considerable psychological distress, some of it prolonged, to those who experienced the fires and survived (A.J. McMichael, personal communication). Such extreme weather events have occurred before the advent of human-induced climate change, and the degree to which climate change affects risks associated with extreme events is a very active area of research.”

As long as the consequences seem removed from you, the thoughts of what life really means can be put off. But tornadoes in the middle of the US (a record breaking 875 in April 2011 alone — see NOAA Report), earthquakes around the world ( as described here in another blog post here), fires in Australia, floods all over the globe, and other physical and climatic challenges ALL are pause for thought.  And not just survival now, but thoughts on the value of our lives, what existence is, and the eternal implications. There are in fact eternal implications. Life now, and at no other time, is your opportunity to embrace the greater reality … or just live in denial of the greater truth.

If you are interested, you can visit the Australian Climate Commission on the web and download the report, or again visit the WindowView link here to download the PDF.

————- REVISITING THE CONCLUSION ————-

There is a lot that is EMOTION driven about all the climate issues.  We know some reject the science because of personal beliefs.  But when changes occur, the emotions of the moment are in response to the ominous events.

The human response in the material moment should be to helping others get through the moment.  On the spiritual level, we need remember that our lives are temporal and the challenges we face may in fact help us to grow a deeply rooted faith.

Change brings tribulations.  The Bible speaks of a time of tribulations to come.  There may e some interplay between the biblical timeline and the global changes that create a human theater of sorts.  Will some god-like figure promise humanity a way out?  But there is no way out of the truth that our physical existence is only for a time.  The real God inure at the root of faith is one that supposes the temporal dilemmas we face in the present time.

The material thinkers will decry we must counter change to make the planet safe for life.  If you do a web search regarding the report cited here, you’ll see a lot of diverse reactions, but none bring into perspective the real reason for tribulations or finding solace in a greater biblical truth.

————  THE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ———-

We say: Just remember, humans are at war, struggle over water rights, try to grow food to sustain the entire population, strive to achieve market success and expanding growth to build wealth, struggle politically, fall short of achieving peace, and fail to reach a harmonious and unified front to solve global problems.  We are a fractured family and species in peril. Global change is a growing matrix of complex issue!

They say a lot just about climate and you can read their summary points from the Australian report at the conclusion of our full article at Climate for a Tribulation (a WindowView page on Change).

Director,  WindowView.org

 

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