This century has witnessed an ever-increasing awareness (but not necessarily an adequate understanding) by the average citizen on the street of what has become known as climate change. We challenge our memories over whether local weather patterns have changed over the years. There are some fantastic resources that have become available (e.g. webpages, social media, including various Substacks), and we continue to hear narrative, often seemingly conflicting, about natural weather cycles and changes in our climate over time, human induced climate change, and more frequently we associate these terms with politics of one sort or another. For example, I referred to a past Prime Minister of Australia in my first weather modification post, and this is just one link relating to what has been reported about his views on climate change when he was in government. But what do these climate related terms mean, and how have some of these terms evolved over time? Can/should we pray for our climate as we tend to do for our weather, especially in times of drought?
Traditionally climate refers to the ‘average’ of our weather conditions experienced at some location over a relatively long period of time. Semantically, by this definition (average) we could not expect to witness what we would ‘normally’ associate with a supernatural miracle (i.e. not on an averaged basis). However, there are other ways that the term climate is being used. As an example this link explains that a description of the chance of extremes is often included as part of a definition of climate. As mentioned in the praying for rain blog, chance is something we can investigate with the aim to minimise. So, is this something we can pray for in the climate ‘space’, i.e. to reduce the impacts of climate extremes, and if so, where does climate change fit-in?
In our investigations we need to stay sceptical (not denialist), and certainly filter out what has become known as misinformation, especially when it misrepresents the broader scientific community itself (this is a non-climate example from nearly 20 years ago). This centre specialises in climate extremes research and suggests that many weather and climate extremes happen naturally, even without climate change (contrast this with this link). So, what’s in a name, global warming versus climate change? This link provides us with a summary of where the term climate change comes from1:
“To a scientist, global warming describes the average global surface temperature increase from human emissions of greenhouse gases. Its first use was in a 1975 Science article by geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory: "Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" Broecker's term was a break with tradition. Earlier studies of human impact on climate had called it "inadvertent climate modification." This was because while many scientists accepted that human activities could cause climate change, they did not know what the direction of change might be. Industrial emissions of tiny airborne particles called aerosols might cause cooling, while greenhouse gas emissions would cause warming. Which effect would dominate?”
For the purposes of this Substack I will infer ‘human-induced’ when using the term climate change or global warming2, i.e. attribution of human activity will be assumed. Talking of attribution, I mentioned in a previous post that analyses are performed by scientists around the world in relation to climate change (see here) but do not, as far as I am aware, address possible answers to prayer. The above-mentioned centre quantifies how climate change influences the intensity and likelihood of an extreme weather event in the immediate aftermath of the event using weather observations and computer modelling. But what about non-linear tipping points? This link explains that climate scientists have known through paleoclimate records and other evidence, that there are ‘tipping elements’ in the climate system. These elements can undergo an abrupt change in state which becomes self-perpetuating and irreversible.
So, can/should we pray for our climate as we tend to do for our weather? I believe the answer is yes, especially in relation to alleviating climate extremes, such as prolonged drought, and proverbial tipping points (if clearly specified). However, I also believe that with respect to climate change (human attributed), that praying (personally) for climate needs to focus more on ‘asking’ God to provide us with ‘information’ on what we as humans can do (individually), rather than totally relying on requests of direct intervention by God. I will elaborate on this in future posts as well as provide further insights from the perspective of a Christian worldview, but for now to mention that there are Christian organisations actively involved with praying for our climate in various ways (e.g. see this network and this article).
Finally, concerning climate change management and particularly the detection of climate modification related to climate extremes or tipping points, I will focus on human attribution and intervention (particularly relating to drought3) for this blog, rather than in the context of God’s direct intervention and possible detection.
I will use the term changing climate when investigating natural influences such as of a cyclic nature.