Global Warming. Climate Change. Greenhouse gases. It is impossible not to hear these terms, and now that we are in the midst of a federal election we hear them even more. Now before I say anything else, let me make it clear that I am totally in favour of the idea of taking care of our planet. God has made us stewards to take care of our earth, and collectively we have done a very poor job of it.
However, the annoyance factor over the hype over this issue has grown to outright disgust and anger for many of us over the way that our politicians of all stripes are using this issue to try and buy our votes. The other day a political flyer arrived at my doorstep which encouraged me to “save the planet” by voting for that party.
So a “reality check” of facts would be in order here. According to The Union of Concerned Scientists, Canada produces only about 1.6% of the greenhouse gases produced globally. Even reducing Canada’s portion by 50% will not make much of a difference to our planet’s wellbeing.
According to the scientists mentioned above,
The top six polluters are:
1: China 9,040,000 Metric Tons.
2: USA 4,997,000 Metric Tons.
3: India: 2,066,000 Metric Tons.
4: Russia 1,468,000 Metric Tons.
5: Japan 1,141,000 Metric Tons.
6: Germany 729,000 Metric Tons.
Canada ranks 9th,with 549,000 Metric Tons or 6% of China, or 1.6% Globally
In the past our governments have set lofty targets, which were never met. The target that the liberals are promoting during this campaign was actually set by the previous Harper conservative government. At that time, our Prime Minister who was then in opposition, scoffed at that target as being “insignificant”. Hypocritically, he has not only borrowed (or stolen) the conservative target, but also introduced a carbon tax which many scientists believe accomplishes very little if anything but grabbing cash for government coffers.
That is why I am not amused by election propaganda that claims that votes for a particular party will “save the planet”. Nothing will save this planet from what God said will happen to it: “Heaven and Earth will pass away” (Luke 21:33; Matt.24:35; Mark 13:31) and John, the apocalyptic writer of the Book of Revelation speaks of “a new heaven and a new earth for the first earth had passed away”. (Revelation 21:1)
Salvation is needed by the inhabitants of this planet more than the planet itself. Hardly anyone, whether inside or outside the church, and least of all our politicians care about that.
The views expressed in this post are my own, and not necessarily those of my employer.