The American Spectator

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Carbon Disposal

9.26.07 @ 12:01AM

INDULGE ME
Re: Iain Murray's A Pardoner's Tale:

Iain Murray is an entertaining writer, but a terrible reader. Carbon offsets should be seen as merely a partial solution to aid us in ratcheting down our individual global warming pollution. They are a way for ordinary citizens to begin to influence the economy while waiting for elected representatives to understand the basic science of global warming. Does Iain Murray dispose of all his own garbage, or treat his own sewage? No. He pays third parties to do these things for him so that his neighbors are not impacted by his pollution, partly because he's required to. But even in the absence of regulation, he might still choose to be a responsible citizen. He wouldn't consider paying others to deal with his waste an indulgence, and the cost might actually induce him to reduce it rather than merely treat it.

If there were functioning markets in greenhouse gas pollution, we would all face the true costs of our polluting activities, and only a few super-elites would fail to opt for some level of conservation. Current offset prices appear to be a bargain because there are so many latent opportunities for low-cost conservation and renewable energy generation. Costs should rise as those cheap options are exhausted, but the economy will also be learning by doing, so rising costs are not a given. And anyone deciding to shop for an offset should look for a marketer which offers third-party certification according to national or international standards, as the Evangelical Climate Initiative did when choosing Carbonfund.org as a partner. And contrary to Mr Murray's extravagant claims, the ECI does not receive a penny from any offsets payments.
-- Lowell (Rusty) Pritchard Jr. Ph.D.
National Director for Outreach
Evangelical Environmental Network
Suwanee, Georgia

Delightful logical and theological skewering of the latest "Christian" pagan-aping fad. I just sent copies of the article to genuine Christian friends including my Evangelical Free Church pastor. To make fun of the humorless self righteous among us--the path to victory.

But the question, as the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer used to say, remains: "How should we then live?" On the subject of perceived human needs of any sort, we have this commandment from our Lord Jesus: "Do not worry! Do not say 'what shall we eat?' or 'what shall we drink?' or 'with what shall we be clothed?' After all these things do the pagans seek. But you: seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness!" (Gospel of St. Matthew Chapter 6, verses 31-33). Our Lord's directive provides the sole correct Christian response to the pagan 'global warming' hysteria. God's revealed Law and holiness, intrinsic to His character and to our blessed Hope, trump any and all concerns about God's lesser, created, "Nature" -- even for "necessary" human needs.

Note this further point, which I believe explains the hysteria. Even if Algore is not scientifically correct about "global warming," he is theologically correct! "[T]he elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare!" in the great and terrible "Day of the Lord." (Second Epistle of St. Peter Chapter 3, verse 10) But why do neo-pagans (like Gore, and all too many self-righteous "Christian" professors) want to delay such a situation? God provides the answer by St. Peter: "But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's Word the heavens were created and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same Word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men." (same book Chapter 3, verses 5-7)

Stated another way: actual arrival of 'global warming' marks the great and terrible "Day of the Lord"--His Second Advent--which truly ends history in the Last Judgment. And "God's Word" in St. Peter's text refers to God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Of course pagans instinctively and frantically desire that 'global warming' never happen--in their souls they know that heat means their Judgment! But also by this promise true Christians know that our God will not roast the world until The Last Day. So at the present time our Christian duty is to: Not Worry!
-- Dave Hanson
Fayette, Iowa

I see CEI's Iain Murray has atoned for its failure to sway the Supreme Court on CO2 by exorcising the next big thing in simony: "buying carbon offsets from the Evangelical Climate Initiative."

However, he errs in doubting that, just as "it was pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism, not Protestant evangelicalism, that endorsed indulgences," for the papacy has itself been Carbon Offset for almost a year.

Much as I would like to indulge Iain's claim to novelty, in July ("A Lamp Unto My Carbon Footprint") on the Vatican's accepting the donation of some rather dodgy carbon indulgences from a firm better known for touting investment in Cold Fusion

I followed up on this last month with a reflection on carbon offsets as a revival of the Renaissance spirit of ecumenical enterprise that sent indulgences flowing north, as Murray notes, to evoke the protestation of Luther and Melancthon.
-- Russell Seitz
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Sorry, but I had rather have the snake oil instead of the knives. It is a sad world we live in when these people will get rich off gullible people.
-- Elaine Kyle

DISSENTARY AT COLUMBIA
Re: Jeffrey Lord's Newt, Columbia, and the Idea of Dissent:

What an excellent piece by Jeffrey Lord! Yes, unlike liberals who willingly give public platforms to modern-day incarnations of Adolf Hitler, conservative intellectuals like Newt Gingrich understand that ideas really do have consequences.

And speaking of Newt: I wish him all the best as he writes his books and gives his speeches on the failures of liberalism, and the superiority of conservatism in both thought and practice. After several years of runaway spending from a GOP president and Congress (not to mention other shortcomings), conservatives are disheartened, and in need of fresh ideas and energy. Newt has always been good at providing them.

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