To those who believe that the heavens and the earth were designed and created by God, there is ample reason to expect that the earth’s temperature will remain in a range to support life. In fact, God gave us that promise after He had judged the world with the flood of Noah’s day.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and Summer, and day and night
shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22

Within this worldview, it makes perfect sense that the earth would have a temperature control system just like our bodies do since God designed them both.

Carbon Dioxide, CO_2,  is very important to life on Earth. Plants grow using an incredibly complicated and brilliantly designed process called photosynthesis where about 50 enzymes and 100 cofactors work together to take CO₂, water, and sunlight and convert them into sugars and oxygen. When plants are starved for CO₂, photosynthesis does not work well. A “floor” of 180 ppm CO₂ is the level at which plant growth becomes very difficult. If CO2 were to go below 180 ppm for any significant period, plant life would be in significant jeopardy. Without plant life on Earth, there would be no human life. Is it an accident that the CO₂ concentration stayed in a range that allowed plants to survive, or was it by design?

A quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on April 25. The increased level of CO₂ in the atmosphere increases the growth of plants. If you feel the need to worry about something, it makes more sense to worry about low levels of CO₂ rather than high levels. As you can see, higher levels of CO₂ are desirable for plants. As of January 8, 2015, the CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere was 399.98 ppm. The growth rate for plants increases from 5–50% when CO₂ levels are higher than current levels. The maximum growth rates for most plants occur when CO₂ levels are in the range of 1,000 to 1,200 ppm. For humans, the negative effects of high CO₂ don’t begin until about 5,000–10,000 ppm. When thinking about the consequences of higher levels of CO₂, it is also important to remember that the greenhouse gas effect for CO₂ diminishes at higher levels. The direct effect of the CO₂ concentration is approximately logarithmic, which means that going from 200 to 400 ppm CO₂ has about the same effect as going from 400 to 800 ppm. When pondering what we think the CO₂ level should be, we should consider all the relevant issues (many of which are not mentioned here), including our ability to feed everyone on the planet.

The climate of the earth is incredibly complicated and currently not well understood. This is obvious when you look at the lack of success of the many different climate models. Currently, the models do not even match up well with the past temperatures, much less predict future temperatures.

Though it is relatively easy to estimate the amount of heat that greenhouse gases absorb and emit back toward the earth (climatologists call this “forcing”), it is much more difficult to determine how the planet will adjust to the additional heat (climatologists call this “feedback”). Essentially all the current climate models have overestimated the global temperature in the past and future. Many climatologists believe that there are stronger positive feedbacks within the climate than negative feedbacks. In other words, they believe that the climate amplifies warming caused by greenhouse gases rather than moderating it. If that were true, why hasn’t the global temperature already gone out of control? Negative feedback systems, like the thermostat in your house, are known to lead to stability; whereas positive feedback systems often lead to instability, like the deafening audio feedback when a speaker and a microphone are put too close together. It seems more likely that our climate is dominated by negative feedback since Earth’s temperature has been amazingly stable for at least 2,000 years with only a 1.3°F change.

Climatologists seem obsessed with understanding the effect of greenhouse gases and aerosols caused by man. But these have a minor effect relative to the major “natural” effects of clouds, water vapor, and “natural” CO₂. Gaining a better understanding of these natural effects will allow climatologists to begin to make better models. Unfortunately, we would not be able to make highly predictive models now even if we understood clouds because there is not enough computing power available to do the calculations at the resolution necessary to accurately predict individual clouds.

Conclusion

It seems that politicians and the media have always been concerned about the climate. In the late 1970s, there was concern about global cooling. The temperature had declined for about 30 years, and many were convinced that we were headed for the next ice age. Almost immediately, the temperature started to rise and continued to rise until about the year 2000. Early in the new century, politicians were clamoring that the rise in global temperature was getting out of control and were blaming humankind for causing it. At the height of the concern about warming, it started to become obvious that the temperature increase had paused, and little change has been noticed for about the last 15 years. In the absence of a short-term warming or cooling trend about which to panic, politicians have turned to saying that weather patterns are much more extreme than in the past. Again, there is no convincing evidence to support this new claim when considering the longer-term perspective. Even the latest IPCC report significantly contradicts this view.13

The data are clear. The global temperature has been rising since the Little Ice Age. But today’s temperature is not unprecedented. Based on the best information we have, it is in the neighborhood of the temperature during the Medieval Warm Period, about 1,000 years ago. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and, therefore, is a factor in determining the global temperature. However, the concentration of CO₂ in the air and global temperature do not correlate well over the long term, indicating that CO₂ is not the dominant cause of today’s rising global temperature. The globe is warming, but it’s not your fault. Carbon dioxide is critical to plant life and must remain above about 180 ppm to sustain our only source of food. It is important that we investigate these issues and carefully examine the data so that we can prepare for the future, even if we find we are unable to significantly change the global temperature.

What is your worldview? Do you trust that God brilliantly designed and created everything and trust that He has your best interests at heart, or will you always be worried that the planet is on the verge of going out of control? As you ponder that, think of these things:

1. A nuclear reaction in the sun’s core provides us exactly the right amount of heat, and the sun’s surface is the right temperature to provide us the visible light we need.
2. Water, CO₂, and methane from natural sources cause a greenhouse effect that is estimated to raise Earth’s temperature by about 59°F degrees. Otherwise, Earth would be frozen.
3. Plant life and animal life are totally dependent on each other. Plants grow by consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Animals grow by consuming oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide.
4. The oceans are a tremendous stabilizing force for Earth’s temperature, and they contain a large reservoir of CO₂.
5. The hydrological cycle of evaporation and rain provides a mechanism for transferring heat around the earth and provides fresh water to plants and animals.
6. Clouds help control the earth’s temperature by reflecting some of the sun’s radiation into space and by absorbing some of the heat radiated from the earth.

It’s all a part of a grand design. Evidence of God’s provision is everywhere.

“For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, so that they are without excuse” Romans 1:20

Taken from a great article by Dr Alan White, The globe is warming, but it’s not your fault. Dr. Alan White earned his BS in Chemistry from the University of Tennessee and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University in 1981.