{"id":29886,"date":"2015-06-24T10:45:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T16:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=29886"},"modified":"2015-06-24T23:05:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T05:05:53","slug":"and-while-were-at-it-lets-talk-global-warming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/06\/and-while-were-at-it-lets-talk-global-warming\/","title":{"rendered":"And While We’re At It, Let’s Talk Global Warming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Mean<\/a>
Mean weather. Moore tornado aftermath. Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons by Official US Navy Page Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons by<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This is my position on global warming:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

How did I arrive at this non-opinion?<\/p>\n

I listened to the dueling experts, and got so confused that I decided to stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n

Here is my opinion on climate change:<\/p>\n

Something\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

How did I arrive at this vague opinion?<\/p>\n

I experienced two unprecedented, record-breaking killer tornadoes in 10 years. I watched as unprecedented weather cycles exploded all around. I saw the photos of the ice caps melting, and what happened after Sandy hit New York and Katrina took out New Orleans.<\/p>\n

I think \u2014 not know, but think \u2014 that something\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

I would like to know for myself, but that would require more effort than I\u2019ve been willing to put into it. The fact is that the only way to even begin to understand all this is if I\u00a0have the math and the science chops to read the original research \u2014\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>of the original research, from both sides \u2014 and then have the chops\u00a0to understand and synthesize it. After all that, I\u2019d\u00a0still be giving my\u00a0opinion as to what it means. But it would be an informed opinion.<\/p>\n

I might, if I, as Okies say, went to school on it, be able to figure out the research. But it would be like bailing out a lake with a bucket to get there. I just don\u2019t have the push to take it on.<\/p>\n

There clearly are big money political agendas at play in the argument. We are obviously<\/em>\u00a0being propagandized and lied to.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have the science and math chops to grok\u00a0the original research on climate change and global warning without making a huge effort at self-education. But I do\u00a0have the political chops to recognize this hysterical and dishonest tsunami of political propaganda for what it is.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re being manipulated in a crude and overbearing fashion. I am, to be honest, a bit flummoxed by how emotional and crazy-acting people who\u2019ve been through this \u201ceducation\u201d program become whenever someone questions the craziness they\u2019ve been taught. It\u2019s weird to see heretofore passionate Catholics who\u2019ve condemned others for choosing their political kool-aid over the Church flip like a flapjack and do the same thing themselves.<\/p>\n

I understand, or I think I do, why they get so angry and out of it when they do this. It\u2019s because they\u2019ve become addicted to being propagandized and the addiction has\u00a0cut off their thinking, reasoning brains.<\/p>\n

If I can get even one or two people to calm down and start thinking with their own brains instead of warping out on repeating what they\u2019ve been taught by people who are manipulating them, I will consider this blog a success. It isn\u2019t so much what they decide, it\u2019s that they, and not the pundits, need to be doing the deciding.<\/p>\n

My feeling, which I\u2019ve expressed in the comboxes, is that Pope Francis is the only disinterested party who\u2019s spoken on climate and global warming. He is also the only honest man of the bunch. I trust that Pope Francis is speaking from the heart of Christ and that he \u2014 and he alone of all the many blabby pundits opining on this topic \u2014 is speaking on behalf \u00a0of the poor, the disenfranchised, those without voice in the world\u2019s affairs, and indeed, for all of us.<\/p>\n

I absolutely believe that Pope Francis is speaking for the common good.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the only commenter in this whole thing that I respect and trust.<\/p>\n

So, I take what he says, including things he says when he evaluates scientific data, very seriously indeed.<\/p>\n

I chose Christ. I am convinced that the simplest way, indeed the only way I can follow Christ\u00a0with surety that I am doing it right, is by following the teachings of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done my deal on being my own god and making my own rules. I\u2019ve sown and reaped the whirlwind of my own moral devisings. It is to me a sign of peace and hope that I can follow the teachings of my Church and not be forced, as Scripture says, to \u201crely on my own understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

I want to trust in the Lord and do good.<\/p>\n

That means, among other things, that when Pope Francis says something, I don\u2019t go off in a rage and throw dirt in the air and pound a stick on the ground like an angry ape. My first reaction must be respect and trust.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t cancelled out my thinking brain.\u00a0I took exception to his call to do away with life sentences<\/a> because I honestly believe that there are certain people who must be locked up to ensure the public safety. But me, taking exception with the pope, is, as we say here in Oklahoma, as rare as hen\u2019s teeth.<\/p>\n

Even then, I did not dismiss what the pope said out of hand, and I certainly did not dismiss it in favor of some vicious talking head on tv or internet pundit. I based my reaction on a lifetime of dealing with both the perpetrators and the victims of violent crime in my former house district.<\/p>\n

I looked at it from the perspective of someone who has\u00a0considered\u00a0these matters for almost two decades while\u00a0living with\u00a0the\u00a0responsibility of having to decide. I have given a lot of thought and had to make many hard decisions about how to create laws that would allow for both justice and the public safety in these matters.<\/p>\n

In short, I had a lot of experience and knowledge on which to form my opinion, and I tried to base my conclusions on what is best for the common good. More to the point, I did not \u2014 and will never \u2014 challenge Pope Francis\u2019 authority in my life as my papa, the Holy Father.<\/p>\n

For the same reasons, I am going to accept what he says about global warming. I don\u2019t have the knowledge, understanding and longtime experience in the area of climatology to form an intelligent opinion. I honestly do not know of my own understanding what is fact and what is flim-flam in the discussions of global warming.<\/p>\n

I am certain without doubt that there are lying liars afoot and that the reason for all the lying is $$$$$.<\/p>\n

The one person I trust who has spoken on this is the pope.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m going to let Public Catholic readers thrash this out. But be warned: I am a Catholic woman and this is a Catholic blog. Disrespecting the pope is not allowed here.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my position on global warming: I don\u2019t know. How did I arrive at this non-opinion? I listened to the dueling experts, and got so confused that I decided to stop thinking about it. Here is my opinion on climate change: Something\u2019s happening. How did I arrive at this vague opinion? I experienced two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":29887,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7604,6126,7228,900,726,1631,7593,41,5302,7324,7380,1,7436],"tags":[2375,2081,3124,219,7627],"class_list":["post-29886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic","category-climate","category-corporatism-2","category-corruption-2","category-economics","category-following-christ","category-holy-father-2","category-holy-father-3","category-politics","category-post-christian-west","category-the-political-heresy-2","category-tornado-2","category-uncategorized","category-vatican-2","tag-catholic-teaching","tag-climate-change","tag-following-the-pope","tag-global-warming-2","tag-pope-francis-and-global-warming"],"yoast_head":"\nAnd While We're At It, Let's Talk Global Warming<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is my position on global warming: I don't know. 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