While we may think of climate change as a recent issue, scientists have discussed and debated climate for well over a century. Only recently has it become the politically baffling and contentious topic we know today, inciting panic in some people and incredulity in others. When both sides are emotionally charged, how can anyone discern what is true—or know how to move forward? In Weathering Climate Change, astronomer Hugh Ross steps outside of the rancor and noise, offering a comprehensive look not only at Earth's current climate but also at the planet's captivating climate history. His measured perspective and realistic response are grounded in a wealth of evidence from multiple scientific disciplines. "Finally, here is a book that provides a balanced and factual investigation into the subject of climate change . . . Weathering Climate Change is a must-read. It will give everyone some things to ponder, regardless of your current thoughts about climate change." —Michael G. Strauss, PhD David Ross Boyd Professor of Physics University of Oklahoma
Astrophysicist Hugh Ross is founder, senior scholar, and former president of Reasons to Believe (RTB).
He earned a degree in physics from the University of British Columbia and a PhD in astronomy from the University of Toronto. He continued his research on quasars and galaxies as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech. In 1986, Ross launched RTB to research, develop, and communicate the harmonious relationship between science and Christianity.
Ross has authored or coauthored numerous books, including Rescuing Inerrancy, Designed to the Core, and The Creator and the Cosmos. He has also presented his testable creation model in countless interviews, peer-reviewed articles, videos, and podcasts, as well as at hundreds of speaking engagements at venues around the world.
I really liked the history and explanation of how we got to where we are in our current weather climate. He then offers some constructive and creative solutions on how we can extend our current climate stability that doesn't require us to all adopt the Amish lifestyle.
A Balanced Take on the Controversial Topic of Climate Change
I was excited to get an advanced copy of the new RTB Press book, Weathering Climate Change - A Fresh Approach by Hugh Ross. But I also began to read this book with a bit of trepidation. I was afraid, given the polarizing views on both sides of this issue, that this book will cause controversy and detract from RTB's primary mission of Science-Apologetics for the sake of evangelism. As it turns out, this book is both pointed and pragmatic. It will push your preconceptions whatever your perspective on the climate change challenges we face.
Hugh Ross is well qualified to provide a balanced perspective on this topic. This is fundamentally not just an issue for climatologists, but requires an interdisciplinary approach by someone who is both technical enough to understand the science and also wide-read enough to have a broad perspective on the interplay between the various disciplines and issues that are pertinent. The author gives such a balanced understanding of the problems and possible solutions on this contentious and complicated issue.
The book does a good job of separating the politics, emotions, and policy issues from the actual science. If anything, the book is heavy on the science details, though seemingly weighted more toward the standard scientific consensus of the data, with less discussion of possible objections by the minority of scientists who have some disagreements on various points. On balance, though, I felt like it gives a fair representation of the current best understanding of warming measurements and modeling. The conclusion is that, "yes", human activity has affected the climate since the industrial revolution, and the climate may be at (or close to) a tipping point where our current extended period of climate stability is at an end. He does make the point, however, that we still have to face "the inevitable onset of another glacial episode. We may be able to put it off for a few more centuries, perhaps even for a little more than a millennium, but we cannot extend our present interglacial indefinitely."
Where I think that Hugh Ross makes a distinctive contribution to this discussion, is in his fair and objective look at our responses to the climate crisis. He presents three categories of possible solutions: mitigate, adapt, and/or "defeat" (or live with it). He feels that the apocalyptic nature of some claims: global emergency, the need to awaken the public, or calls for immediate, drastic action, feed fear and don't promote rational discussion of solutions. Scientists' legitimate concerns communicated through journalists and politicians have polarized opinions, from panic and knee-jerk activism to disbelief and lack of trust in the claims.
Dr. Ross points out that self-interest of people and nations makes enforcement an intractable problem, because human nature is such that we want to look out for our own self-interests first and let others sacrifice. This is not surprising due to the dual reality of humanity: while we are created in God's image and can achieve great good, we are also broken by our selfish sinful nature, and we rebel against the good that God calls us to do.
He asks us to consider if there are Win-Win solutions. It seems to me that some win-wins mentioned would not be widely embraced, such as forced changes to diet, animal husbandry, or traditional farming methods. It seems unwise to trust that we can quickly replace our current energy needs by future technology, even if we dramatically increase research funding. Any solutions found through new research likely would not be ready until decades into the future. Hugh Ross presents some possible climate solutions with the objective of sparking creative thinking and collaboration, and to also "demonstrate that we need not choose between what is best for the environment and what is best for our economic well-being." Personally, I am skeptical that any of these proposed solutions can be implemented quickly enough, on a large enough scale, to make a significant dent in our climate change situation.
As in past books, Dr. Ross clearly makes the case that the Earth's environmental conditions have been fine-tuned for life. Many unique circumstances and features of the Earth, Moon, stellar environment, and more, lead to the suggestion that the whole system has been carefully designed and balanced for advanced human civilization during the current narrow window of time. He says, "The anthropic principle is the observation that the universe, Earth, and Earth’s life appear exquisitely and intentionally designed for humanity."
The middle section of the book is more technical, which might not be as accessible to the general public. However, the conclusions and summary questions bring focus at the end of each chapter. In general, the book is well-sourced and full of recent scientific data on the climate. Here Dr. Ross provides an in-depth explanation of the causes behind ice age cycles and other historical global climate changes. Again he shows that the current interglacial stability has provided the ideal environment for our modern civilization, designed and finely tuned by the Creator for that purpose. He suggests that the current period of extreme climate stability has given us the opportunity to reach billions of people with the Good News. That brings promise of true purpose and meaning to their lives, and hope for an even better future home awaiting in the new creation.
The book ends with a plea for collaboration and cooperation among all the diverse groups of humanity in finding win-win climatic solutions. In the meantime, it is the duty of those who choose to follow Christ to take an active role in caring for both people and the planet, so that we can maximize the time we have available to reach more people for Christ.
The weather used to be a value-neutral subject relevant to everyone in all times and places. “Discussing the weather” was a universally accepted way of making conversation in polite company; however, this once benign topic now borders too closely upon a much more polarizing subject of debate – global climate change.
In Weathering Climate Change: A Fresh Approach, Hugh Ross takes a deep dive into the data to establish a historical baseline by which we can gain an objective perspective on our current climate status. Ross does not deny that humans contribute to global warming, but his analysis reveals a counterintuitive repercussion: a Big Freeze as we enter an new ice age that has been long delayed according to scientifically documented trends. Humanity may be bracing itself for the wrong catastrophe.
Erratic temperature variations have plunged the Earth in and out of ice ages for millions of years. Here’s the real surprise. Over the last 9,500 years, warming and cooling effects have balanced to produce a remarkably consistent global mean temperature that has varied by no more than ±0.65°C. This is in sharp contrast to the 4-10°C fluctuations experienced every few centuries throughout the previous 2.58 billion years. The recent uptick in temperature over the past 70 years (0.8°C) has rapidly cancelled out a very slight cooling trend (1°C) accrued over this long period of balance.
“For the past 2.58 million years, whenever the global mean temperature has risen 2-3°C (3-5°F) above its current value, a glacial episode has followed. Throughout the past 400,000 years, each such global mean temperature peak has consistently and very quickly led to dramatic temperature drops that resulted in widespread glaciation.” (p. 187)
Our multi-millennial span of unprecedented climate stability has permitted a more predictable and reliable production of crops and allowed humanity to progress beyond the tedium of subsistence farming to the pursuit of other interests and achievements. As a result, we have steadily advanced from the diversification of crops, to the diversification of labor, and on to the diversification of financial portfolios.
“[T]he possibility for the development of global, high-technology civilization depends crucially on…[a] highly improbable requirement. There must be an interglacial episode of extreme and sustained climate stability – exactly what the climate research community recognizes as humanity’s urgent necessity.” (p.147)
In Weathering Climate Change, Ross acknowledges our waning window of stability without sounding an apocalyptic alarm. Speaking as both a scientist and a Christian minister, he seeks to motivate thoughtful, measured, and rational responses that are in keeping with the hope possessed by people of faith. He reminds us that the advancement of widespread civilization is part of our Story as we spread across the globe and carry the Good News of Christ throughout. Given God’s “mandate to manage the world for the benefit of all Earth’s life,” Ross anticipates the “possibility of a win-win-win response to the current crisis…actions that would stabilize the global climate, cool and moderate the global mean temperature, increase the quality of life for people in all nations, and even enhance the well-being of the plants and animals that share Earth with us.” (p. 50) It is probably not insignificant that humanity’s first job was tending a garden.
That said, Ross is not oblivious to the many reasons why the issue of climate change is not as straight forward as we would like it to be. Reactions to the topic range from apathy to anger to anxiety.
“Gallup has performed annual surveys of American opinion on climate change since 1989. The percentage of those surveyed indicating that they ‘personally worry about this problem a great deal’ stood at 35 percent in 1989 and seesawed between a low of 24 percent in 1998 and a high of 45 percent in 2017.” (p. 18)
Numerous phenomena interact to influence global conditions in complex and interdisciplinary ways. Dr. Ross objectively pulls together the research and offers non-partisan solutions. Weathering Climate Change is data-dense but full of data-driven surprises. Charts, graphs, and diagrams are scattered throughout its pages to illustrate the story told by the numbers. Ideally, it will help Christians have a meaningful place in the conversation and improve the civility of the discussion. The book serves as a worthy sequel to Ross’ Improbable Planet. I recommend it to any science-savvy citizen who wants to understand the research behind this highly politicized issue.
Admittedly, I knew less about climate change than I should and resisted diving deep with so much hot rhetoric on both sides of the issue. Hugh Ross, an astronomer, gives a very balanced discussion of climate change, how we got here and where we are going (and we are going there, just a matter of when). He spends much of the book discussing the fine tuning of the Earth which gave it a stable environment that has been in place for about 9500 years. There is much data given to explain the history of the universe and the Earth and at times I floundered a bit under the weight of it but mostly it was eye opening and logical.
The surprise, to me, was that global warming is not the real problem but the coming Ice Age which historically has always followed the increasing temperatures and is unthinkable to most humans. Ice Ages of eons past have helped make our planet good and productive but I am quite sure no one is anxious to be plunged into another one.
Ross is not an alarmist but presents the data and conclusions in a matter-of-fact but compelling way. He understands the urgency but also understands the need for maintaining certain standards of living and the economic necessities of responding carefully even while taking bold steps to mitigate and delay the warming trend that will usher in severe cooling. Ross is a compassionate Christian who takes the charge to care for the Earth seriously. He is realistic about acknowledging the reluctance of many nations and individuals to take on any of the hard stuff now to delay the coming meteorological challenges but offers many practical suggestions (and some he recognizes as impractical) that would make a big difference. I earnestly hope that our world and policy leaders will grasp the critical nature he describes and introduce the innovative (as well as more standard) ideas that will make a difference.
A side note - I never knew how critical beavers and whales are in the big scheme of things related to global warming!
In this informative book Scientist and Theologian Hugh Ross deals with the current issue of climate change. This is a very hot topic with views varying as to whether humans are contributing to global warming or not, and whether we can do anything different to change this.
Hugh discusses how historically we have had global warming and ice age phases / cycles, and what causes them. He also deals with the current 9,500 year period which has been very stable, and allowed an advanced, technological civilisation to occur.
Inevitably, we are heading into a global heat cycle, where we have contributed by virtue of our actions. Shortly after, we will head into another ice age which will have severe ramifications for our civilisation.
In the last two chapters, Hugh discusses how all is proceeding just as God intended, and how the Bible shows we have a great future if we are Christians.
This is a great book! It thoroughly details the history of earth's climate variations to help you understand where earth is today in the known climate cycles. And demonstrates that we are and have been miraculously blessed with a very stable climate for the last 9,500 years. It demonstrates that the recent climate data convincingly shows that mankind's activities have resulted in warming of the planet, and goes on to offer positive alternatives for reducing and/or halting of the warming. Ross even discusses how some of those alternatives may be profitable or at least pay for themselves with the byproducts they produce. Most importantly, he convinced me that climate change and global warming are real, and we can correct it!
A very clear book on climate change. The author shows on many scientific levels that, yes, climate is currently changing. However, a stable climate for the past 9,500 years as helped humanity to thrive. Are the dangers of climate change real? Yes, but the author does show win-win scenarios of how humans can weather the climate change. By win-win, the author means that both humanity and our Earth would benefit from these win-win scenarios. Yes, humans are selfish and do not want to make change. But these proposed solutions could go a long way in helping humans to overcome their resistance to change and, thus, benefit the Earth.
I found the book measured, informative, sobering, and encouraging.
Ross presented the subject of Global Warming in a rational way without the alarmist views of those with a political agenda or fundraising goal to promote. I also liked his practical advice for being a part of the solution.
Also, if my Christian worldview of believing in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is true, he offers scientific evidence that it will be within the next decade to 1000 years.
Offers the Climate history of the earth and the mechanisms behind is and how that contrasts with today's (9,500 years ago to present) climate stability and how the climate stability is threatened.
Even better, is that Dr Ross offers genuine solutions that aren't just cheap platitudes shouted in the media or by politicians and these are solutions that can have a real impact on prolonging the climate stability we get to enjoy
Very detailed and scientific analysis of current climate change and the available responses that we as a society can do. This book diverges from “feelings” and gets more into the facts of the situation and what we actually can do as a society, that is not just the best outcome, but the realistic outcome. Have it three stars however cuz I was bored a lot of the time reading it and it seems like there is quite a lot of bias.
A technical discussion of the many factors that influence climate
I enjoyed the book, but those without a science, especially geologic and astronomical, background may find some sections a little meaty. Dr. Ross uses much evidence in his overview.
Hugh Ross does an excellent work in giving a balanced view about climate change. The illustrations he uses are easy to relate with and also very practical
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.