It used to be called “global warming”. Today, “climate change” is a better descriptor. It is far more inclusive than global warming. Earlier Creation’s Corners have shown that it is driven by human activities. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary, but not the only driver. CO2 has increased (actual measurements) from approximately 280 parts per million to over 426 parts per million. The percentage contribution from fossil fuel burning (about 90% of the addition) is determined by carbon isotopic signature analysis. Three other gasses are also major drivers of climate change – nitrous oxide, synthetic fluorinated gasses (F-gases) and methane. The amount of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled over the past 200 years.
The primary impact of climate change is higher atmospheric and ocean temperatures. Secondary effects include expanding impacts on human health (former tropical diseases now impacting humans in the United States — Zika, chikungunya, and malaria) an increase in deaths associated with extreme heat events; longer fire seasons; increased severity of storms (higher atmospheric temperatures = more energy); increasing acidity of oceans driven by higher carbon dioxide levels; higher sea levels (the rate of increase has doubled since 1990 and continues to increase driven by the melt rate of glaciers and ice caps. This is and will increasingly have massive impact on human infrastructure and the displacement of millions of humans. There will be increasing ecosystem functional change and geographic (altitudinal and latitudinal) species migration; changing rainfall patterns (more floods and droughts); increase in species extinction rates; melting of the permafrost in the arctic with both ecosystem and human impact; and broad impacts on global food production. The above topics could each fill another Creation’s Corner. Indeed, the evidence for human driven climate change is now beyond question!
This “Corner” will briefly consider a recent climate change problem that hit the news this fall. Rivers are now running orange in Alaska! ScienceDaily September 18, 2025, reports that,
“In Alaska’s Brooks Range, rivers once clear enough to drink now run orange and hazy with toxic metals. As warming thaws formerly frozen ground, it sets off a chemical chain reaction that is poisoning fish and wreaking havoc on ecosystems.
As the planet warms, a layer of permafrost — permanently frozen Arctic soil that locked away minerals for millennia — is beginning to thaw. Water and oxygen creep into the newly exposed soil, triggering the breakdown of sulfide-rich rocks, and creating sulfuric acid that leaches naturally occurring metals like iron, cadmium, and aluminum from rocks into the river.”
The ScienceDaily report is based on research detailing the severity of the contamination published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Though the study focuses on the Salmon River, researchers warn that similar transformations are already underway across dozens of other Arctic watersheds.
Not mentioned in the paper is the massive amount of methane released into the atmosphere as the permafrost melts resulting in positive feedback – higher temperatures increase the permafrost melt rate releasing more methane. Higher methane levels further increase atmospheric temperature that further increases the melt rate. The only solution is to reduce the rate of temperature increase.
Unfortunately, in the last few months, the United States has withdrawn from all international and U.N efforts to address climate change. At home, nearly all efforts to move from a carbon-based energy system to a green economy have been terminated and federal research grants associated with climate change have been cancelled. The critical National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports have been terminated. The 5th report was published in 2023. Former reports are now being edited and re-written to remove “offensive and inaccurate” material that conflict with the current political views in Washington D.C.! Creation’s Corner #60 pointed out that there were no officials representing the United States government at the November 2025 COP 30 UN meetings in Brazil where critical global decisions were expected to be made.
How then should you and I respond? Creation’s Corner #58 and 59 by guest writer Veronica Frans focused on climate change anxiety and how our informed faith can allow us to live responsibly today as faithful Christ followers.
Our Prayer: Lord, again we come to you with aching hearts as we feel the pain of your Creation. We lift to you those working to maintain Creation’s fruitfulness and ask that you provide the wisdom and strength necessary for the task. Amen.
Thanks for caring!
— Joe Sheldon
Direct comments to Joe Sheldon at jksheldon43@gmail.com
