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Petition for Deletion of Paragraphs 160, 160B and 160D from the Methodist
Discipline and The Book of Resolutions Of The United Methodist Church (Pages
45‐47)
Powers Paragraph 160,160B and 160D
Total Number of Pages 16 Including Appendix A
General Church Budget Implications Not Determinable
Global Implications Yes
Appendix A Paragraphs 160, 160B and 160D
The Subject paragraphs 160, 160B and 160D related to global warming caused by CO2 should be removed from the Book of Discipline because it is a political issue. Measured world temperatures are flat for the last 12‐18 years and do not agree with calculations showing an increase related to CO2.
Global warming has not occurred in the last 12‐18 years in spite of the dire warnings of increasing temperatures due to increasing amount of CO2. See Figures, 1, 2, and 3.
Figure 1 from Leighton Steward, Distinguished Alumnus of Southern Methodist University, Author of “Fire Ice and Paradise,” published in 2009, was a presenter “At the Crossroads, Energy & Climate Policy Summit” in Houston, Texas hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Heritage Foundation, fall of 2014 and has received an unsolicited Environmental Excellency Award from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Notice the CO2 concentration, scale on the right continuing to increase from the 1979 level of 335‐340 ppm to 390 to 395 PPM by 2013, whereas the temperature appeared to flatten out to a slight decline from about 2001 or a period of about 12 years. This trend is very disturbing to those that were predicting a serious rise in world average temperature due to the increasing CO2.
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Figure 2
From Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, formerly Margaret Thacher’s science advisor. this least‐squares linear regression trend on the RSS satellite monthly global surface temperature shows no global warming for 18 years 4 months since December 1996. Lord Monckton goes on to say, “Given the Paris Summit is approaching and most ‘world Leaders’ are not being told the truth about the Pause it would be great help if readers were to do their best to let their negotiators and politicians know the unexciting reality to diverge ever more spectacularly from the bizarre ‘settled science’ predictions on which Thermageddon was built.” Taken from Watts Up with That, http://wattsupwithjthat.com/2015/04/06el‐nio‐or‐ot‐the‐pause‐lengthens‐again/
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Figure 3
Figure 3, world temperature data from Balloon and Satellite temperatures versus models. Dr John R Christy, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science , Alabama’s State Climatologist, and Director of Earth Science Center at the University of Alabama. From “A Factual Look at the Relationship Between Climate and Weather,” Subcommittee on Environment Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, December 13, 2013
Note the predicted temperature is substantially higher than the measured data, which is essentially flat for the last 12 ‐18 years.
Dr. Christy has also addressed the claim that we can now expect more storms from rising CO2. Dr. Christy after reviewing years of storms prior to the increase in CO2 concluded that the claim that global warming was raising the frequency or intensity of storms is also false. In his testimony to the same committee as above: Conclusion: “In this testimony, evidence is
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presented to demonstrate that recent weather events are not outside the extremes that have occurred in the past when human influences were negligible. “Therefore in my view, one cannot attribute these recent events with any confidence to something beyond nature. Climate models are promoted as tools that are able to discriminate natural climate events versus those that might happen as the result of greenhouse gases due to human activities and have been used by EPA for regulatory action. Unfortunately as demonstrated here and discussed in the literature, climate models have not demonstrated acceptable skill in terms of depicting even very fundamental, large scale variations, and thus are unable to identify natural versus human influenced events on regional scales. Indeed, the lack of modeling skill regarding very basic processes such as tropospheric variations, indicates that the modeling enterprise has not been subject to rigorous independent Red Team Oversight during its expensive growth period. In addition, significant advancements are needed in observing and understanding the natural processes of climate before reliable, though basic forecasts are forthcoming, it is unfortunate , in my opinion, that recent policy has been made on the projections of these faulty models. Climate science has a long way to go. Dr. Christy December 11, 2013 House Committee.”
Then in the Wall Street Journal appeared an article dated March 4, 2015, Dr. Richard Lindzen, professor emeritus at MIT and a distinguished Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, said, and I quote, “There are also claims that extreme weather—hurricanes, tornados, droughts, and floods—may be due to global warming. The data show no increase in the number or intensity of such events. The IPCC itself acknowledges the lack of any evident relation between extreme weather and climate, though allowing that with sufficient effort some relationship might be uncovered.
World leaders proclaim that climate change is our greatest problem, demonizing carbon dioxide. Yet atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have been vastly higher through most of Earth’s history. Climates both warmer and colder than the present have coexisted with these higher levels.
Figure 4 shows a 2000 year history of global temperatures along with an indicator when increased CO2 started showing up in the atmosphere. This chart was provided by Lieghton Steward in the previous
reference.
Figure 4
Also note a heating trend started up some 100+ years before The Industrial Revolution. Note these data only go through year 2000.Certainly through these 2000 years CO2 levels do not correlate with world temperatures. Mr. Steward’s work convinces him that through geologic time, millions of years, there is no correlation, between world temperature and CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
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What about glacial melting and rising seas? The2014 U N Reports that the Antarctica ice is actually expanding at 1% per decade. The reference is the United Nations report. Change 2014 Synthesis Report IPCC Fifth Assessment Synthesis Report
There is no question that for much of my lifetime in many regions of the Arctic glaciers have been melting, but is that caused by increasing levels of CO2? Ice melts when the earth and air temperatures reach certain levels. GLACIERS have been melting in Alaska since the the Little Ice Age 1750 shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5 prepared by the National Park Service shows that the maximum extent of the Glacier in Glacier Bay extended out into a region called the ICY STRAIT. Some 80 years later, 1860, well before CO2 had shown much increase, the ice had retreated some 30 miles up the bay. I have highlighted the years of interest. Thus one can conclude that CO2 had nothing to do with the early melting of Glacier Bay.
One last reason for deleting Paragraph 160B from the United Methodist Church Discipline is the stated objective to limit our believers to one ton of CO2 per capita per year. That is like putting
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noose on those who try to follow that objective. Stop and think: Poverty is the greatest killer of all. Referencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per capita.
America currently produces some 17.2 tons per person. A developed country like America will never be able to reduce its carbon footprint to those levels unless we suffer a major world depression. No thanks.
Quoting from Mr. Boudreaux, .senior fellow for at Mercatus Center and a professor of economics at George Mason University, in the Wall Street Journal, March 27. 2015, “It is fashionable to bash fossil fuels. But these fuels have provided a better life for untold millions of people. And they offer the best hope for pulling billions more out of poverty.” His title was “Fossil Fuel Free Is No Country For the Poor”
To illustrate this point please consider the following three graphs provided by Dr. E Calvin Beisner, Founder & National Spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. The first two reflect the child mortality for children 0‐5 years, separate years, 1940 and 1990 versus the carbon dioxide produced. The circle sizes reflect the relative sizes of the populations represented.
Figure 8
It is readily apparent the less deaths with countries that have abundant supplies of hydrocarbon fuels for both 1940 and 2009.
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The third graph from Dr. Beisner shows the life span increasing with abundant hydrocarbon fuels as reflected in the amount of CO2 produced, Figure 9
So if CO2 is not causing adverse environmental problems, then what does cause the 500 year cycles of warming and cooling? As a matter of fact there are lots of possible causes, but it is not
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CO2. Here is a list of possibilities as provided by Mr. Leighton Steward in his 2014 presentation. Figure 9
In Summary, the Paragraph 160, 160B and 160D in the Book of Discipline should not be in the United Methodist Church Book of Discipline. The concept that increasing amounts of CO2 are increasing the global temperatures and or affecting global climate change in a dangerous manner is simply wrong based on review of the facts. The subject is a political debate between those who want to slow down economic growth of the most successful countries of the world economically and those who understand the threats are not based on real world events. If the United States implements a carbon tax and shuts down older coal plants this will impact America’s poorest as they will see the utility rates rise and many will become unemployed as coal power plants are shut down.
As an example of this misdirected policy The Global Board of Church and Society Committee of the United Methodist Church has endorsed no Fracking, No XL pipeline, no tar sands production
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in Canada. Meanwhile the price of oil has dropped in half this last year as the U S oil production grew by over 3 million barrels per day from shale as the result of fracking horizontal wells. The same committee, The Global Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, has visited Washington to encourage the EPA to pass a Carbon Tax which will drive up the price of electricity to everybody but will hurt the poor the most.
In the April 24th, 2015 edition of the Wall Street Journal appeared an article by Lamar Smith entitled “The Climate Change Religion. Mr. Smith a Republican from Texas, is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Mr Smith makes several of the same points I have made in this petition. “ Both the President and Mr. Kerry cited rapidly warming global‐temperatures and ever‐more‐sever storms caused by caused by climate change as reasons for urgent action.
Given the past decade and one‐half global temperature increases have been negligible, and that the worsening‐storms scenario has been widely debunked, the pronouncements from the Obama administration sound more like scare tactics than fact based declarations.”
In summary Mr. Smith concludes, “The intellectual dishonesty of senior administration officials who are unwilling to admit when they are wrong is astounding. When assessing climate change we should focus on good science not politically correct science,.”
I have written several letters to the General Board of the Church and Society Committee of the United Methodist Church and finally a letter came supporting their actions claiming support from the three paragraphs in the Book of Discipline. and references to the Book of Resolutions. Since this is a political issue which the facts do not support. I recommend the three paragraphs 160,160B,and160D be removed from both the Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions. I will address the Book of Resolutions in a separate petition.
I will post both of my petitions on my web site listed below as they are finalized.
Date: April 24, 2015
Louis W Powers
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Member of Memorial United Methodist Church, 12955 Memorial Drive, Houston Texas 77079
Phone: 281 493 2856
Mail [email protected] Web Site http://TheWorldEnergyDilemma.com
Appendix A Paragraphs 160, 160B and 160D from the Methodist Discipline
Book of Discipline ¶ 160 - The Natural World
All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it.
Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and
conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human
beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties
through acts of loving care and respect. Economic, political, social, and technological
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developments have increased our human numbers, and lengthened and enriched our lives.
However, these developments have led to regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of species,
massive human suffering, overpopulation, and misuse and overconsumption of natural and
nonrenewable resources, particularly by industrialized societies. This continued course of action
jeopardizes the natural heritage that God has entrusted to all generations. Therefore, let us
recognize the responsibility of the church and its members to place a high priority on changes in
economic, political, social, and technological lifestyles to support a more ecologically equitable
and sustainable world leading to a higher quality of life for all of God’s creation.
B) Energy Resources Utilization—The whole earth is God’s good creation and as such has
inherent value. We are aware that the current utilization of energy resources threatens this
creation at its very foundation. As members of The United Methodist Church we are committed
to approaching creation, energy production, and especially creation’s resources in a responsible,
careful and economic way. We call upon all to take measures to save energy. Everybody should
adapt his or her lifestyle to the average consumption of energy that respects the limits of the
planet earth. We encourage persons to limit CO2 emissions toward the goal of one tonne per
person annually. We strongly advocate for the priority of the development of renewable energies.
The deposits of carbon, oil, and gas resources are limited and their continuous utilization
accelerates global warming. The use of nuclear power is no solution for avoiding CO2 emissions.
Nuclear power plants are vulnerable, unsafe, and potential health risks. A safe, permanent
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storage of nuclear waste cannot be guaranteed. It is therefore not responsible to future
generations to operate them. The production of agricultural fuels and the use of biomass plants
rank lower than the provision of safe food supplies and the continued existence for small farming
businesses.
D) Global Climate Stewardship—We acknowledge the global impact of humanity’s disregard
for God’s creation. Rampant industrialization and the corresponding increase in the use of fossil
fuels have led to a buildup of pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere. These “greenhouse gas”
emissions threaten to alter dramatically the earth’s climate for generations to come with severe
environmental, economic, and social implications. The adverse impacts of global climate change
disproportionately affect individuals and nations least responsible for the emissions. We
therefore support efforts of all governments to require mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas
emissions and call on individuals, congregations, businesses, industries, and communities to
reduce their emissions.