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‘Climate change won’t destroy us: God promised’
Video: Outrage at Bible-quoting John Shimkus’ bid to chair US energy committee
A Republican congressman who says climate change is nothing to worry about because God promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth has provoked outrage among environmentalists by bidding to become chairman of a Congressional committee responsible for air quality and environmental health.
Following last week's midterm elections, when the Republicans retook the House of Representatives, the chairmanships of various committees are up for grabs. Illinois Republican Representative John Shimkus is hoping to snatch the chair of the powerful House Energy Committee.
One of the reasons why environmentalists are appalled is the video above, which shows Shimkus telling fellow members of Congress last year why he disagrees with 'cap and trade' - the term used to describe the concept of offering economic incentives to industry in return for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.
He begins: "I wanna start with Genesis 8 verse 21 and 22: 'Never again will I curse the ground because of man even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.'
"I believe that's the infallible word of God and that's the way it's gonna be for his creation."
Shimkus then goes on to quote a passage from Matthew's Gospel before concluding:
"The earth will end only when God declares this time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth: this earth will not be destroyed by a flood."
Almost as an aside, Shimkus tries a marginally more scientific tack, suggesting that "there is a theological debate that this is a carbon-starved planet" because there are currently 388 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere compared to 4,000ppm during the age of the dinosaurs.
It is only after this that he says 'cap and trade' will cost jobs at polluting companies.
The video is no isolated incident. Shimkus has claimed in the past that reducing carbon emissions would "take away plant food"
and offered up the following gem: "When we breath in, we breath oxygen. When we breath out, we breath out carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is not a toxic emittent."
After the Democrats' poor showing during the midterm elections, American environmentalists assumed the worst that could happen was the binning of climate change legislation. It looks like they might have been wrong. ·
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Mr Shimkus is right. Absolutely and I remind myself of this by reading Genesis 8:22
King James Version
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease .
Well, I got first post on a science topic before Kevin, so I am pleased. Even more pleased to be defended so ably by Kevin from my antagonist! But of course I cannot resist adding a riposte - you said................."In fact too much CO2 is bad for plants and only an increase of CO2 is beneficial when other factors are increased like sunlight".....................but of course 'too much' of *anything* is bad, that is why they call it 'too much', so hardly a killer point there. Too many bananas are bad for me, but how much is that? And as for too much CO2, the global annual variation in atmospheric CO2 is quite noticeable - it varies with the spring-summer growth cycle of green plants. And greenhouse growers boost CO2 levels by up to 3 times routinely to enhance tomato plant crops. And obviously CO2 is not the rate limiting factor in a multi-factored physico-chemical interactive system like photosynthesis, or adding CO2 to greenhouse crops would not increase yield. Duh.
Paul Tomkins - why parade your ignorance for all to see? You clearly know nothing about the points you have raised. Asthmatics aren't sensitive to terrestrial levels of CO2, whether of not they are double. To get to "too much CO2", which is bad for plants, you would need to be talking about at least five times current concentrations - absolutely no chance of that. Doubling CO2 levels is very beneficial for all plants. Photosynthesis uses visible light, to which CO2 is transparent, so there is no reduction in that part of sunlight reaching plants. Ocean acidification is just another con. The pH change that would result from doubling CO2 is tiny, and a lot less than the variability in the oceans around the world currently. And, yes, it would be good for life. With regard to your final rant, why don't you get a Bible and check it out instead of asking inane questions you can answer yourself. The text that Shimkus quoted refers to 'man' and 'all living creatures'. Yes, I imagine that includes you. If you want a more specific quote here is one from Matthew's gospel "he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust". Yeah, that would include you too.
Michael Jose, you say more CO2 is good for plants, well what about us? Double the levels and some people like asthmatics will have problems. In fact too much CO2 is bad for plants and only an increase of CO2 is beneficial when other factors are increased like sunlight (but with CO2 being a greenhouse gas the sunlight reaching the plant is reduced)
Now with your understanding of basic plant physiology I really dont think you are in a position to declare there is no CO2 problem. Equally what about the acidifcation of water resulting in higher CO2 levels, do you also think that's good for plants, or animals?
And as for your backing of MrShimkus being right that God will save us, does that mean he's going to save us unbelievers as well, or the Muslims and if that's the case surely we are all going to live long fruitful lives no matter what we do to ourselves or others, so we might as well behave like Americans
By all means continue to believe that God will save you but please spare us from remedial biology lessons
Sprocket: "Why not lead the world in green technologies keeping USA at the top of world economies?" Simple answer: green technologies are the kiss of death for any advanced civilization: they are desperately inefficient. Everyone working with 'green technology' knows that he is completely uncompetitive unless he can get massive subsidies to cover his inefficiency and/or punitive taxes on advanced technology and/or legislation against advanced technologies. Anyone stupid enough to promote 'green technologies' is consigning the poor to increasing poverty, and the nation to ruin. As for this Shimkus fellow: well, what's objectionable about what he has said (as reported in this article at any rate)? Just because a man frames the expression of the truth in the context of his religious beliefs doesn't stop it being the truth. Yes, CO2 is plant food, and the more we have the better we will be able to feed the world. Yes, CO2 is not and never will be a toxic emittant. Yes, Cap and Trade would cost jobs. Yes, this planet is carbon-starved, especially for plants using C3 photosynthetic pathway, which constitute most of the crops we consume. And yes, man is not going to harm the earth by emitting a gas that is life-giving to plants, which are in turn life-giving for us. Anyone who thinks otherwise is surely the one with his head in the sand.
Is it April 1st today? This guy can't be for real. Why not lead the world in green technologies keeping USA at the top of world economies because at this stage you can't keep your head in the sand any longer or ordinary people will suffer due to leaders reluctance to accept change.
Well, the best thing about this is that Mr Shimkus is thoroughly right, even if it is impossible to extrapolate scientific predictions from the good book. Of course CO2 is plant food, even biology texts aimed at 15 year olds will confirm this. Or try a quick Google on 'photosynthesis' if that is too much effort. The general equation is CO2+H2O+sunlight->sugar+O2. Not too difficult is it? CO2 is not good, it is ESSENTIAL. And a little more is GOOD, but not essential. Commercial greenhouse plant and vegetable growers add extra CO2 to their greenhouses to boost the crop. Not a work of genius to see that this multiplies up across the planet for trees and grass and photosynthetic plankton is it? C'mon, bust out. There is no manmade CO2 crisis, live a little, breathe easy...pun intended!