The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Today is Tuesday, August 15^th, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Mark Christopher and presented by Yamikani Katunga.

The daily headlines regarding climate change are relentless. The calls for the African continent to do its fair share and get its fair share are endless. 

For Africa to do its fair share the heralds of climate change propaganda make pointed proclamations. They say the limited resources that Africa has should be devoted to developing technologies and finding solutions for the patterns we observe in the climate. They presumptuously attribute many of the deaths from natural disasters and much of the poverty to climate change and prophesy that it will only get worse. This fear-mongering is meant to divert the people of Africa away from rational thinking and scientific reasoning. Only such effective means as fear can cause a people to hastily abandon the more abundant and affordable resource of fossil fuels; which at present remains the best chance Africa has for raising her people out of poverty and developing societies that are less susceptible to the effects of natural disasters. 

These tactics are imported from foreign shores as the following examples show. 

This past week two of the main articles regarding climate change heralded the demise of Antarctic ice volume and the tragic fires in Maui, Hawaii that have claimed more than 93 lives at the time of writing this article. 

The UK Independent reports that climate scientists are concerned about lower ice volumes in parts of the Antarctic continent, and they immediately attribute it to the use of fossil fuels. As with many things, it is what is left unsaid in the article that casts the article’s alarm in a different light. What the article or the scientists interviewed do not say is that large ice variations in Antarctic ice, from year to year, are not uncommon. This is usually ascribed to changing wind patterns which either blow away from the continent or toward it. Another factor the article fails to mention is that accurate records of ice variation in Antarctica only go back to 1979 when the use of satellites was employed for the first time to record this phenomenon. This is a very short time when trying to track and determine climatic cycles and changes. According to one climatologist, one would need “thousands of years of data to calculate the statistical significance of this event.” Thus, when it comes to climate, the old saying rings true, “The Devil is in the details.” 

The good news is that despite what we’ve been told, the Arctic sea-ice extent has defied climate-doom predictions and has gradually increased over the last 13 years or so. This is in stark contrast to the numerous attempts to predict the Arctic’s demise in 2007, 2013, and 2014 to mention a couple of the predictions. 

The other climate news from last week surrounds the tragic devastation from the horrific fires that claimed so many lives and homes on the Hawaiian island of Maui. And while our thoughts and prayers should go out to all those impacted by this catastrophe, many in the media could not wait to assign the cause for the conflagration to “climate change”. Yet, according to the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, 98% of Hawaii’s fires are started by people of which 75% of these man-made fires are through carelessness. It is also important to note that the accelerant of this fire is invasive wild grasses that grow on abandoned pineapple and sugar cane plantations. During the dry season, these wild grasses are extremely flammable. Then, when combined with high winds, a fire of this nature quickly roars out of control destroying everything in its path. Had fire breaks and the clearing of these wild grasses been attended to the outcome would have been very different. This, in part, relates to Genesis 1:26-28 and the rule-and-subdue principle. 

So, to blame this tragedy on climate change serves only to exploit the misery of those affected for the sake of a policy agenda. As Dr. Clay Trauernicht, a professor of environmental management at the University of Hawaii, explained, “It would be misleading to simply blame weather and climate for the blazes … the fire problem is mostly attributable to the vast extent of non-natural grasslands left unmanaged by large landowners as we’ve entered a ‘post-plantation’ era starting around the 1990s.” 

In light of these two articles, what is one important biblical lesson we should take to heart concerning issues like climate change? 1 Thessalonians 5:21 immediately comes to mind, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.” While the context of 1 Thessalonians isn’t addressing the issue at hand, Christians are called to be discerning in all things. In an era of information overload and competing headlines that scream for our attention, it is more important than ever to engage in critical thinking and ask penetrating questions about what we are being told. Thus, we should always maintain a healthy skepticism about what is being said on the issues of the day.  So, let us examine everything to discern the validity of what we are being told whether in dealing with spiritual matters or earthly concerns.

And that’s it for The Africa Review in Five on this Tuesday, August 15^th in the year of our Lord 2023. Subscribe to the Missionary Minds podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I’m Yamikani Katunga. Be not weary in well-doing.