Saturday, October 4, 2008

Global warming and bacon wrapped dates

About three years ago my cousin was getting married and somehow while the family was gathered and enjoying appetizers and light conversation, the topic turned to "global warming". You may or may not remember this as the predecessor to what we refer to today as "climate change". Anyhow, her fiance said that he believed that the polar ice caps were melting and that in five years most of Vancouver Island would be underwater. Everyone smiled politely and continued enjoying themselves and the tasty appetizers. To me this was an extraordinary statement and I couldn't believe my ears. "Do you really believe that we will be underwater in five years?", I asked incredulously. He looked me right in the eyes and without any doubt he said, "Absolutely" and then he ate another bacon wrapped date. (Which by the way might sound strange but is actually very delicious)

I sat there silently pondering the enormity of what he had said. I kept waiting for him to notice me watching him, and then look at me and laugh, "Naw! I'm kidding!" We would've all had a good laugh and then carried on but that never happened. We never discussed it again.

To be honest, even today, I don't know what to think about his dire prophecy. You may be reading this and thinking "You moron, of course the sea level is rising and if you're smart you'll buy a cabin in the mountains because soon it's going to be worth a lot more when it becomes oceanfront property". Or maybe you're thinking, "It's happening slower than five years but it's happening nonetheless". Ok, ok, I won't argue that. However, what I find extraordinary is that even though my cousin-in law believed it so definitively, he didn't seem to be acting like he believed it. I mean, they bought a house in Parksville. Which is on Vancouver Island. Probably no more than five feet above sea level. And if you do the math we only have two years left before everyone who lives on the coast who doesn't have a set of Kevin Costner waterworld gills is going to have a really bad day.

I personally don't think it would be sufficient to move to higher ground on Vancouver Island. If his prediction comes true, this whole coast will be chaos and pandemonium. There will be no ferry terminals, no airports, few dry roads. No way on or off the island.

Maybe he's still planning to move. Yeah, maybe he's trying to decide between becoming a Tibetan monk or working in the oil sands. Calgary is the city with the highest elevation in Canada so that would make sense. Mount Ararat would be another good place to lay low and chill until things to settle out.

This brings me to number two on the list of "Wisest creatures on earth"...
The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags;- Proverbs 30:26
If we believe something shouldn't our actions back up what we believe? Why do we say we believe God's Word but don't act like it? We trust our money, our friends, our physical strength. This is the comforting, soft field we make our little nests in when we should be hidden in the Rock. It's probably a lot harder work every morning and night after gathering food and water to climb back up into the crags. It's definitely not as comfortable, but when storms and predators come it's safe and definitely wiser.

The result of all this? Well, after digesting a date wrapped in something I completely didn't expect and after my self-righteous critique of my cousin-in-law's beliefs and resulting actions about the physical world I realised I had my own contradictory issue to deal with... My beliefs and actions about the spiritual one. Argh.

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