A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions [Hardcover]

Katharine Hayhoe (Author), Andrew Farley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2009

Global warming: it's one of the hottest scientific and political issues of today. And yet we've all found ourselves asking . . .

- It's freezing outside--where's global warming now?
- Climate is always changing--how do we know this isn't just a cycle?
- Why should Christians care about global warming when we know the world won't end that way?

For all the talk about climate change, there's still a great deal of debate about what it all means, especially among Christians. A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE offers straightforward answers to these questions, without the spin. This book untangles the complex science and tackles many long-held misconceptions about global warming. Authored by a climate scientist and a pastor, A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE boldly explores the role our Christian faith can play in guiding our opinions on this important global issue. (2009)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In the midst of one of the most heated debates of my lifetime, there are some voices that offer calm and respectful insight to people of faith. Balancing passion with civility, Hayhoe and Farley speak with such a voice. No matter what you believe about climate change's causes or effects, A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE will challenge you to think critically about both the issue and your responsibility to respond." (Jonathan Merritt, faith and culture writer, national spokesperson, Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative 2009)

"As Christians committed to the truth in both science and faith, Katharine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley present a compelling case for why addressing climate change is a part of what it means to be a Christian today." (Larry J. Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation and author of Last Chance 2008)

"This engaging book has everything you need to understand the climate change debate: facts, answers, stories, and of course Scripture. It will inform the merely curious or answer the skeptic or equip the person who wants to fix the problem. I loved it!" (Dr. Joel C. Hunter, senior pastor, Northland: A Church Distributed, Orlando, Florida 2009)

"Yes, Lord! A scientist and a pastor writing a book together about faith and global warming! How cool is that? What a beautiful sign of the times we are living in. A whole movement of Christians are convinced that our faith in the God of heaven has to affect the way we live on this earth. May this book continue to move us closer to God's dream for the world." (Shane Claiborne, author and activist )

"Climate scientists are best able to tell us if, how, and why Earth's climate is changing. Ethicists and religious scholars and leaders are best able to tell us how we should respond to the knowledge that science provides. Authored by a climate scientist and a religious leader, this book provides a unique perspective on Christian responses to the findings of climate science. Anyone who is open to messages from both science and Christian Scriptures will be struck by the insight and synthesis of this remarkable author team. With clarity unusual in science reports and impeccable logic, A CLIMATE FOR CHANGE is a compelling call to action." (James J. McCarthy, Agassiz Professor of Oceanography, Harvard University, and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science )

"This is a book all Christians should read. It makes the science, the issues, and even the misunderstandings come alive. Christians need to help in the fight against climate change and its effects. Jesus calls Christians to serve 'the least of these'-the poor and oppressed of the developing world-who are most affected by climate change. This book is a compelling call to action for any Christian who cares about the issues our world is facing today. And that should be all of us." (Dean Hirsch, president, World Vision International )

About the Author

Katharine Hayhoe is a professor in the Department of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and CEO of ATMOS Research, a scientific consulting company. She contributed her research to and served as Expert Reviewer for the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Katharine's work has been presented before the U.S. Congress, highlighted by state and federal agencies, and featured in over 200 newspapers and media outlets around the world.

Andrew Farley is the lead teaching pastor of Ecclesia (EcclesiaOnline.com) and co-hosts Real Life in Christ, a 30-minute program that airs every week on ABC-TV in the West Texas area. Andrew served as a professor at the University of Notre Dame for five years and is now a tenured professor at Texas Tech University. Andrew has coauthored three textbooks and more than a dozen journal articles. He is also the author of The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church. (2009)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: FaithWords; 1 edition (October 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446549568
• ISBN-13: 978-0446549561
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #661,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars understandable and useful, January 20, 2010

By 

S. Mosher (Arlington, VA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions (Hardcover)

The faith in the "faith-based decisions" of the title is narrowly cast as the religion of American Christians who favor a literal interpretation of the Bible. Hayhoe and Farley stake out their territory early -- "We don't worship the earth. We worship the Creator of the universe." However, they also proclaim that they "believe in common sense," and that's where they make a valuable contribution toward bringing current climate science into the average person's living room. Instead of arguing about whether the earth is only a few thousand years old or billions, they look at the scientific evidence for global warming and counter some popular misconceptions about what the studies actually show and where areas of uncertainty remain. The book's largish print, punchy sentences, and full color charts keep the technical information accessible and help readers understand that disagreement among scientists about the details - such as why northern ice caps are melting faster than expected -- doesn't mean there is gross disagreement about the general arc of climate trends. And for the reader who remains unconvinced of the reality of global warming, they suggest a medical analogy: If your doctor said you had symptoms of early signs of a serious illness, wouldn't you want to do what you could to prevent the full onset of that illness?

Much environmental advocacy stops there and says, in effect, humans made the mess, so we are obligated to clean it up. That's not a very inspiring or motivating message. Hayhoe and Farley take a different tactic, one that could be emulated by any faith community using the language of its own holy teachings. They base their call for action not on the guilty conscience of the materialistic West, but on the need for compassion. Hayhoe's research on the possible effects of global warming paints a dismal picture of the potential suffering that billions of the world's poorest could face. The obligation on Christians, they argue, is to stop being ignorant or indifferent about climate change and to act, even if it's in just some small way: "Doing something, anything, about climate change is a step in the direction of caring for people." The book offers a very lean menu of suggested actions - use less heat and electricity, swap out incandescent bulbs for fluorescents, take your own shopping bags to the store, replace worn-out appliances and cars with more efficient models. The reader who has become motivated to act may be disappointed that more ideas aren't offered, but additional resources for environmentally smart living are listed in the back of the book.

For the final contrarian holdouts, the book concludes with reasons why efforts to slow the effects of climate change do not have to be expensive, anti-development, destructive to the economy, or dependent on technology that hasn't been invented yet. True global warming skeptics probably would never make it to those final pages, but the arguments may be helpful to readers seeking a way to justify to their friends why they've started lightening their footprint on the earth.

I give extra points for the discussion questions in the back that make this a potential small group study aid. Also, to keep the flow of the text clean, the authors avoided footnotes and endnotes, but readers who want to know more will find all their sources listed at the end of the book, including dozens of current scientific articles.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended, October 27, 2009

By 

L. Moore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions (Hardcover)

I am a scientist who had the pleasure of reviewing this book as it went to press. Written by a climate scientist and an evangelical pastor, "A Climate for Change" clearly explains the science and the urgency of global warming in a way that I hope will resonate with Christian readers.

The book makes it clear that global warming is a scientific reality, not something driven by a political agenda. Furthermore, the authors drive home the point that doing something about global warming is "a step in the direction of caring for people". Quite simply, fighting global warming is the right thing to do.

I hope this well written, visually appealing and morally powerful book reaches a wide audience.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good background; aimed at the non-scientist; clear and easy to follow, November 5, 2009

By 

Sergio (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions (Hardcover)

This is a good resource for information about what we can know about global warming and it's likely causes, presented in simple, straightforward terms, and interspersed with a solid biblical basis for why we should educate ourselves and why we should care. Basic historical, ecological, and geological data are presented and compared by a qualified scientist and evangelical pastor; the current state of consensus is presented; and predictions of 10 or 20 years ago are compared to actual changes and to updated predictions of the past few years.

If you really want to respond to this issue as a Christian (and you MUST), this book gives you the information you need to help choose a Christian response. Also a good resource for discussing these issues with family members and those Christians you know who still don't buy the idea that humans might actually be destroying the incredible gift God gave us to live on.

Highly recommended.

Two criticisms: 1) they seem to spend more time than is necessary in hammering home the main points, sometimes referencing backup data more again. As an engineer and scientist, this may just be my impatience to get to the conclusions/recommendations once I'm on board with the facts and statistics, so someone less knowledgable of the background info provided may not find it repetitive. 2) I really wanted to get to the 'how do we respond' bit, but this part turned out to be a bit weak. Yes, it lists a lot of things an individual or family can do, but not much sound theological reasons for any of them, and a bit of a "if you do anything, it's better than nothing" kind of recommendation. Still, the info is there for anyone who really wants to use it.