Getting Hotter: Human influence on climate clear, IPCC says

To Our WindowViewers:

A while back we came across an article about the potential release of methane that currently is held in the permafrost of the northern latitudes.  If the permafrost region experiences temperature increases … then methane will be released into the atmosphere.  AND once that happens, warming will accelerate.  The international panel of scientists has just released new documentation and in January a report will be posted with their latest assessment.

BOTTOM LINE:  If the IPCC is correct and the further warming also influences methane releases … then the Change we speak of at WindowView will come quicker than anyone, you, us, all plain folks, could ever imagine.

—————    IPCC PRESS RELEASE  ————-

27 September 2013

Human influence on climate clear, IPCC report says

STOCKHOLM, 27 September – Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident

in most regions of the globe, a new assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes.

It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. The evidence for this has grown, thanks to more and better observations, an improved understanding of the climate system response and improved climate models.

Warming in the climate system is unequivocal and since 1950 many changes have been observed throughout the climate system that are unprecedented over decades to millennia. Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850, reports the Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group I assessment report, Climate Change 2013: the Physical Science Basis, approved on Friday by member governments of the IPCC in Stockholm, Sweden.

“Observations of changes in the climate system are based on multiple lines of independent evidence. Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased,” said Qin Dahe, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I.

Thomas Stocker, the other Co-Chair of Working Group I said: “Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.”

——————- end quotation from press release ————

We’ll provide more on the methane story in a future post.  One thing is certain, the news on climate change is heating up.  Sea level is rising, migration patterns have changed, and life on earth is shifting!

Visit our change pages at WindowView

Director, WindowVieworg

Window Related Links:
Thesis on Change
Climate Change
Historic Scientists’ Warning

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Planthopper by Design … Just Look At This!

We are certain that this blog will not be the only place where a claim of design in nature will be linked to the handy work of an Intelligent Designer. No matter where you are in terms of thinking about design being a cause for our lives … the picture of gears presented below is remarkable. Take a look, but then read the quote to follow!

Planthopper Gears on Rear legs

Planthopper Gears on Rear legs

The photo above is of a page from the September 13, 2013 Washington Post. The article states: “Its remarkable that these gears look so similar to the gears man has designed, even the individual teeth are so similar,” said Burrows, author of a study that was published online Thursday in the journal Science.’

Well, we have examples of macro-molecules at the cell level acting and functioning like machines. Too often structures like feathers seem to be accepted as the result of evolution, yet historical commentaries even back to Darwin’s contemporaries likened feathers and even metamorphosis (of a caterpillar to a butterfly) as examples of [intelligent] design. All this with good reason due to specificity, complexity, and design features that chance just does not adequately explain.

Today the argument from design holds water in many ways … only the unwillingness to venture into exploring the relevance of design and the designing intelligence behind the scenes holds us back from a full exploration of who we are and how we got here!

Could we … should we … add this to Darwin’s list of doubts? (see our article on Darwin’s Doubts)

Think about it! Enjoy! This is a wonderful example.

A Washington Post video of the gears in motion may still be viewed at this link.

Director, WindowView.org

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Help for Syrian Refugees in Jordan

The following post presents the words from a friend who is working with Operation Blessing International. We are providing Jennifer’s personal account. For additional information we refer you to Operation Blessing Intl.‘s website.

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I have been working with the Syrian refugees in Jordan for about the past year now. We just recently went to Jordan on Sept 9th. These are some pictures I took. The situation in Jordan is severe and that does not count Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and other countries where they are fleeing. To hear their stories up close and personal is heartbreaking. The people have fled with NOTHING and I repeat NOTHING. We are trying to raise money to help them. My boss was here and he is a filmmaker so he took video. You will be able to see that in a few days on www.ob.org.

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From listening to these stories, even if the US did something to deter the situation of the systematic killing of the Syrians, it would be worth it. Sometimes you have to put your comfort/thoughts/resources aside to help those in need and to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Social justice is a major theme in the bible throughout the prophets. I am in a position to change the situations of the refugees and I am going to do my best to make that happen.

Jennifer’s Coworker Providing Support

 

IMG_7649jaOf note, what you might not expect … The Israeli’s and I are working together on this. Yes, the Israelis want to help the Syrians and I am here to tell you that it is happening more than you know and more than you will hear.

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At this point we have delivered food, clothing, blankets to the refugees about 7,500 so far. We are working to meet the ongoing needs of Refugees as the come across the border with absolutely nothing. The take their family which could be as many as 12-20 people in one family and cross the border overnight. They come into the towns and villages looking for shelter and food. The UN camp is to capacity at 120,000 people. The UN is trying to build two more camps but in the mean time, the refugees overflow into the towns to stay in abandoned buildings, with families or anywhere they can find. You can see UN tents scattered around northern Jordan, one here, two there, a few clustered together. We were taken to one makeshift camp of 25 families, about 160 people. They were telling us that we were the only people who had come to help them. No one else has come. We supplied them with food and the returned with 100 blankets the next day.

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As you stand face to face with these people who are soldiers, teachers, bakers, people of every kind you can’t help but think, “if I were in your shoes what would I want you to do for me?” The only answer I can come up with is to change their situation in any way possible. That means food, water, medication, shelter, work, any type of provision is something. Each one of these areas is being considered as we address those who want to help in this situation. The winter is coming and in northern Jordan it is already cool at night. The terrain is dry and open so the wind cuts across the area and it does get very cold.

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The winter is coming and in northern Jordan it is already cool at night. The terrain is dry and open so the wind can come across the area and it does get cold. I met a few women who have newborns that they gave birth to in their tents. There is no food, no milk, no supplies for the children. They have only a little when it comes to clothing. They are stranded in a situation that needs to be changed.

There is no food, no milk, no supplies for the children. I am working with Arabs, Christians and Jews to assist the Syrians. We have cut across the political, social and religious aspects of this situation to get to the heart of the matter – meet the needs of the refugee.

Isaiah 58:6-10 speaks of a true fast and if you see the hungry to feed him, the naked to clothe them, to provide shelter for the poor wanderer with shelter. We cannot sit idly by while these people suffer. It is our duty as human beings to respond and show that we do care and that we can change the situation.

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We at WindowView.org believe that the larger picture on what is happening and will happen in the Middle East requires the compassion, understanding, and love that the Heavenly Father provides to all. If inspired, please visit Operation Blessing Intl.‘s website and consider how you might help. At the very least, be aware that the popular media hardly reports the complete story of events in the Middle East. Here are pictures from the full view.

Director, WindowView.org

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Photo Credit and Permission granted by Jennifer Allen © 2013 all rights reserved

 

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Life and Death

The are two decisions we are free to make. One choice leads to another.
The first choice is to decide on discovering the answer to : Does God exist? And part of that is founded on asking about the God who says there are no other gods. This is a singular choice.

Today the younger generations feel that they are freer to do as they choose. Opinions of their peers and networking matters. The old guidelines may still engender some respect, but the political and moral boundaries are blurred. And why not? After all we are free to choose. Right?

The response to freedom and choice is affirmative. This leads us to realize that everyone in fact has free will. And if there is a God, free will may be a gift from him. If no God, then the process of unguided events delivers us past chaos to this moment. Then, as chance would have it, the youth of today would be totally free in their choices … driven by culture, the tribe, the tribal beat of rap or even country, and a free spirit that owes nothing to anyone … perhaps not even to self.

The backdrop of history suggests that there is sufficient evidence to ask the question about God’s existence. Evidence including the walk through of that God on the earthly stage in a former time. It’s perhaps too incredible that the author of life could do that, but then no Hitchcock film was ever made without the film-master’s cameo moment. Yes, a walk-through as incredible as that may be, but then in this context our existence is also rather incredible. In fact, science can’t explain all there is to providing an explanation to how life came to be. If God exists, then there is an explanation from him.

But let’s just consider the answer to the first question is yes. The second choice is to consider life or death. God’s testimony in Scripture is an ultimate choice: Will you choose life or death?

Today humans choose their life styles and beliefs. They choose how to treat themselves and other people. The choice in the voter’s booth and opinions expressed in public or private are all driven from self. You might think it unfair that there are prejudices and discrimination in and around where you live. But at the end of the day, the choice between life and death, as referenced here, is the only real choice there is. And only you make that choice.

What hangs on the choice is purely your own destiny. As Scripture essentially puts it, you choose and the blood (consequence) of your decision making is on your hands … so we are encouraged to choose life (eternal) because the answer to the first question is yes. Saying no to life in the second choice has eternal and final consequence.

Today, the youth of this world are seeing transitions take place at a record pace. Global changes, political shifts, marketplace swings, uncertainty, change in morals and norms … the way the media reports it, all is simply a matter of fact. The real disconnect is in forgetting we ultimately have two questions to ask and two answers to give.

People get wrapped up in saying others are anti this or that, or are too political, too religious, too phobic or judgmental. Yet, ironically, take away all other sources of intellectual entanglement and you, and I, all of us, are left with two choices. This brings back all the external negatives to beg us to engage in the only positive and constructive process there is … and that is we each think, discern, and seek truth. Even if we were merely here by chance, that would be truth. But scientific evidence cannot support the merely by chance explanation. So we arrive back at the first question.

How you answer the second question will determine everything else about how you live your life. The rappers and country singers may espouse all kinds of experiences and ideologies, but if you live life by choosing life, then his walk-through means a lot to the point your life now becomes different … it becomes a walk from here into eternity.

Being alive means you can choose. Physical death ends the option to choose. Now is the time to think and choose.

Director, WindowView.org

Deuteronomy 39:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

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