1. Operation Noah*
March /16/96
“ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalms 19:1
We have just entered the age of human-caused climate change and, if we have one moral fibre in our being, this must have huge implications for how we are to live our lives. We have to start behaving appropriately for our age - our age of climate change.
Operation Noah exists to empower you and your friends and families and congregations and community groups to do something about climate change. This presentation is just one of the materials to help you do that.
The Psalms just sing of the wonder of the world, don’t they? We need reminding sometimes, just how true they are, just how fabulous and precious and beautiful our world is. And what makes the world what it is, is the heavens, the skies, the atmosphere. We now know that the atmosphere is a wonderfully balanced mix of gases that holds the earth at just the right temperature for abundant life.
18 September 2018

2. The greenhouse effect allows life on earth
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
The greenhouse effect allows life on earth
I’m sure you’ve all know about the greenhouse effect. It actually allows life on earth because it absorbs infrared radiation coming from the earth and keeps us warm. If we didn’t have it, the heat coming from the sun would be radiated back again and the earth would be nearly 30C colder than it is now and completely lifeless. The main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and water vapour, and we have just the right amount of them to keep our world at a temperature that allows ice at the poles, glaciers on the mountain tops and tropical rainforests as well. The skies do, indeed, proclaim the work of his hands.
So, how has the amount of one of these greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, changed over time?

3. The last 160,000 years (from ice cores) and the next 100 years
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
700
CO2 in 2100
(with business as usual)
600
Double pre-industrial CO2
500
Lowest possible CO2
stabilisation level by 2100
400
CO2 concentration (ppm)
CO2 now
300
This graph shows how carbon dioxide levels have changed over 160,000 years. And you can see how it goes up and down naturally, long before we were around to change it. Agriculture emerged here, at the end of the last ice age. Now since the industrial revolution we’ve has been burning oil and coal and gas like there’s no tomorrow and throwing extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As you can see it’s gone up and it’s already higher than its been for at least 160,000 years and possibly for 60 million years. And it’s predicted to go way higher.
Now, you know that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. What do you think the temperature graph will look like?
200
100
160
120 80 40
Now
18 September 2018
Time (thousands of years)

4. The last 160,000 years (from ice cores) and the next 100 years
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
700
CO2 in 2100
(with business as usual)
600
Double pre-industrial CO2
500
Lowest possible CO2
stabilisation level by 2100
400
CO2 concentration (ppm)
CO2 now
300 10
Temperature
difference
from now °C
Yes, it follows really well! This red line is temperature and this tiny blip here at the end shows that it’s just starting to rise. You don’t have to be a climate scientist to see that basically, we aint seen nothing yet. This little blip has already increased the intensity of hurricanes, has already caused thousands of seabirds to die of starvation, has already drowned polar bears, has already caused 150,000 deaths per year, unseasonable hot summers, more droughts, more floods. If this little blip has caused such changes, where will BAS be taking us?
And we know this latest increase is due to us…..
200
–10
100
160
120 80 40
Now
18 September 2018
Time (thousands of years)

5. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; Ps 33:5
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; Ps 33:5
But of course, it’s even worse than that. It is us rich who are responsible for climate change, and it is the poor of our world who will not only see the greatest effects, but will also be less equipped to deal with them.
I produce 50 times as much CO2 as a Bangladeshi, yet it is his home and his land that will be drowned by sea-level rise and intense storms. And he will have no insurance.
This is injustice on a huge scale, isn’t it?
Christian Aid
18 September 2018

6. You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
Operation Noah*
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use –
To bring forth food from the earth,
Ps 104:14
March /16/96
2.5o warming in average Earth temp. puts million extra people at risk of hunger by 2080
3o million (or billion),
3-4o – million3
[It is us who have caused this problem, it is the people in poor countries who will suffer. Climate change will be cruel – scientists tell us that it will mean more droughts where water is scarce and more intense rainfall where floods are already a problem.]
Recently, the UK Hadley Centre revealed a new study that indicates nearly one-third of the world's land surface could be at risk of extreme drought by the end of the century.
You know some people are still saying that climate change isn’t understood well enough to justify action – well this is the sort of thing that scientists are uncertain about – whether it’s 65 million or 5.5 billion people that won’t be getting enough to eat. Not a reason for inaction!
How many of your churches see climate change as an environmental problem. And poverty, AIDS, more of a “Christian” calling? The Make Poverty History campaign fitted into our thinking, didn’t it, whereas climate change was just a green issue – Friends of the Earth will deal with that one for us! Well, Tearfund, is leading the other development agencies in finally waking up to what climate change means to all their hopes for the third world – that there is no way we can solve the problems of malnutrition, water, child mortality, disease without first tackling climate change.
Climate change is set to become the main reason why the earth will not be bringing forth enough food. It threatens to make poverty here to stay.
18 September 2018
Christian Aid

7. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Ps 104:24
And of course the change in weather will mean ecosystems will have to move to continue to exist – which, of course, they can’t – trees can’t walk. So they’ll disappear instead and there will be a mass extinction – the 6th that the planet has seen and this time it will have been caused by us. And it’s happening already! The golden toad is the first known victim of climate change. (PS this is a golden frog, my WWF contact couldn’t find a golden toad and said no one would notice the difference)
15-37% of species committed to extinction by 2050 (mid-range warming)5
18 September 2018
WWF

8. Operation Noah*
March /16/96
Polar ice sheet thickness down by 40% in 20 years.6 Polar bear birth rate already declining.
There are some lovely children’s stories about polar bears – but I can’t enjoy them – it’s just too tragic that these amazing animals, so appealing to children, might not be there for our children.
These all look to you
to give them their food
in due season;
Ps 104:27
18 September 2018
WWF

9. the stork has its home in the fir trees. Ps 104:16-17
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
Ps 104:16-17
This is a rain forest. What do we all know about rain forests? They harbour 70% of land species. They absorb carbon dioxide. They are the lungs of the world. For now. But climate change is set to change all that. As temperatures rise and rainfall drops by 2080, the Hadley Centre predicts that the Amazon may dry up, becoming a source of CO2 instead of a sink, releasing tonnes and tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and increasing temperatures still further – a positive feedback effect. It’s this sort of positive feedback that might lead to runaway temperatures – the higher in temperature we go the more likely we are to get into this sort of situation. Another positive feedback is the melting of the ice caps – meaning more heat is absorbed by the dark sea or land instead of being reflected back into space by the white snow. It’s because of these feedbacks that we can’t turn back the clock on temperature rise. We can’t leave it to our children to turn down the heat when we’ve had our good lives, once the earth goes past a certain point, nature takes over and takes it further – it will not be possible for our children to sort out the mess we’ve made for them.
18 September 2018
WWF

10. A 2°C increase in water temperature will kill a coral reef
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
A 2°C increase in water temperature will kill a coral reef
Anyone know who this is? Nemo and his daddy. Coral reefs are not only beautiful, they are crucial to the life of the seas! They are nurseries to one quarter of the ocean’s fish. Scientists predict that the Great Barrier Reef will be dead within a human lifetime. Nemo will have to go back to the fish tank.
So that’s what the scientists are saying is going to happen if we don’t get our act together. Another thing that the scientists are saying is that we have the technology to reduce emissions by what is needed – it is just a matter of political will. Basically, we have to do it. And we can do it. So let’s get on with it!
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
Ps 104:25
18 September 2018
Jim Cox

11. What can we do? Operation Noah CEL/CTBI Sign the Climate Covenant
March /16/96
What can we do?
Operation Noah
CEL/CTBI
Sign the Climate Covenant
Cut the Carbon
Spread the word
This is where these cards come in! These cards give you, and your friends and families and churches and community groups the opportunity to start to make contraction and convergence happen.
Here’s what we can do! Firstly, by Signing the Climate Covenant we are empowering our government to do what they must already know is the right thing to do. We live in a democracy – governments will find it easier to do the right thing if they have a political mandate to do it. Unless we tell them that climate change is important to us – more important maybe than how much tax we pay, having cheap petrol and cheap holidays in the sun, they will find it hard to do what is needed to be done. This card will tell them that we care about the world, we care about the poor and we want them to act. And it also commits you to take action in your own life to reduce your own contribution.
18 September 2018

12. 2. Cut the Carbon (1) 1. Switch to green electricity One phone call
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
2. Cut the Carbon (1)
1. Switch to green electricity
One phone call
Get estimate of costs from uswitch.com
If you go for Good Energy or Green Energy, Operation Noah will get £7 commission to help us finance the campaign
Do try and switch to one of the greenest suppliers e.g. Good Energy, Green Energy, Ecotricity
This part is for us to do the right thing.
Operation Noah recommends buying green electricity. One of the most effective, long term, single thing you can do to reduce your contribution to climate change is to switch your household (or church, or business) to green electricity. It is so simple, so easy, and involves no life style change whatsoever. It can be more expensive, but may also be cheaper. And if it is more expensive, combining it with a few low energy light bulbs and turning things off a bit more and you’ll probably still be better off. And even if you’re not, should our decisions always be based solely on financial considerations?
18 September 2018

13. 2. Cut the Carbon (2) 2. Avoid air travel
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
2. Cut the Carbon (2)
2. Avoid air travel
Flying is the most polluting form of transport. One long haul trip uses up a person’s entire annual fair share of carbon emissions.
3. Tell your MP
Write to your MP, tell them that you have signed the Climate Covenant with Operation Noah and ask them what he or she is doing to avert dangerous climate change.
I know a lot of your friends and family won’t want to hear this, but the other big thing we can do is not to fly. It may be a nice cheap holiday, it may be to a beautiful eco-lodge somewhere, but by flying off to see the world we are helping to destroy the world.
And thirdly, tell your MP, write to him or her, visit them, tell them you’ve signed the climate covenant and ask them what they’re doing about climate change.
18 September 2018

14. 3. Spread the word – Operation Noah has everything you need
March /16/96
3. Spread the word – Operation Noah has everything you need
Video/DVD
Talks and power point presentation
Sample services
Drama sketch
Magazine articles
Leaflets – please take some today
So you’ve signed the covenant, you’ve taken action yourself, and the third thing you can do is to spread the word and get other people on board! So take extra leaflets and hand them out to friends and family, think about other groups that might benefit from hearing this stuff and go and talk to them – there’s plenty of resources on our web site – or phone the contact number if you need any help.
18 September 2018

15. Operation Noah*
March /16/96
References
1 Table 2a. 'Impacts on human systems due to Temperature rise, precipitation change and increases in extreme events', page 1;
2 Ecosystem Loss and its Implications for Greenhouse Gas Concentration Stabilisation, John Lanchbery
3 Antarctic ice sheets and sea level rise, Chris Rapley, British Antartic Survey.
4 Relationship between increases in global mean temperature and impacts on ecosystems, food production, water and socio-economic systems, Bill Hare,
5 Responses of Species to Changes in Climate Determine Climate Protection Targets (Rick Leemans)
6 Steering committee report
Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, Feb 1-3, 2005 Met Office, Exeter
7Hadley Centre Nov 2000 update
Operation Noah and CEL do try to keep references for anything we say so you should be able to trust what we say!
18 September 2018

16. “Who then is that faithful and wise steward?” Luke 12:42
Operation Noah*
March /16/96
“Who then is that faithful and wise steward?”
Luke 12:42
You know all the talk about creationism and Darwinism and Intelligent Design, well, The Rev. Rich Cizik, of the National Association of Evangelicals in the US has said, "I don't think God is going to ask us how he created the earth, but he will ask us what we did with what he created."
I believe that question won’t just be asked of America, or China, it will be asked of each one of us, by God, and by our children and grandchildren: “what did you do in the war against climate change?”
I believe that there is so much we can do in our own little corner of space and time and when we’ve done all we can do, we just have to leave the rest to God and pray that what we do is part of his overall plan and that he will take our efforts and prayers and tears and turn them into hope for his creation.
So, I hope I have encouraged you to behave appropriately for our age. Please help yourselves to leaflets and videos - £ 5 or free to borrow and go back to your churches and community groups and empower them, give them the opportunity to act.
(Maybe end with prayer – e.g. modified Serenity Prayer: God, grant me the courage to change the things I can; and only then to accept the things I cannot change; and wisdom to know the difference.)
This power point presentation noah-slideshow-short.ppt was compiled and written by Ruth Jarman +44 (0)
Ruth Jarman
+44 (0)
18 September 2018