Thursday, May 24, 2012

Global Warming - From Science to Religion

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gw.jpgGlobal Warming - From Science to Religion
Ahmad Antar One True Path - March 2007 
Nature maintains very complex systems that control our environment and sustain human life on our planet. The earth is surrounded by a gaseous blanket which stabilizes the atmosphere and its temperature. This blanket consists mainly of carbon dioxide and other various gases such as methane and nitrous oxide. The blanket, which is also referred to as the Greenhouse gases, acts like a net that traps the heat near the surface of the earth keeping it approximately 60 F warmer than it would be without that blanket. Averagely through the whole year, the sun sends about 340 watts of energy per square meter of the Earth. Some of this energy gets absorbed by the Earth while about 24o Watts get reflected back.
Carbon Dioxide concentration increases due to various factors such as the excess emission of the petroleum, coal power plants, industrial waste emissions, burning oil and the elimination of vegetation, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. The latter increase will definitely lead to the potential for future climate change basically a global warming.

What will happen if global warming continues on the same track? One of the recent top stories on the news was the break of the Ayles Ice Shelf at Ellesmere Island . Bigger than 11000 football fields, the ice shelf is the largest such break in nearly three decades. The melting glaciers, such as the rapidly diminishing ice cap on Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro or the frequent collapse of an Antarctic ice shelves will lead into a massive destabilization of ice accumulation which will raise the sea level for more likely twenty feet more its current state. Example of this phenomenon is a recent study that confirms that 2000 Indonesian Islands will disappear by 2030. Another face of effects shows that high temperatures proved a spectacular dry out soils, and vegetation and exacerbate drought conditions. An example of this, the warmer temperature caused an increase in the burning of forests. To deepen the problem, recent studies proved that increasing hurricanes are coming from the significant warm areas of the ocean surface. In addition, Global warming is expected to increase deadly heat waves and the spread of disease. It also disrupts ecosystem and species die-off where studies show that more than one million species could be committed to extinction by 2050 if global warming pollution is not curtailed.

Where does God fit in the formula of the global environmental changes? The first interfaith committee to show support for environmental protection started in Australia .  Faith communities – including Christian churches, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Bahais, Hindus and Aboriginal Australians – issued statements of common belief on climate change.

Islam clearly presents a complete preservation of the environment. God clearly talks about the balance in the nature. He created the world of life on Earth and set a balanced system to control it. Furthermore, Allah asked man not to cause instability in this balance. The Quran mentions: “And the heaven He (God) raised high and set up the balance, That you may not transgress the balance” (Al-Rahman 55:8-9). Recent studies assure that humans are involved in the climate changes through their abusive activities towards the environment. God presents this clearly in the Quran and calls man to abide by him, “And create not disorder in the earth after it has been set in order, and call upon Him in fear and in hope. Surely, the mercy of Allah is nigh unto those who do good.”  (Al-Ara’af 7:57).
Additionally, Prophet Muhammad (saw) says in a Hadith that the world is green and beautiful and God has appointed us his stewards towards it. He (saw) also advised humans to keep on planting up until the last day on Earth. Learning from these teachings; humans should guard the earth by maintaining responsibility towards environment. 

Consequently, Science and Islam meet again on the conclusion that man’s greed and arrogance drove him to abuse the environment and encumber the balance in the system. Since the Industrial revolution, the world is turned into a race between the nations to conquer, expand and mobilize faster. This mistreatment of natural resources and creation of wastes caused the climate to change dramatically. The Quran mentions: "Corruption have spread on land and sea because of what men's hands has wrought, that He may make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil.." (Al-Rum 30:42)

Humans have to work together to solve the problem. It is their planet, their problem and their responsibility to meet the obligation set by God to preserve the environmental balance…

                                                                                                                                                                 

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