Luke 21:25On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world
The 20th Century was unprecidented in human history, with a huge leap in world population, the development of WMD's, massive plagues, genocides, industrialization, pollution, famines, and natural catastrophes. Yet, even with that, the old world seems tough and we have developed new technologies in agriculture, medicine, energy, water purification and handling sewage that have given billions of people a better way of life than ever. Even as some of our race have ravaged the earth, science has been a gift that has elevated life and promised hope. God ain't through with it yet.
Below are 10 possibilities that scientists are looking at to improve the world of the future:
Wasteful energy policies, overuse of resources, water supply shortages, global climate change, and deforestation are just some of the issues experts say need to be addressed for humans to achieve sustainable living on this planet. By the year 2025, an additional 2.9 billion people will strain tightening water supplies, and the world's energy needs will go up 60 percent by 2030, according to the United Nations. LiveScience looks at 10 technologies--some old, some new, some a bit offbeat--that might help make the future a little brighter. --Sara Goudarzi
Make Paper Obsolete
Imagine curling up on the couch with the morning paper and then using the same sheet of paper to read the latest novel by your favorite author. That's one possibility of electronic paper, a flexible display that looks very much like real paper but can be reused over and over. In the United States alone, more than 55 million newspapers are sold each weekday.
Bury The Bad Stuff
Carbon dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. According to the Energy Information Administration, by the year 2030 we will be emitting close to 8,000 million metric tons of CO2. Some experts say it's impossible to curb the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere and that we just have to find ways to dispose of the gas. One suggested method is to inject it into the ground before it gets a chance to reach the atmosphere.
Let Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us
Bioremediation uses microbes and plants to clean up contamination.
Plant Your Roof
Roof gardens help absorb heat, reduce the carbon dioxide impact by taking up Co2 and giving off oxygen, absorb storm water, and reduce summer air conditioning usage.
Harness Waves and Tides
The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Waves contain an abundance of energy that could be directed to turbines, which can then turn this mechanical power into electrical.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
The biggest solar collector on Earth is our ocean mass. OTEC technologies convert the thermal energy contained in the oceans and turn it into electricity by using the temperature difference between the water's surface, which is heated, and the cold of the ocean's bottom. This difference in temperature can operate turbines that can drive generators.
Sunny New Ideas
The sun's energy, which hits Earth in the form of photons, can be converted into electricity or heat. Solar collectorscome in many different forms and are already used successfully by energy companies and individual homeowners.
The 'H' Power
Hydrogen fuel cell usage has been touted as a pollution-free alternative to using fossil fuels. They make water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. In the process, they generate electricity. The problem with fuel cells is obtaining the hydrogen.
Remove the Salt
According to the United Nations, water supply shortages will affect billions of people by the middle of this century. Desalination, basically removing the salt and minerals out of seawater, is one way to provide potable water in parts of the world where supplies are limited.
Make Oil from Just about Anything
Any carbon-based waste, from turkey guts to used tires, can, by adding sufficient heat and pressure, be turned into oil through a process called thermo-depolymerization.
God has made man incredibly resourceful. But we are also subject to the problems of greed and evil. There may be a tipping point when the evil our kind so easily generates overwhelms our ability to cope. Jesus seemed to be pointing to that day in his apocalyptic statements. Then we will see such perplexity that we can't handle it sufficiently any more.
It is funny that today our scientists have become our biggest harbingers of doom. But they are the ones looking starkly at the facts of human existence, and where our bad habits are leading us. In the end, though, it is God's mercy that sustains our planet. He has a plan for all of this that is out of this world. Otherwise, we could have already made ourselves extinct.
In the midst of the storms rocking this planet, Jesus comes walking on the water. Water is symbolic of humanity, and it is a picture of turmoil. When our resources run out and we are at the end of our rope, God is not anxious. He can and will calm the storm and teach us to walk over it.
3 comments:
Brother Al, the Environmentalist.
I actually can see that through the haze of the Atlanta traffic. Some of what they say are facts are just good guess's. Then again some are obvious to all of us. If we keep burning cutting down trees and don't replace them, where are the bees going to get their pollen? Who is going to give us the oxygen? If we keep aborting babies who may have the DNA of a great scientist, who in turn would have built the new engine that runs on dirt, we may be doing it to ourselves directly and indirectly. The answer my friend is not blowing in the wind. It is the Wind. Pneuma, the Holy Ghost. The one who changes us from being selfish ingrates to God-fearing God loving instruments of His righteousness? It may all be as you say that man will solve it all but I doubt it. Only after the Lord has subdued the nations will these things be solved. Here is my point. Atomic energy was the scientific breakthrough used for first for good or evil? They both came from the same tree. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the result. The war did end or did it?
We call it a mushroom cloud, but it does look like a tree. When we see that thing are we staring at the tree of knowledge, or just a reflection of it, or just the evil side of it?
I don't see how man can get out of this. But science obviously did a lot of good. We don't have polio any more. Technology itself may be a kind of expression of God's mercy while He waits as He did in the days of Noah. The Ark was a technological project.
I long have considered the irony in the atomic bomb. The Flood was outside of man. It came on him from God's hand. But the possibility of nuclear annihilation is completely in our hands, as if God was saying, I will never again destroy man. He will do it to himself.
It isn't wrong to think of survival or how we can help the human race. That is a part of loving our neighbor. It may not be as dramatic as holding evangelistic crusades, but it does do good, and the church shouldn't be fighting that kind of effort.
Most missional activity is like just plodding along. You go in, learn the people's ways, and try to help them correct where they are destroying themselves. You work on the spiritual and the physical.
It could be that God is speaking to us through science as well. How does the church look to the 3rd World if we don't give a hoot about them? If we don't tend to a world that was once Eden? If we are so materialistic that we gauge our spirituality by how much we consume?
Dude, I drive a Hybrid but the keyoto treaty is garbage. The worse polluters it does not stop. China and India. I realy don't think any of us want a polluted earth to be left to our Kids. First thing is first. Lets get right before the creator and then He will show us how to clean up this mess.
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