A Canadian scientist is incorporating Christian values when lecturing about climate change as part of her crusade to motivate evangelicals to help address the global phenomena.
Katherine Hayhoe, who is married to an evangelical church pastor, recently took her mission to a college lecture hall in Midland, a small oil town in Texas, "slipping from science to Scripture without missing a beat,'' according to News Max, citing Maclean's, a national weekly in Canada.
Earlier, she released a book that she wrote together with her husband Andrew Farley titled "A Climate for Change, Global Warming Facts for Faith-based Decisions.''
'For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind," she said, quoting from a verse from Paul's second epistle to Timothy.
"Our response to climate change was never intended to come from a place of fear. God has given us three amazing gifts. He's given us a spirit of power to get things done, a spirit of love and — as a scientist, this is my favourite — a sound mind. Who knew? God gave us a sound mind to make good decisions, using the information He's given us."
Hayhoe also explained to Midland audience Christ's love for humanity and how developed nations ignored love by doing things that actively harm developing countries.
"That's why our Christian values are integral to how we treat this issue. Far from holding us back, or making us doubt, or saying there's nothing we can do, our values demand we be on the forefront of this issue. That's what we as Christians are called to do."
Hayhoe reportedly specialises in building localised statistical models which governments from California to Massachusetts use to prepare for a future onslaught of drought, or unprecedented rainfall.
She currently heads the Climate Science Center of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and has contributed to reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, according to Maclean's.
She is also set to be at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris on behalf of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Despite her desire to help educate the public about global warming, Hayhoe said she still often receives torrents of online mail hate from conservative critics.
For 58-year-old petroleum geologist Bob Altany, who has attended the Midland lecture, Hayhoe's way of preaching faith-based solutions or integrating Christian values in addressing climate change should be viewed as a positive approach to changing perception or attitude in solving the global problem.
"What I find hopeful is she's using faith to convince people," he said. "Yes, we really do need to take action. Yes, it can do good, and that alone should motivate us. This is something God wants."
