With a background in theology, Dr. Cal Beisner has been fighting climate change alarmists for a quarter-century ever since he convinced 30-plus other scholars to sign their names to The Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship.
From that declaration, published in 1999, came the Cornwall Alliance.
Beisner’s biggest concern over the years is the poorest of the poor, meaning the billions who live in Third World countries and who are trying to survive day to day with a make-do shelter, little food, and a simple cooking source.
Beisner witnessed that heart-breaking poverty as a child growing up in Calcutta, India, so he sees the arm-twisting demand to switch to wind and solar as a cruel insult.
"What we're asking developing countries to do,” he warns, “is to leapfrog from no significant energy, other than just burning wood and dry dung, to extremely expensive, unreliable energy from wind and solar.”
What that does, he summarizes, is trap them in poverty.
Asked how Christians should respond to the climate change debate, he said the Church should first get educated on the subject, make the poor around the world a priority, and understand the cost-benefit ratios of switching to all-green energy.
“This is something that's unfortunately often neglected by the alarmist side, when they tell us that we need to transition from coal and natural gas to wind and solar, as primary sources for electricity,” he warns. “They are neglecting the fact that the cost of doing so will exceed the benefits by many times over."
