Climate Change Is Good for British Birds

Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Every day there seems to be a news story about climate change. Notice that they always call it climate change these days because they are afraid that the temperatures go down as well as up, but what they really mean is Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). Television documentaries featuring famous broadcasters berate us, telling us what disasters await us if we do not cut our greenhouse emissions by drastic amounts. Now, we have discussed the fallacies of greenhouse emission warnings before. In this Creation Moment, I want to look at just one scientific report on the effect of AGW on wildlife.

Researchers at the British Trust for Ornithology examined population figures for the 68 species of birds that breed in England between 1966 and 2015. Of these birds, 23 species had populations that had been significantly affected by climate change. Here’s the thing – 19 of those species had actually increased populations during that time period, while the other 4 had decreased. Some species, like the little egret, had also increased their range; the little egret had spread from southern England into northern England. 13 species had populations up by at least 10%.

The researchers seemingly had to undermine their own conclusions. One researcher commented that if the world kept on warming, “some of those positives may well switch to negatives”. His own research suggests not.

Once again, we must remember that climate is governed by God, and He is never caught off guard.

Prayer: Father, we trust into Your hands all that You have given to us. We pray that we might be good stewards of the natural world around us, bringing glory to You by our care for Your creation. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Vaughan, A. (2019), Climate change has created more bird winners than losers in England, < https://www.newscientist.com/article/2214952-climate-change-has-created-more-bird-winners-than-losers-in-england/ >, accessed 8/31/2019. Image: Little Egret in flight, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported.