At least since the early 13th century when Thomas Aquinas dominated the theological, philosophical and intellectual landscape of The Western World , orthodox Christian thinking has considered Reason one of God's greatest gifts, and as such, a gift to be used to maximum effect.
Just yesterday, I stumbled on the following Tertullian quotes:
"For reason is a property of God's, since there is nothing which God, the creator of all things, has not foreseen, arranged and determined by reason; moreover, there is nothing He does not wish to be investigated and understood by reason."
"I demand
reason in his [Marcion's god] goodness, because nothing ought to be accounted
good which is not rationally good: far less should goodness itself be found
irrational. It will be easier for evil, vouched for by some manner of
reason, to be mistaken for good, than for good abandoned by reason to escape
condemnation as evil."
It is striking that America's Religious Right does not even contemplate the moral consequence of treating God's great gift with disdain, if not contempt.
If, as Evangelicals and fundamentalists believe, "God is a jealous God given to vengeance," there is ample reason to be concerned over the deliberate invocation of "his" wrath.
***
Drought expanding rapidly, now covers 63% of U.S.
It was more of the same triple-digit temperatures and moisture-starved reports from the Midwest last week, prompting the USDA’s Drought Monitor to show the largest one-week jump in extreme drought growth during the report’s 12-year history.
Nationally, drought conditions have grown for the 10th consecutive week. More than 63 percent of the contiguous United States is now considered in moderate to exceptional drought. Specifically, 1,369 counties across 31 states have been declared drought-disaster areas.
"We’ve seen tremendous intensification of drought through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska, and into part of Wyoming and South Dakota in the last week," Brian Fuchs, author of the Drought Monitor, said in the statement.
The Weather Channel noted that the growth of extreme drought in the country expanded this week by 219,000 miles, an area slightly larger than the states of California and New York combined. The percentage of the continental U.S. in severe to exceptional drought set a new high for the second week straight, increasing from 42.23 percent last week to 45.57 this week.
Many states saw dramatic changes in drought conditions. Illinois, now at 70 percent in extreme to exceptional drought, climbed 62 percentage points from 8 percent last week. Nebraska also showed a striking uptick in these brutal drought conditions, jumping from 5 percent to 64 percent. See how your state is doing here.
USA TodayThe drought, the most severe since the 1950s, is expected to cost at least $12 billion.
"There does seem to be near-unanimous agreement from industry experts that this year's drought losses will surpass the $12 billion recorded in 2011," meteorologist Steve Bowen of Aon Benfield, a global reinsurance firm, told USA Today.
Currently, 29 percent of the Midwest is in extreme to exceptional drought. Just 13 percent – mainly in northern Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota – are free from any sort of dryness.
"Right now, it is difficult to say whether we end up reaching the loss levels of 1988 ($40 billion) and 1980 ($20 billion), given that it will be several months for agricultural industries to fully assess the total extent of their losses," Bowen said.
When these losses are adjusted for inflation, the drought cost a whopping $78 billion in 1988 and $56 billion in 1980.
David Friedberg, founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based Climate Corporation, estimates that yields for the 160-million acres of corn and soybeans planted across the nation this year will eventually be 30 percent lower than a typical weather year.
Despite the struggles facing the brutal wrath of Mother Nature, the conditions are still a far cry from the height of the Dust Bowl in July 1934 when 80 percent of the country was in drought conditions.
click image to zoom
USA TodayThe graphic at right shows that vast differences between the two years, further stifling rumors of the 2012 Midwest drought turning into a repeat of the Dust Bowl. Click the graphic to see the animation.
click image to zoom
USA TodayThe graphic at right shows that vast differences between the two years, further stifling rumors of the 2012 Midwest drought turning into a repeat of the Dust Bowl. Click the graphic to see the animation.
Instead, Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, suggests instead comparing the current drought with that of 1988.
“Right now the year this matches up best with is 1988,” Fuchs told The Weather Channel. “That was the last real significant drought that hit the Corn Belt as significantly as this one.”
Fuchs also noted that while each state has different moisture deficits, most areas are needing 16 to 18 inches to make up for the lost rainfall.
“We just don’t make those up overnight,” Fuchs said.
In the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, the forecast for drought conditions through October 31 has no positive outlook for the Midwest. The vast majority of these key corn and soybean growing states are expected to remain in a persistent drought.
***
2012 has proven to be an exceptionally warm year in the U.S. More daily record high temperatures have already been set or tied (with 5 months remaining) than during 2011 in its entirety. There have been about 10 times as many record highs as record lows. When considering connections to global warming and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, it’s important to recognize the area of the U.S. represents less than 4 percent of the globe and 2012 is just one year in a long history.
U.S. has hottest month on record in July 2012 NOAA says
Temperatures compared to normal in July across the Lower 48 states (Regional Climate Centers)In 118 years of U.S. records, July 2012 stands as king, hotter than any month previously observed. NOAA reports today that the average temperature across the continental U.S. was 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th century average, 0.2 degrees hotter than the previous record set in July, 1936.
Not only was the month of July unrivaled for its hot temperatures across the nation, but so too were the first seven months of the calendar year and the last 12 months. In fact, the last four 12-month periods have each successively established new records for the warmest period of that length.
Warmest 12-month periods on record. The last four 12-month periods rank as the #1, #2, #3, and #4 warmest. View big. (NOAA)In this most recent 12-month span from August 2011-July 2012, every state observed warmer than average temperatures except Washington state, which was near average.
During July, some of the hottest temperature occurred in the Plains, Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. Virginia had its hottest July on record, a full 4 degrees above average. Maryland’s July was 3rd hottest on record. In 32 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states, July ranked among the top 10 hottest. At least 35 cities/towns had their hottest day on record (any day of the year).
Precipitation as a percent of normal in July across the Lower 48 states (Regional Climate Center )The hot weather was intimately linked to the drought, which expanded to nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 in July. In a vicious cycle, high temperatures accelerated evaporation which dried up the land surface allowing it to heat up even more.
The worst of the drought centered in the Midwest and Plains. Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri had July precipitation totals ranking among their ten driest. NOAA said the area of the country in extreme to exceptional drought doubled from 10 percent in June to 22 percent in July. The drought reached the most extensive levels since December 1956.
The hot and dry conditions also stoked blazing wildfires, which consumed more than 2 million acres in July. That's a half a million acres above average, and the fourth most on record since 2000.
Links to climate change?
2012 has proven to be an exceptionally warm year in the U.S. More daily record high temperatures have already been set or tied (with 5 months remaining) than during 2011 in its entirety. There have been about 10 times as many record highs as record lows.
When considering connections to global warming and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, it’s important to recognize the area of the U.S. represents less than 4 percent of the globe and 2012 is just one year in a long history.
Having said that, global temperatures have also been running warm. While NOAA’s global report for July temperatures has not yet been issued, June ranked 4th warmest on record globally and marked the 328th consecutive month of above average temperatures.
As global temperatures have been elevated for some time and long-term averages are rising, it’s likely the same influences acting on global temperatures are also affecting temperatures on smaller scales.
In other words, increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are probably increasing the odds of these exceptionally warm years/months wherever one resides.
