Visit the new Google site devoted to climate change and the upcoming Copenhagen conference and you will encounter the latest version of the popular Google Earth application. An upgrade from an earlier application, EarthViewer, Google Earth was released in 2005 and in a few short years has earned a great deal of popularity, particularly in schools, where it has proven to be a very helpful aid in teaching geography in a fun and interactive way. There is something almost mesmerizing about playing with Google Earth, looking at places both far and near from the perspective of a satellite — and a little frightening. Zooming in on the image of your home, the images concretize the reality of life in a world where privacy keeps slipping away.

For those users who are no longer content to explore one world, Google Earth has been joined by Google Moon and Google Mars. Again, the educational benefits are immediately obvious: a wealth of information about manned and robotic spaceflight is integrated in a way which is informative and, honestly, a whole lot of fun.

But now Google has decided to add another "world" to the line-up: the climate change Google Earth. The Sydney Morning Herald summarizes the project as follows:

Google is using its Google Earth mapping tool to simulate on a 3D map of the world the predicted effects of climate change until the year 2100.

Using data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the search giant created new layers for Google Earth showing the range of expected temperature and precipitation changes under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century.

The new tools were introduced in partnership with the Danish Government ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Convention in December.

According to Google’s website devoted to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, users can now “Explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet Earth and find out about possible solutions for adaptation and mitigation, ahead of the UN's climate conference in Copenhagen in December (COP15).” Working together with CNN, Google has also launched an accompanying YouTube site. While the dramatic score tug at the heartstrings, the text tell us:

“200,000 years ago humans emerged and settled on the earth. But it took just one century to put our planet in danger.”

The first of these sentences is quite odd, to say the least: to describe humans as "emerging" is an awkward word choice — perhaps a weasel word to get around the land mine-strewn topic of evolution. But speaking of mankind “settling” on Earth has an even more surreal, strange science fiction feel to it that seemed familiar. The second sentence — "But it took just one century to put our planet in danger" — gives the appearance of aligning the whole project with the extreme end of climate change estimates. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the appearance of advocacy is no accident: “The company is hoping that allowing people to visualise the impacts of climate change on a 3D map of the world will compel more people to speak up about the issue.”

The assumption apparently underlying the entire climate change version of Google Earth is that the worst possible assumptions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are simply true. The orientation of the website seems all the more apparent in light of the decision to include a 5-minute video of a soporific monologue by former Vice President Al Gore. Mr. Gore’s ability to set forth the “chicken little” scenario for climate change with all the enthusiasm of an automated phone solicitation is almost impressive; one almost expects him to say, “Press 1 for Spanish, Press 2 for Klingon,...”

As the conference in Copenhagen draws nearer day by day, the pressure is on to move for a very radical agenda and what people need right now is science. As reported previously, the IPCC estimates have already proven to be inaccurate; it would seem reasonable, therefore, that any computer modeling based on information from the IPCC should be set forth in very tentative terms. The proposed solutions for climate change which will be set forth at Copenhagen could have a quite predictable and devastating effect on the global economy, including plans for redistributing wealth from the developed nations to the third world. Perhaps a future Google Earth could incorporate modeling of the effects of such economic policies, showing the effects of spreading slums, urban blight, abandoned factories, and migrating populations pursuing prospects for employment?

Rt. Rev. James Heiser has served as Pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas, while maintaining his responsibilities as publisher of Repristination Press, which he established in 1993 to publish academic and popular theological books to serve the Lutheran Church.  Heiser has also served since 2005 as the Dean of Missions for The Augustana Ministerium and in 2006 was called to serve as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA). An advocate of manned space exploration, Heiser serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society. His publications include two books; The Office of the Ministry in N. Hunnius' Epitome Credendorum (1996) and A Shining City on a Higher Hill: Christianity and the Next New World (2006), as well as dozens of journal articles and book reviews.

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Bonnie said:

Why worry? We should not be concerned what the Earth looks like in 2100. By then 1) the super-volcano lurking beneath Yellowstone will have devastated 1/3 of the planet. essentially ending all life. 2) a killer asteroid (or two) will have struck the planet and causing all life to end. 3) the machines will have taken over and wiped out mankind. 4) aliens from a distant galaxy will have seen how dangerous we are and wiped us out. 5) everyone will have died from the swine flu. Of course, just like global warming, it's all science fiction.

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October 05, 2009
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Larry Brown said:

	... 200,000 years ago there was no Earth and probably no universe. At least two scientific experiments have determined that the Earth is approximately 10,000 years old.
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October 05, 2009 | url
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DDW said:

	You're right, Mr. Brown But why would these people worry about things like real science when the only thing they're interested in is power, control and world government?
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October 05, 2009
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Chris Warren said:

	Google Earth shows predicted environmental devastation Once again Google triumphs by bringing facts to the learning environment for the benefit of all. Well Done. Chris Warren Author and Freelance Writer Randolph's Challenge Book One - The Pendulum Swings
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October 07, 2009 | url
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Pokhriyal said:

	Global climate change Nothing is going to change. Mankind to adjust the habits , just fine tune it. Go back to the nature and everything is going to be alright.
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October 12, 2009 | url
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