Are you serious?

Over the last few months the subject of climate change has been catapulted into the forefront of public debate. The future of our environment is now the biggest concern in the mind of most Australians. And this week, Australia's rural communities have been given a very bleak outlook for the next two decades by a leading climate change expert. According to him, within a few years the Murray River will be useless due to high salt content, and coastal properties will be drastically devalued as the tides rise higher. People in regional cities and towns are seriously asking themselves, "should I move now before my house becomes worthless?".

As for me, I guess I've always been skeptical of climate change, supposing that it was just another apocalyptic panic attack by scientists. And actually, I think that the reason for the drought in Australia is at least in part related to spiritual things - that is, the increase in godlessness and rebellion in our nation. I believe that the condition of the environment is closely tied up with our behaviour as humans - not just in the way we treat the environment (clearly we are reaping the consequences of wastefulness and greed), but also in the way we treat each other, and our obedience to God's moral laws. As hatred, murder, abuse and selfishness have increased in Australia, I believe we have opened ourselves up to a kind of devastation we can do little about.

Back to my main question for this post - should we take the doomsday predictions about climate change seriously? Are we really staring down the barrel of future devastation, or will our harsh Australian environment correct itself again, as it always has? I'd be interested to get your thoughts. And another question: If you do take climate change seriously, have you changed your behaviour as a result?