Global Warming Forum
While seemingly unrelated to religion, the global warming forum serves to act as a cosmographic ritual, reminiscent of that of homo religious, or archaic religion man. On September 27th, I attended the Global Warming Forum at Purdue in the Loeb Playhouse at Purdue. Micea Eliade, author of The Sacred and the Profane, would point out that the date of the ritual occurred in historical time rather than mythical time. Eliade makes the distinction between historical and mythical time in that mythical time occurs during the time of origin. However, as Eliade would also suggest, this is a ritual that serves to reenact the origin of the cosmos when the first “debate” of global warming took place. Furthermore, this event served to act as a rites of passage for me, which I will discuss later in this paper. The global warming forum effectively acted as an eye-opening experience for me because of the new perspectives it left me with.
The forum began with the introduction of the proctor. I was quick to learn that this discussion was one of prestige and insight. The proctor, by the name of Moira Gunn, is a NPR hot of Tech Nation and BioTech nation. The man introducing Dr. Gunn went on to cite her many degrees and accolades. I was blown away by her prestige; my father has always listened to NPR since I was little and her presence at this event served to lend credence to the forum. Peter Berger, author of The Sacred Canopy, would describe this credence as legitimation. In the way that religion tends to act as a legitimating force in society, Dr. Gunn acted as a legitimating force to this global warming forum.
After Dr. Gunn was introduced, she introduced the four panelists. Two of the panelists, Susan Avery and Robert Socolow, supported the idea that global warming is indeed a problem caused by humans. On the other hand, Fred Singer and Kenneth Haapala argued that although there may be an increase in temperature in the world, it is not particularly harmful to the ecosystems of the world. The two opposing sides of the debate serve to act as good and evil in our cosmogony, with Dr. Gunn as our deity figure. In the beginning, as with many cosmogonies throughout history, there was only chaos. Eliade would equate this chaos to water for its life- giving tendencies and its live-taking tendencies. Berger would relate this lack of social order as anomy or a lack of a nomos.
Avery begins her part of the ritual through a presentation of the seemingly obvious facts about CO2 and its long lifetime. She explains that climate science is like a jigsaw puzzle and not a deck of cards. Particularly, that there is a range of uncertainty. However, Avery argues that there is no doubt that the planet is warming faster than ever before. Similarly, population growth is also increasing faster than every before. Singer takes the stage as an opposing viewpoint, arguing that nature, not human culture, rules the climate. After all, Singer proposes, the climate of the world was changing since before humans and since before SUVs, so why, Singer asks, would it not continue to change? Singer cites data supporting his claims, hoping to legitimate his nomos and downplay Avery. After this, Kenneth Haapola joined the cosmogony to offer yet another viewpoint on the climate change, siding with Singer when he suggests that CO2, while it may be increasing, is actually of benefit to plants and ultimately our food. The ritual continues with the Robert Socolow’s arguments on how to solve the climate problem.
The cosmogony reaches realization when Dr. Gunn returns to the stage to, acting as the deity figure in our cosmogony, separates the two opposing forces of the supporters and detractors, restoring order to the cosmos, as Eliade would argue. To Berger, the nomos has been successfully repeated in this ritual. I have experienced a rite of passage during this global warming forum; I was separated from my homework and my every day life. I then suffered a ritualized death as my assumption that everybody believed in global warming was destroyed, and I finally reached acceptance and a new mode of existence through rebirth. Peter Berger and Micea Eliade helped me to truly understand and accept the wonder of the Global Warming Forum at Purdue University on September 27th, 2010.
