Australia fires and the Trumpets of the Apocalypse
The increase of the global temperature influencing on burning
Long ago, mankind has been receiving alerts about the danger that a carefree behavior about the necessary changes in our relationship with the environment can cause. In 2007 a report*¹ published by scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change*² (IPCC) highlighted that “observational evidence from all continents and most oceans shows that many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes, particularly temperature increases.” Among these changes, we find a growing number of the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere – the most emitted gas from the greenhouse effect by human action. In parallel, the consequences of this are being multiplied in the world.
One recent example is the Forest fire affecting Australia since September last year. Considered a natural event of the country – there is an annual predicted season of fires - the intensity that this annual cycle presented in the last few months has been alarming not only the Australian government but leaderships of other countries, causing an international commotion. Smokes originated from these fires have already arrived in Brazil*³. The disaster scale of this event – to get an idea, 10 million hectares of lands were burned until now, a bigger area than the territory of Portugal – leads us to question what happened to so much destruction in just a short time.
Frequency and intensity increasing
Climatic fluctuations are indeed natural on our planet, however, many scientists have drawn attention to the fact that compared to the past, especially the pre-industrial period, the global temperature has been increasing rapidly. The effects of this include extreme climate conditions of intense heat and cold. In 2019, for example, it was registered by specialists of climate change a phenomenal called “the Indian Ocean Dipole” – similar to the El Niño from the Pacific Ocean. In this last report, nevertheless, it was perceived an intense index change on data observed since 2001; a factor that provoked torrential rains on the African coast and large periods of drought on the Australian coast.
Added to this, Australia’s temperature broke records: they measured a high of 48.9°C on January 4 of 2020. The scientific community had already predicted that despite the climate changes are not the direct cause of fires, a warmer and drier climate could favor to a frequency and intensity increasing of it. According to Dr. Richard Thornton, Chief Executive Officer of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, the current temperature in Australia is 1°C above average and the season of fires has begun earlier and earlier: "We will start to see the extreme end of the fire behavior scale occur more frequently because of the increase of temperatures."
Unfortunately, the results of events like these are painful: apart from the loss of a significantly green area, more than 20 people died until now and a study estimates that in the entire Australian territory, over a billion animals perished because of the forecast fire.
The melody of the Trumpets of the Apocalypse
José de Paiva Netto, President-Preacher of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, bring in his article “The Message of the Empty Tomb” important reflection on human acts and their consequences, making us think in this conjecture about environment matters:
“Now, we are Spirit, and as such, infinite. This being so, we cannot be afraid of the constraining boundaries of time and space, as some want, nor can we despise God’s prophetic message. It shows us the transitory reason of human radiance, whose transformation is exposed in the Seals, Trumpets, and Scourges of the Apocalypse.
It also shows us the perennial nature of the constructions of the spirit of man when he rationally or intuitively recognizes receiving from God, through the all-encompassing Ecumenical Christ, the Divine Statesman, and the Holy Spirits, all the luminosity of their pragmatism, which is historically expressed in the Resurrection of Jesus.
The Apocalypse offers us the certainty that the destruction of the planet will not occur, as certain chronic pessimists preach; however, the deteriorated part of a rotten structure will be demolished, like at the end of the kingdoms and empires, in such a way that the Evangelist-Prophet no longer sees either the former heaven (with its terrible umbrals [communities on the abysmal regions] or purgatories) or the old earth (with its infernal wars, famines, poverty, fanaticism, and racism; in short, hatred of all hues that offend the Father who is Love). From an alleged end an extraordinary beginning arises.”
Therefore, the Book of Prophecies presents a reflection of the individual and collective attitudes in our globe. As the writer clarifies in his work Treasures of the Soul (2018) [Tesouros da Alma], the trumpets announce events of great magnitude caused by the unregulated human action itself:
“when the Angels of the Seven Trumpets—which in a simple analysis mean political facts and war-like political facts—play, they do not do so randomly. They are externalizing what the Seven Seals (The Apocalypse, chapters 6 and 8) revealed about our feelings, as expressed in the musical score we composed with our attitudes. We are the ones who produce the tragic or beautiful melody the Angels will play. Therefore, we write the Apocalypse when we respect or infringe the norms of the Creator.”
In view of increasing disasters and expected difficulties, what can we do nowadays to make the melody of the Trumpets less tragic? Scientists argue that the effects of global warming can be reversed even in the long-term with safety if we can brake the rising temperature below 1,5°C concerning the pre-industrial period. In a report published in 2018, IPCC alerted that to accomplish that goal it would require “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”
Currently, the planet is almost 1°C hotter than before the industrial expansion, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) data. This means that we still have time, even that a little, to initiate a change of attitude for the common good. For that, the governments of the whole world must make an effort to compliance collective resolutions, such as the Paris Agreement, approved in 2015. Brazil, one of the member countries on the agreement, undertook to reduce their greenhouse gas emission by 43% until 2030.
Besides the attention and collection of compliance of the established goals, some simple and individuals attitudes can also help, like: substitute a conventional light bulbs to a fluorescent one; drive less and get around more on foot, on a bike or use public transports; recycle at least half of the domestic garbage; less use of hot water; turn off electronic equipments when not being used; among other actions.
Allied to the study of the Final Prophecies, the daily compromise of governments and societies on modification of their postures can promote deep changes capable of avoiding damage of global proportions to life. Conscious of the impact that each one can have in this arrangement, we invite everyone to dedicate bigger attention to our collective home, planet Earth, acting more and more to its preservation because as Brother Paiva teaches us “every day is the day to renew our destiny.”
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*¹ Complete report: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ar4_syr_spm.pdf
*² Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
*³ Smoke from Australian Fires Arrives in Brazil - https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2020/01/smoke-from-australian-fires-arrives-in-rio-grande-do-sul.shtml
