August 28, 2026
The link below is a horrifying video of the Nepal and Tibet flood disaster. The death toll, perhaps in the thousands, is hardly that of the quarter million killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami years ago. What is so appalling is to see the immense flood bearing down on unaware and helpless people in the last moments of their lives. It really hit me emotionally. Be aware that the video may affect you, too. It brings stunning reality to climate change more than any other I’ve seen.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTDthd5yx
The photo above shows how a glacier can undergo surface melting due to the warming climate, leaving it black with enclosed gravel. Meltwater tunnels down to the base of the ice and works its way to the end of the glacier, where it emerges as a glacial flood that can rip away part of the glacier. That occasionally occurs in Iceland, where it spreads out on flat plains. However, in mountainous Nepal such a flood rushes down narrow valleys, sweeping everything before it. The video shows tiny figures running to escape, though none is possible for most. The confined water submerges the town and things far downstream.
Such tragedies will become more common as our climate warms into unprecedented temperatures. We see that already in Phoenix, where annually hundreds die of heat; in the West where wildfires threaten towns; and in the Rockies where reduced snowpack lowers water levels in the Colorado River and its lakes. That hits us here and in neighboring states and their communities. The world is on a journey into a climate regime that humans have not seen. Atmospheric CO2 levels, a primary cause, have not been this high in 14 million years. Did God do this? No, we did. But I still pray that a merciful God will help us find a way to undo our environmental damage and give us the will to make necessary changes.
