“The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”
That was a claim reportedly made back in 2019 by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Of course, doing the math, that means we all have a mere five years left (unless you take a different climate prediction that put the end of the world due to climate change smack-dab in 2026!).
The clip of AOC’s “climate prophecy” has resurfaced because she recently posted a video showing her injecting herself with hormones so she can freeze her eggs to maybe have a child someday. And so people are asking, “If the world is ending in five years—in just 2031—why are you planning to possibly have a baby?” And, of course, the answer is because none of the dire climate predictions of the past have come true and there’s no sign that hers will be an exception to the rule! In fact, I predict it will not come true—unless Jesus returns!
And the data confirms that. Recently, a man who goes by the name “The Honest Broker” created a US Extreme Weather and Climate Change Dashboard that “follows the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) framework for detecting a change in climate in the context of internal variability. This dashboard tracks 38 variables associated with 8 types of extremes: heat waves, cold extremes, tornadoes, flooding, drought, winter storms, wildfire, and hurricanes.”
And what was the result? In terms of long-term change, there was no detected change in five of the eight categories. Of the remaining three categories, one (cold extremes) is decreasing, and only two are currently increasing (heat waves and wildfires). That’s a very different story than you will hear from the mainstream media! Anytime there’s a weather event—a hurricane, tornado, flood, heat wave, etc.—it’s always blamed on man-made climate change. But the data doesn’t support that hype!
Yes, the climate is “changing.” It’s changed in the past, and it will continue to change in the future. There’s been climate change ever since Noah’s Flood. But the idea that it’s man-made and catastrophic, leading to an apocalyptic scenario in just a few years if we don’t do something dramatic, isn’t supported by the data. And that’s why these end-of-the-world doomsday claims never come to fruition. They’re poor interpretations of the data based on a certain environmentalist worldview.
We believe that God created the climate. He made it intelligently and designed it for life to flourish. Yes, it varies over time (the global Flood of Noah’s day was the most dramatic climate change of all time, resulting in the Ice Age), but it’s relatively stable and self-correcting. And that’s what we actually observe!
The world isn’t going to end in five years due to climate change, no matter what politicians say. The world will end when Jesus returns to judge sin and make a new heavens and a new earth. In the meantime, we’re to be good stewards of creation, caring for it with wisdom and using what God has provided for our good and His glory.
And remember God’s promise to Noah (and therefore all of humanity): “While all the days of the earth remain, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).
