Having grown up in West Texas, the last thing on Earth I would have suspected was that there exists a lake on the Mendenhall River running through Suicide Basin just upstream of Juneau, Alaska, whose dam is not made of something like West Texas red dirt but rather of the sky-blue ice of the Mendenhall Glacier. This thick wall of ancient ice holds back millions of gallons of snowmelt, reaching depths of up to 220 feet at the dam. I can only imagine it being one of those thin places that I love so much and have often written about: those serene places where the distance between heaven and Earth becomes very thin. It is a place where one might even feel the breath of God land ever so lightly upon their cheek. Yet, the only problem is that sometimes, and more often in recent history, the dam experiences a “glacial outburst,” whereby part of the glacial ice of the dam melts away, allowing lake water to leak into the shallow riverbed and flow downstream toward Juneau. At times, depending on conditions, massive amounts of water can flood the Mendenhall Valley below.
Augustof2024markedtheworst floodinginJuneau’shistory,withan estimated 14.6 million gallons of ice melt surging downstream, flooding more than 100 homes and prompting many residents to be rescued from rooftops. While downstream flooding has been severe in the past, today, the city’s 32,000 residents are at the mercy of emergency barriers recently installed to funnel floodwaters away from neighborhoods during these “outbursts.” Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the barriers consist of rectangular steel cages filled with rock, which line the riverbanks, along with sandbags for leak control. So far, the barriers seem to be working well, as recently tested by an outburst event in which the river rapidly rose to a record 16.7 feet deep. Even so, the barriers held firm. But is it enough? With 2023, 2024, and 2025 producing the three largest glacial outbursts on record, the question is both daunting and haunting.
As climate change continues to produce record-breaking summer heat, increasingly glacial dam ice is melting away. For reasons unknown to me, Alaska seems to be especially hard-hit, having warmed twice as fast as the world average, with its average annual temperature rising 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century. Over the same period, the worldwide average temperature has increased by about 2.6 degrees. It may not sound like much, but considering that an 18-degree rise would result in a “continuous lethal event,” with human survival only possible in cooled spaces, 3.1 degrees is immensely significant. But that is not all there is to it. At a 6-degree average temperature increase, weather patterns become more extreme, with more heatwaves, tornadoes, and stronger hurricanes. Fruit and vegetable farming, chicken and beef production, and almost every food crop produced on land and at sea around the world depend upon a stableannualaveragetemperature. Evenifmancouldcoolenoughspace to live in, he most likely would not have enough food to eat. But that is not all of it either. Sea levels would rise by 3 feet, flooding miles of coastline and multiple major coastal cities, not to mention the madness and chaos that millions of displaced people would cause. Food would become even scarcer with famine spreading worldwide.
While the Earth is not frail or fragile, it is indeed sensitive to change. For a bit of context, consider that the average temperature of the last ice age was only 9 degrees colder than today. Nine degrees! That is an extraordinarily tight range. In fact, if a planet were to be custom-designed for human beings to inhabit, there would be nothing about our Earth that would need to be changed. It could even be said, and has been said, that Earth is highly “fine-tuned” for life and the perfect environment for humans to thrive. In fact, it seems to have been deliberately designed for that role. From the outrageously unique place that Earth occupies in the galaxy, to the laws of nature that the universe rigidly follows, it seems to me there is Someone responsible for it all. Just as each brushstroke of the Sistine Chapel ceiling shows the intent of Michelangelo, the narrow, inhabitabletemperaturerange on Earth reflects the intentionality of design by the First Cause of the Universe. The British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle once said, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics.” Sure enough, whether it be the narrow range of temperatures at which humans can thrive or Earth’s position in the galaxy, random chaos cannot bring about this type of fine-tuning and order. Instead, it seems to be a consequence of the Creative Will. And this, Christians know as God. In the end, there are only three degrees of freedom: Man, Earth, and God.
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.