“Global warming my ass! It’s freezing! Al Gore sure is taking you people for a ride!” I’ve heard comments along these lines for months now, ever since normal late fall/early winter temperatures set in. Check the comments on any local news story about a snowstorm, and you’ll find at least a handful of people who believe that because it’s snowing during winter in the Northern Hemisphere, global warming can’t possibly be real.
The infamous Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma recently declared victory over the global warming conspiracy based on the observation that “his opponents won’t say global warming any more” and instead prefer “climate change”. His argument for victory is basically grounded in semantics coupled with the drop in global warming headlines and the fact that he’s giving this interview during the winter, when it happens to be cold. (He also refers to dubious science.)
The reality is that climate change more accurately describes the various phenomena caused by global warming. The latter simply refers to the increase in global temperature as a result of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. We’re therefore seeing more droughts, floods, and a greater rate of anomalous weather events i.e. climate change. The effect of a warmer atmosphere might, in fact, cause more snow and colder temperatures in some areas with devastating, long-term effects. We don’t know precisely. This is uncharted territory for the planet (in terms of recorded CO2 concentrations) and mankind. Has the climate changed in the past? Yes. At this rapid pace without a reasonable explanation? No.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. No doubt, the “if the world is warming, why is it so cold out” meme will continue to proliferate – after all, these are the same kinds of people who continue to forward ‘Obama is a Muslim’ chain emails. If dying forests, the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves, ocean acidification, trillions of tons of ice loss in 5 years and other alarming signs of global warming won’t convince them, nothing will until the day they personally experience the catastrophic effects themselves.
The reality is that climate change more accurately describes the various phenomena caused by global warming. The latter simply refers to the increase in global temperature as a result of CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases. We’re therefore seeing more droughts, floods, and a greater rate of anomalous weather events i.e. climate change. The effect of a warmer atmosphere might, in fact, cause more snow and colder temperatures in some areas with devastating, long-term effects. We don’t know precisely. This is uncharted territory for the planet (in terms of recorded CO2 concentrations) and mankind. Has the climate changed in the past? Yes. At this rapid pace without a reasonable explanation? No.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. No doubt, the “if the world is warming, why is it so cold out” meme will continue to proliferate – after all, these are the same kinds of people who continue to forward ‘Obama is a Muslim’ chain emails. If dying forests, the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves, ocean acidification, trillions of tons of ice loss in 5 years and other alarming signs of global warming won’t convince them, nothing will until the day they personally experience the catastrophic effects themselves.
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