Clearing the Air

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From a record-breaking freeze threating an entire crop of citrus in Florida to significant snowfall in England, many are wondering just how “real” global warming actually is…considering how cold it’s been lately. To set the record straight, let’s begin by using the term “climate change” instead of “global warming.” While indeed the Earth’s core temperature is rising at an alarming rate, what that temperature rise actually does is shift the various ecosystem temperatures on Earth either up or down; it doesn’t necessarily mean temperatures will be high everywhere, but that the climate will, in fact, change drastically in one way or another. Some previous Ice Ages, for example, were triggered by changes in ocean currents and surface water temperature due to cold, fresh water from the melting polar ice caps disrupting major ocean currents. NASA highlights this important weather / climate distinction on their website. Please pass this information along to any skeptics who might need additional information. If we’re going to reverse climate change on a global scale, one of the first critical steps is education. 

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About Tara Holmes

Tara lives in San Francisco (but hails from Massachusetts). She is passionate about environmental conservation and increasing public awareness of environmental issues. Tara received a BA from Connecticut College and an MPA with a concentration in environmental policy from The Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She tends to focus on politics and business, but also touches on behavior. Tara has worked at the World Resources Institute, the MA Department of Energy Resources and spent summer 2010 working on UN-REDD research and policy in Paris, France for ONF International. She is currently involved with SF Environment, Friends of the Urban Forest and sits on the Board of Directors for Randall Museum Friends in San Francisco. She enjoys being outdoors as much as possible! Twitter: @tmhol. Personal Blog: http://taraholmes.wordpress.com/ In addition to the posts listed by clicking her username above, she also contributed to the post Whitehouse goes solar!

3 thoughts on “Clearing the Air”

  1. Global warming is a perfectly valid term. It does not mean that temperatures rise everywhere, but rather that the global mean temperature rises. When one speaks of 4.5°C it obviously does not mean that is always exactly four and a half degrees warmer everywhere on the planet… weather is not climate.

    Although many scientists now favor climate change as being more accurate, it is just as vague and deceivingly innocuous in my opinion. Here are some interesting thoughts of others on the matter:

    • I think you’re missing the point of this post. The argument the author makes is from a popular front, not a scientific one, even stating that global warming is indeed scientifically correct.

      While “global warming” is an accurate term, it is so often misconstrued to mean “the weather should be getting warmer.” This incorrect understanding then allows people to claim that when it feels particularly cold, global warming isn’t happening.

      Witness the incredible number of comics surrounding this theme: http://ifglobalwarmingisrealthenwhyisitcold.blogspot.com/

      • rem, I didn’t miss the point at all. Yes, the term global warming is often understood—much like the concept of irony—so I was seeking to clarify and correct the common misconception. The original author advocates a different position: accept people’s misinterpretation and potentially cloud the issue further by using a different—arguably vague—term. Both have their (de)merits.

        Although some of the comic authors probably misunderstand the term, others may be practicing a modern form of “irony” and playing upon the public’s misunderstanding via “a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs” (WordNet 2.0 #3); vs. 1913 Webster #2.

        Thanks for the feedback though.

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