Global warming Climate change

In the spirit of supporting President Barack Obama’s request and engaging in a more genial dialogue with the far reaches of the political spectrum, read on as Auntie Ruth bites her tongue.

Dear People Who Write SN&R Saying That Blizzards and Cold Weather Prove That Global Warming Is a Myth:

It’s true, there’s a lot of cold weather out there. Brr! Not here in California, but elsewhere. Sacramento gets snow very rarely; on this we can agree, no? Here in the capital region, when we get the white stuff, we don’t have to put on chains; we put on our jackets, we go out on the front lawn, we run around like loons, celebrating a freak of nature. In New York or Maine or Oklahoma, the behavior is a bit different. Schools close, cars are abandoned, people die or complain about the snow-removal equipment. On this we can agree, no?

Now. You don’t like Al Gore. Neither did Auntie Ruth—let’s agree again, it’s fun!—but that was back when, and only because he used to be a stiffish board of a vice president and his wife seemed hellbent on censorship. Then he won the Nobel Prize, made a cool movie, all that. So now, Auntie Ruth likes Gore very much. While on this we disagree, now it’s your turn to a) be genial and continue to engage or b) tough tootie, just listen up:

“Scientists have long pointed out that warmer global temperatures have been increasing the rate of evaporation from the oceans, putting significantly more moisture into the atmosphere—thus causing heavier downfalls of both rain and also snow in particular regions, including the Northeastern United States.” Al Gore said this in an editorial in The New York Times, not last week, but, hey: last year!

Now we can agree! “Global warming” can be understood as part of “climate change” defined by Wikipedia as such: “The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over periods of decades or longer, regardless of cause. Accordingly, fluctuations on periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, do not represent climate change.”

Dear reader, if you find the phrase “global warming” confusing, then, hey: Stop using it! “Climage change” will do nicely.