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After back to back years of climate disasters, fewer Canadians understand climate change is real than before
(www.nationalobserver.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
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How is being more descriptive and leaving less room for misinterpretation a tactical error?
Many feel the reverse, that global warming is accurate and unequivocal, while "change" is merely a weasel word that allows demagogues to obscure causes and minimize effects.
Yes regional changes may differ. The planet getting hotter is what kills us all, though.
Climate Collapse would have probably been more accurate.
Yea, all these labels are true. I think the point many are missing about naming is that these terms can ideally be used rhetorically, i.e. to help people pay attention to a risk, by tailoring the terms to the context.
Risk Communication is an interesting field, and we'll all be needing to understand it better shortly.
Luckily we don't need to guess or invent a history of the terms based on anecdotal experience, we have a real one.
Yeah, thanks! In terms of usage I always advocate that we are contextual and varied depending on both accuracy and audience, including terms like crisis, catastrophe, etc.
From the linked history article:
"When referring to surface temperature change, Charney used "global warming." When discussing the many other changes that would be induced by increasing carbon dioxide, Charney used "climate change.""
It's not more descriptive though, at least not to the layperson, it leaves room for people to believe that a change in climate is benign or tolerable. Everyone can understand that consistent, long-term warming is dangerous.
Obviously people believe what they want to be true more often than not. That doesn't make the phrasing unclear. It makes people stupid.
Yeah, people are broadly dumb, that's exactly why it's important rhetorically to make the tone of your message match the severity.