Just a short diary based on a comment I'd originally posted in a Mark Sumner diary.
Essentially,
We're experiencing increasing episodes of extreme weather all over the globe because "global warming" effects are destabilizing our existing climate patterns, resulting in world-wide climate disruption.
The imbalance is due to human activity.
If we don't act now, together, in a concerted effort to mitigate the effects, the climate will enter a chaotic period of extreme phenomena unlike anything humanity has ever seen.
That's it. That's the message.
More, along with the full original comment, below the fold.
This is the original comment:
"Global Warming" has been used interchangeably with the term "global climate disruption" - often incorrectly, particularly since it's less syllables and more recognizable.
That has to change.
It's one aspect leading to, and underlying, global climate disruption. But it's too easy for the disruption deniers, special interests, malicious malefactors and simple idiots to use & abuse in their efforts to willfully & malicious sow confusion and, in effect, globally disrupt any efforts for responsible, civilized human adults to take any effective actions.
We're experiencing increasing episodes of extreme weather all over the globe because "global warming" effects are destabilizing our existing climate patterns, resulting in world-wide climate disruption.
The imbalance is due to human activity.
If we don't act now, together, in a concerted effort to mitigate the effects, the climate will enter a chaotic period of extreme phenomena unlike anything humanity has ever seen.
That's the message. Anybody trying to spin it is either incompetent, selfish, malicious, or a mind-numbing combination of all of the above.
I even did a screen capture of it and posted the image on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest, as well as added it to
this diary as a comment, where it got some additional notice & response.
The Facebook post had this preface, which echoed the core of the message:
Global Warming is a factor & a symptom of Global Climate Disruption. The two terms are not interchangeable. And using the former as a stand-in for the latter because it's easier (less syllables) or more familiar ("everyone's heard of 'global warming'!") only helps the idiots, malefactors & subversive forces in their global efforts to disrupt responsible, adult, civilized behavior by humanity.
Other folks noted (
primarily in the responses to the comment linked to above, here) that "Climate Chaos" is another "better" term - it's true, it is better than "Global Warming" I think, but I also believe it's almost a misnomer & possibly misleading, potentially enabling further denialist activity simply because of the inclusion of the word "chaos."
Chaos is, in my mind, the underlying fundamental descriptive science of climate: "climate disruption" is what occurs when the stable(-ish) periodicity of the established climatic patterns absorb increasing levels of energy that force the system to become unstable, until it can fully react and account for the increased energy and achieve a new stable(-ish) period. Note: I am not a math or physics guru, nor properly versed in Chaos theory - my attempt to explain it in those terms in the preceding paragraph are simply my best efforts to grasp at something I only partially understand but know to be relevant. Anyone who can properly and succinctly explain that Chaotic concept in layman's terms is invited to do so, with an extra 100 pts for then explaining if it is or isn't a reasonable attempt to explain climate - and hopefully why. :)
But, all that aside - the important takeaway is this: we should at least reinforce some aspect of our messaging around climate disruption so that it becomes more difficult for the malicious malefactors, denialists, dimwits and whatnots to disrupt the conversation.
Thus, I think the simple explanation for the overall phenom should be along the lines posted at the top of this screed:
We're experiencing increasing episodes of extreme weather all over the globe because "global warming" effects are destabilizing our existing climate patterns, resulting in world-wide climate disruption.
The imbalance is due to human activity.
If we don't act now, together, in a concerted effort to mitigate the effects, the climate will enter a chaotic period of extreme phenomena unlike anything humanity has ever seen.
And the term to use to describe what is happening is "global climate disruption" brought on by human activity. "Global warming" is merely a factor and a symptom of the overall problem.
"Climate chaos" is effectively what we've always had - it's simply becoming destablized...more chaotic, as energy from global warming fuels the rate of overall disruption. It's still better, IMO, than "global warming" - but doesn't whittle the wiggle room down as much or provide as much potential for clarity as "global climate disruption."
IMO. YMMV.
Namaste.