The US saw a record number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023, even when accounting for inflation. The number of long-running heat waves like the Southwest experienced is also rising.
People are always going to twist language to their selfish purposes.
I prefer “global warming” over “climate change” because it is more specific and more likely to be seen as a potential problem by anyone who bothers to think about it. It also gives us a specific goal, whereas climate change is, if not neutral, then non-specific in the goal.
And when it really comes down to it, I prefer something like “greenhouse effect” and “Greenhouse Earth” because they strike much closer to the root causes. “Greenhouse Earth” is particularly good at getting at the root of the issue: that humanity has always and continues to treat the Earth like a literal greenhouse, trying to manage what lives and dies under what conditions strictly to our own benefit. If we’re going to do that anyway, then let’s do it right and manage the temperature along with everything else.
People are always going to twist language to their selfish purposes.
I prefer “global warming” over “climate change” because it is more specific and more likely to be seen as a potential problem by anyone who bothers to think about it. It also gives us a specific goal, whereas climate change is, if not neutral, then non-specific in the goal.
And when it really comes down to it, I prefer something like “greenhouse effect” and “Greenhouse Earth” because they strike much closer to the root causes. “Greenhouse Earth” is particularly good at getting at the root of the issue: that humanity has always and continues to treat the Earth like a literal greenhouse, trying to manage what lives and dies under what conditions strictly to our own benefit. If we’re going to do that anyway, then let’s do it right and manage the temperature along with everything else.