"Climate variability" 6

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1. 

   howeird Posted 7:33 am
   03 Jan 2005

   climate variabilitywhat a wishy-washy name. but, what would one expect from a president who is but a marionette of big buisness. maybe we need some more dire weather patterns to hit us as those in florida last year or a calamity on the scale of south-east asia to get to our senses.

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2. 

   Lisa Hymas Posted 7:46 am
   03 Jan 2005

   Well, it's not a wholly new phrase ...As Geoff Dabelko pointed out to me, Bush admin officials aren't the first to use the phrase "climate variability" (and I knew that myself, having Googled it). Seems scientists have made use of the phrase for some time to describe, well, variations in climate.  
   But I would argue that the Bushies are pushing this change in terminology (a) to obfuscate matters and further confuse Americans; (b) because "variability" seems less threatening somehow than what the public now envisions upon hearing the phrase "climate change"; and (c) because "climate variability" sounds natural -- i.e., not caused by humans. In fact, it seems that many scientists use the phrase that way -- to describe "natural" rather than anthropogenic climate shifts. The science types over at CLIVAR, for one, make just such a distinction, describing their organization as "an international research programme addressing many issues of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change."
   An IPCC site defines the phrase thusly:  
   "Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events. Variability may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability), or to variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external variability). See also: Climate change."
   So the IPCC says "climate variability" can refer to either natural or anthropogenic climate shifts. I think this ambiguity is exactly why the White House likes the phrase -- they want to muddy the waters about what's "natural" and what's caused by their fossil-fuel-pushing cronies.  
   
   

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3. 

   ourearthmusic Posted 3:56 pm
   03 Jan 2005

   climate INSTABILITYI don't think "climate variability" is a good term since everyone knows that the weather is always changing!  I have been proposing the term "Climate Instability" as a better alternative than "global warming" (sounds kind of nice) and "climate change" (same objection as climate variability).  I think "climate instability" says it better as it implies that perhaps humankind is mucking up natural systems.  I encourage all enviros to start using this term!

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4. 

   da silva Posted 9:02 am
   07 Jan 2005

   variabilty shmariabilityWell, George Lakoff dislikes 'global warming' because 'warm' sounds good and even some climate researchers think the term is problematic. I believe he suggests climate catastrophe or somesuch. Climate instability actually sounds better, but I tend to think climate change and global warming are now firmly entrenched. So be it. Its all just semantics. If you educate people as to what the term means and where the science stands, you accomplish your goals. If not, you don't. Or so I think. But maybe I'm full of it.

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5. 

   David Roberts Posted 9:17 am
   07 Jan 2005

   framing, da silva, framing!You're not "full of it," you're "execrement enriched"!
   I tend to agree that, relative to its actual importance in the grand scheme of things, the question of what to call global warming has been absurdly over-discussed.  Most people have the vague sense that it's bad news, and too many people have the sense that it's a hoax.  Calling it something different will not, IMO, change either of those things.
   
   www.grist.org

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6. 

   ourearthmusic Posted 5:40 pm
   07 Jan 2005

   Global warming is seen by too many as a hoaxWell, I see the point you are making about spending too much time talking about what to call the problem, rather than either fixing it or convincing others to help fix it.  However, I still stand by my statement that "climate instability" is a much better term since PERHAPS one of the reasons that people think that global warming is a hoax is that the effects are unpredictable and site specific.  Each season varies, although the trend is to overall warmer global temperatures.  Some years summer is very late to arrive in certain locales that are important in the media, such as NYC.  Then, on the media, comedians make a number of jokes concerning this supposed warming.  I believe that climate scientists state that the local effect of global warming is unpredictable.  If cloud cover is consistently increased, instead of steady warmer days, the trend will be instability, with worse heat waves and storms.  Remember, most people pay most attention to just their experience in their area, and don't look at the averages for larger areas.

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