Climate change protest in Australia
The Climate Reality Project has taken a step forward in messaging about climate change, by releasing a “Climate 101 fact sheet.” This short publication is more of a talking points tip sheet, and is thus very useful for anyone who is concerned about climate change and who encounters the typical right wing talking points against climate change, that originate with fossil fuel companies.The Climate 101 fact sheet focuses on the difference between weather and climate. This is because citing the current weather, especially in the winter, to try to debunk climate change claims is something straight out of the Republican playbook. The fact sheet has a few good responses on this, with accompanying graphics:
1. Comparing climate to weather in a simple way:
Climate and weather are not the same! Weather is what happens in the short term—dayto-day (or even moment-to-moment) changes in temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc. Climate is the average of weather events over a longer period of time—typically 30 years or more. The difference is all about timing.
2. “Weather is your mood; climate is your personality.”
3. Using a clothing analogy, the fact sheet states:
Weather — Tells you what to wear each day.
Climate — Tells you what type of clothes to have in your closet.
The “Climate 101 fact sheet” is useful precisely because it is not just full of dry facts. However, it does contain a crucial fact along with its talking points:
While the weather might be cold or snowy on any given day, the science is clear: On average, our world is getting warmer and warmer over time—and our climate is changing.
Photo by School Strike (credit: John Janson-Moore), used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/0I8zWL
