Some people (including senators) have the audacity to claim that climate change is not true, even a fraud despite repeated evidence to the contrary. The problem is that they see the word “warming” and then look at the thermometer and see that it is low and say, Hey, if global warming was real, how comes it’s so cold? That’s why scientists no longer use the term global warming, because too many people are not smart enough to understand what it is and how it works and repeat the same line. The fact is that an increase in temperature causes all kinds of changes to the environment, some of which result in cold. It seems counterintuitive until you bother to research how the weather and environment interact. Admittedly it is an extremely complex and intricate interaction (which is why even today, weather forecasting is still not very accurate), which is beyond the ken of (too) many people. To simplify things for people, scientists now use the term climate change instead to reflect more accurately the actual, observable weather patterns that occur when the Earth as whole warms up. That way, it includes not only heat, but also cold, flooding, hurricanes, and so on.
This winter has been an exemplary one when it comes to climate change. Some places have had an unbelievably mild (even warm) winter, while other places have been blasted by hereunto not seen levels of snow.
A lot of Europe has been all but crippled recently by the extreme frigidity of this winter. Some parts like Bosnia have had numerous people die and entire towns declare a state of emergency and are effectively shut down altogether.
Other places like (believe it or not) Canada, like here in London Ontario, have had almost no snow at all and even green grass, making it feel like spring for weeks now. It may seem nice (believe me, I am looking forward to spring), but it is actually quite harmful. Without a layer of snow, the grass will be under-watered this spring, basically resulting in a dry soil and dead crops.
What’s worse than just unusual weather is inconsistent weather. The temperature keeps going up and down like a yo-yo. There have been times this winter when the temperature alternated high and low quite literally every other day! This inconsistency has extremely deleterious effects. Not only does it damage the soil and buildings, it wreaks havoc on migratory animals. Hibernators wake up early and freeze or starve and birds can’t decide when it is time to fly south, stay too long and freeze, and/or come back early and freeze.
Climate change is a very real thing and is definitely due to the irrefutably drastic changes that have occurred in the world since electricity and the industrial revolution. Even “cow flatulence” which some people like to blame it on is still the fault of humans. Without humans, cow populations would remain normal (ie, natural), so they can “fart” all they like (’till the cows come home as it were), and not affect the climate. The reason that their gases have any effect is because humans farm them for food and grow their populations to unnaturally high numbers. So even if “cow farts cause global warming”, it’s still because of humans.
London Ontario in the dead of winter (February 6, 2012):
Some pictures from around Europe:
