Nobody Understands Climate Change!

By James O’Neill

“No one understands climate change!” I hear this phrase being thrown around a lot by my peers. But I feel that when most people say it, they don’t refer to the exact same people that I do. Of course, there are some commonalities. For example, if someone says “where is this global warming? it’s so cold out!” my peers and I will all roll our eyes and say “no one gets climate change!” Many of the same people who share my exasperation with climate deniers might say “oh, it’s very cold out, this is because of climate change.” and on another occasion might say “it’s very hot out, this is because of climate change.” It is when I encounter this that I really roll my eyes and exclaim “NOBODY gets climate change!”

Weather is very complex and it is hopeless to think that people in the general public could be expected to fully understand all of the complex factors that go into determining what the weather is like today. On the other hand, understanding global temperatures is easier for our tiny brains.

Many people understand that while some areas on Earth have gotten hotter and others cooler, that the global average temperature has been increasing due to greenhouse gases in our atmosphere that allow heat to pass through from the Sun but don’t allow heat to leave. They understand that it is a problem over which we have control, but what I think most people are missing on this issue is why it is a problem in the first place.

The planet right now is actually colder than it has been throughout most of history and that is not going to change any time soon, even in geologic time. The issue right now is that the climate is changing at such a fast rate. If the planet were getting cooler at the same speed, the situation would not be much better and in fact may be worse. The reason why climate change is an issue for humanity is that when climate changes, certain places will become inhospitable, but certain places will also become more hospitable. The issue is not that warming, cooling or even sea level rise is a bad thing in and of itself. The issue is that humanity cannot adapt to this change quickly enough to protect people from these changes.

Changes in temperature can affect flora and fauna in very direct and easily understood ways. Not all of these effects are negative just because they are caused by human activity. We know with certainty that certain species are endangered due to climate change, but there are also species that benefit from climate change. When the growing seasons of plants change in certain areas, it can force certain areas to change what crops will grow. Such an effect would actually be easily adapted to, and it may be positive in some ways; for example, northern areas will probably be less dependent on southern agriculture because the growing seasons will be elongated. This will allow for more local agriculture to be produced and distributed.

If it is too hot or too cold, it doesn't make sense to blame climate change. If there is a terrible storm, whose creation was made possible by climate change, it still does not make sense to attribute it to climate change because there is no telling if the storm whose creation was made impossible by climate change would have been any better or worse.

I am not trying to deny climate change or to argue that climate change is a good thing. My point is that there is a reason why it is bad and we must focus on and we must acknowledge that the aspects of climate change that affect storms and extreme weather are not something that we can understand. We must fight against climate change for the sake of people whose homes will soon be underwater and admit that we don’t know much more about what else may happen.