I don’t know who gets the credit (or the blame) for the term - global warming - but it sure hasn’t helped the discussion any, because it’s not accurate. There is global warming, on average; what it means in day-to-day life is record lows and record highs, stronger storms, and unusual events such as snow in places we’ve never seen it before.
Call it global climate change.
The weather is an oscillating sytem, as evidenced by the rhythmic changing of the seasons. With an increase in temperature there is more energy in the system, and the swings become more exaggerated. When it gets cold, it gets really cold. When it gets hot, it gets really hot. Big thunderstorms become “100 year storms,” meaning they should normally (statistically) occur just once every 100 years. They will, and do already, occur more frequently.
Don’t think that record cold is a contradiction of the coming weather catastrophe. It’s part of the global climate change, to a new pattern of more extreme weather.
Recommended:
Weather article in Discover magazine____________________________________________________
You’re undoubtedly familiar with the obliteration of “100%” as a measure of effort or achievement…it’s never good enough to “give 100%” anymore, you have to “give 110%” to sound like you mean it. And no, there’s no such thing as greater than 100%, but whatever, that’s the way it is. Well, I recently heard someone get a little too excited and, in trying to reach for an impressive superlative, came up with “a hundred and ten…thousand…percent,” like he couldn’t stop himself.
Well, now what? What’s next? It’s out of control.
How about if we reel it in for a while? Let’s think about the implications of 100%, being all there is, and how you can’t have or do more than that. If you “give 100%,” that’s impressive right there.
You can’t do more.
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