Climate Change

“If Climate Change is real…then why am I cold?”

This statement can ruin friendships, fracture family ties, or at the very least make you want to smack the person with a snowball. If you did smack them right in the kisser with a perfectly formed snowball of justice, to them, you might just be proving their point.

Some people and we won’t name names, because most likely they will out themselves in the comment section anyway, can’t differentiate between climate change and weather. While climate change encompasses so much about the changing climate of our world; from the polar ice caps melting, the seas rising, extreme weather events becoming the norm, drought-ravaged areas of the world going longer without water, and rain rich places undergoing regular flooding.

As you can see, those two little words carry a lot of weight. While weather, and the changing of the seasons, are still happening there are warmer winters, hotter summers, and plenty of science to back it up.

So why are people so quick to say “there have always been extreme weather events” or “the planet goes through cycles”? Why are people so quick to pooh-pooh the very idea of climate change. Honestly, climate change deniers and addicts have a remarkably similar mindset; if I convince myself that there isn’t a problem, then there isn’t a problem.

The idea of climate change and the effect that it is going to have on us and our society is terrifying. However, the only way to start making positive changes for the environment, and any addiction, is first to admit that there is a problem. Admitting that humanity is hurting the planet currently, is the first step in helping correct the problem.

The idea of combatting climate change isn’t about “saving the planet”. The planet is always going to be here. The issue is, if we don’t change, we won’t be here with it. How’s that for sobering thoughts?