Global cooling

[John]

Originally Posted by smartie

And, at the risk of being bumped off the forum for being political, until someone can convince the Americans in particular that there is a problem to worry about at all.

Oh don't worry, a good percentage of the Americans are switched onto it already, and I suspect that goes for the Politicians to. The big thing in America is who controls the Politicians. The major fuel and car companies I suspect.

It comes to something when the Americans recognise what is happening to the world but then come up with the response that if they subsidise other countries to cut back on their emmisions it will counteract what emmissions they generate.

John

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbell

I've been thinking (which could be a dangerous thing!) B

Many folk quite like the idea of living in a warmer climate - especially if they envisage lower heating bills, the ability to enjoy the outdoor life more and wear less heavy clothing. Therefore, a bit of global warming might appeal to them - particularly bearing in mind the lack of extreme temperatures experienced in Britain, so far.

However, if we as a nation were being warned about global cooling as a consequence of our actions/inactions, and could already see and feel a difference in our climate towards colder conditions (necessitating more energy use and higher heating bills, piling on more clothes and staying in our homes) do you think more folk would take an interest in 'saving the planet'.

I do my little bit, but I'm sure I could do more and, if I'm honest, probably would if I thought imminent global cooling were the consequences of my actions/inactions, rather than global warming.

Tinkerbell

This issue is why the term Global Warming is now frowned upon. It is misleading for exactly the reasons that you and others point out - in our case it would not be warming but cooling, and probably dampening as well. As a result the new in vogue term is Climate Change. This phrase doesn't give any indication of what the changes might be, just that there will be change.

Actually, as I understand things, in the UK we are likely to find that we have a higher average temperature, (unless/until the Gulf Stream switches off) but even this will be unpleasant for most. We will have more extremes of heat in the summer - remember recent summers with record temperatures and how we all wilted? We will have milder winters - who can remember the last decent snow (I speak from a southern perspective, this may be different elsewhere, but its been years where I live). We will also have a lot more rain - and we get quite enough of this already.

We could sell the risks of Climate Change under the heading 'Global Warming', but it is as you say, a bit easy for people to think this would be a good thing. I don't entirely like the phrase 'Climate Change' either as it doesn't really say much either way, but I guess they are right that it is strictly speaking more accurate, and I can'tthink of anything better.