I wouldn’t take that approach. The extremes here are partially the result of El Nino–which was particularly strong this time. While the broader upward warming trend is clearly related to human-induced climate change, the extremes of the last nine months are not likely to be repeated next year.
If you make it seem like this is the new normal, when we revert to a non-Nino year, which will still be warmer than average but not as extreme as this last year, people will think things are OK.
That’s a fair argument, yet at the same time it’s correct that this is the new high water mark, to be exceeded by the next high (ominous analogy intended). Both the audience that took basic science in the US and the audience that actually passed it are both needed to understand the amount of bad, in different ways.
I wouldn’t take that approach. The extremes here are partially the result of El Nino–which was particularly strong this time. While the broader upward warming trend is clearly related to human-induced climate change, the extremes of the last nine months are not likely to be repeated next year.
If you make it seem like this is the new normal, when we revert to a non-Nino year, which will still be warmer than average but not as extreme as this last year, people will think things are OK.
That’s a fair argument, yet at the same time it’s correct that this is the new high water mark, to be exceeded by the next high (ominous analogy intended). Both the audience that took basic science in the US and the audience that actually passed it are both needed to understand the amount of bad, in different ways.