I am going to say this nice and slowly. Just because it snows does not mean that climate change is not real. After years of research, people still have the gall to think that climate change isn’t real, and a recent argument that snowy weather is some miracle proof that the Earth is not warming. Just when I thought that people couldn’t get any less informed about basic principles of science, they go and make assertions like that.
Chief climate change denier, President Trump tweeted recently urging people to be careful with snow and “record setting cold,” which was fine to say, but then he decided to use this to make a mockery of climate scientists. This isn’t the first time that this argument has been used to deny climate change. In Feb. 2015, Republican Senator James Inhofe, a very active climate change denier, brought a snowball onto the Senate floor to “prove” his argument about climate change. To further the “professionalism” of his standing, he tossed that snowball at someone on the Senate floor. After this took place, the White House under the Obama administration issued a statement explaining NASA studies and other studies that prove that the Earth is warming, according to CNN. Trump tweeted saying, “be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!”
Really? Just because a region is experiencing cold weather does not prove that the Earth is not experiencing global warming. If the difference between weather and climate is that hard for politicians to understand, then I might as well break down these concepts in such a way that anyone could comprehend. Weather is the condition of Earth’s atmosphere over a short period of time. Climate is the long-term condition of the atmosphere. Weather is constantly changing, climate, however, is the average condition of the atmosphere over time. I don’t think it can be simplified anymore than that, but people still have trouble understanding such as simple concept. But I digress, a few days of cold and snow does not contradict years of rising temperatures.
Years of valid scientific research confirms that the Earth is in fact warming, and people in positions of power should acknowledge this simple fact. So, I’ll say it again. Even though there is snow, global warming is still real.
