In an Associated Press “Fact check,” President Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday – “Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS – Whatever happened to Global Warming?”
On Thursday, Trump tweeted – “This is the coldest weather in the history of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, and one of the coldest Thanksgivings on record!”
The president’s tweets are in keeping with his disdain for science and show clearly his lack of understanding of the difference between weather and climate. As the AP notes, “Weather is like mood, which changes daily. Climate is like personality, which is long term.”
And that is a good explanation for having a cold spell, even though the world is getting warmer. To put this “weather versus climate” explanation into context, the weather is what you see when you look out the window. Climate is a long-term meteorological state, the statistical average of weather over a defined period of time.
“It’s all in the long-term trends,” concurs Dr. Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Trump is also not paying much attention to the word “global.” Global warming means exactly what it implies – warming on a global scale.
.MikeBloomberg nails it: “Promoting coal at a climate summit is like promoting tobacco at a cancer summit” iAV5QVUUZx
— Climate Reality (@ClimateReality) November 24, 2018
National Climate Assessment
On Friday, the White House produced the National Climate Assessment by scientists from 13 Trump administration agencies and outside scientists. It amounted to a slap in the face for those who doubt the climate is changing.
“Climate change is transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us,” the report says.
One big question on many people’s minds is why the climate assessment report, mandated by law to be published every two years, was issued on Friday, one day after Thanksgiving and on “Black Friday,” a day when many Americans are out shopping for Christmas.
You could say that “Black Friday” may have been the perfect day to put out such a harrowing report. The report talks about how climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels is hurting every region in the U.S., including damaging every sector of the economy. The report also gives disturbing statistics on the number of deaths we can expect.
While we do have those who deny that climate change is real, they need to ask the farmers in the Midwest and in our southern states what they think about climate change. Ask the parents of children being diagnosed with asthma at increased rates. Ask our elderly about global warming and its impact on their health.
Be sure to tell Californians that climate change is all in their minds as they continue to look for the remains of friends and family lost in this month’s wildfires. Global warming is real, as real as the sun coming up every morning, and yet we have a leader who is planning to promote dirty coal at the G20 meeting coming up next month.
We have an administration that has done away with environmental regulations, allowed drilling for oil in the Arctic, loosened automobile emission rules, and in general, made America a more dangerous place to live. Remember one thing, though – We do have a say in how we want to live and what kind of quality of life we want for our future generations. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.
