Global warming .. are we sure it is a thing?
By Letter to the Editor on January 20, 2020.
As I sit here in Airdrie (just having returned from a short walk “to and from” my local grocery store), I contemplate whether the feeling in my hands and feet will ever come back due to this -28 degree (plus wind chill) cold snap most of Canada is suffering through. On top of that, while trying to thaw out, I’m watching a news article (video actually) on some Vancouverite literally skiing down alleys in Vancouver. It looks like Whistler except for all the houses and garages. What’s with that? I thought “where’s Greta when ya’ need her”? I was of the understanding all this “hoopla” surrounding the “climate change” theory was because the good ol’ earth was heating up, not going into the freezer? Wouldn’t that be more like global freezing than global warming? Just saying! Bobbie Norman Airdrie 8-7
Your letter, Bobbie Norman, describes weather, the state of the atmosphere at a particular place at a given moment in time.
Climate, on the other hand, is a description of weather which occurs in a particular place over a long period of time.
Climate change, then, is the long-term alteration of weather patterns in a particular location or the entire planet as a whole.
The climate has changed before. The impact has been just as devastating. Historic changes in climate have been shown to have contributed to far reaching effects on societal and cultural structures.
Currently, the world is watching the social upheaval causes by years of droughts in the middle east and northern Africa.
Extreme weather in Alberta in 2019 contributed to a disastrous crop for Alberta farmers.
The recent droughts in Australia may be the worst droughts experienced in over 800 years.
What extreme weather events and related consequences will Albertans face in 2020?
Only time will tell.