I was reading an article in The Economist [the INTELLIGENT LIFE supplement] and they were talking about how nonsensical the words Climate Change and Gobal Warming is. Who is going to care about those concepts - they actually sound kinda nice. Who minds 'warming' when so many places are cold? And a 'change' is like a holiday.
Since we all use these terms we're all in on this scheme to con ourselves. I know in my own writings I upped the ante by referring instead to a CLIMATE CRISIS and CLIMATE CHAOS and used the anthropomorphic term 'FEVER' to humanise the 'health' of our planet's atmosphere.
Robert Butler makes a few suggestions, some sourced from the blogosphere, and as you read through them you can be forgiven for a growing panic creeping up your spine. Because our nomenclature, our conventional nomenclature says a lot about our denial. We use virtual terms of endearment like Global Warming and Climate Change instead of:
- global meltdown, climate disruption, global fever, thermageddon, the warmacaust, heat pollution, climate destabilisation, solar grilling, climate doomsday
It is a serious situation that we have absolved ourselves not only of responsibility but EVEN CARING ABOUT IT.
Butler wisely points to a quote by Tom Peters: "Why is this brand called the global warming catastrophe such a weak brand?"
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