Climate crisis
"Climate crisis" is a phrase that some organizations are using as a descriptor for climate change and "global warming".
In some cases, this is an intentional effort to reframe the issue to jump-start aggressive climate change mitigation. For example, as of July 2019[update], the coalition Call It a Climate Crisis Campaign[1] is circulating an online petition that in part says, "The words your reporters and anchors use matter. What they call something shapes how millions see it – and how entire nations act."[2] Others are also embracing the expression "climate crisis" simply because they believe it is more accurate. On May 17, 2019 The Guardian announced it would begin using the new expression, along with "global heating". Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner explained, "We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue. The phrase ‘climate change’, for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”[3]
History
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In 1979 the First World Climate Conference was organized by the World Meteorological Organization in collaboration with various partner organizations. The conference issued a declaration stating that:
[I]t is now urgently necessary for the nations of the world
(a) To take full advantage of man’s [sic] present knowledge of climate;
(b) To take steps to improve significantly that knowledge;
(c) To foresee and prevent potential man-made changes in climate that might be adverse to the well-being of humanity." (emphasis added) [4]
Following the conference, the global community invested more resources in climate research. Within nine years, "crisis" was used in conjunction with anthropogenic global warming. At the end of June 1988, hundreds gathered in Toronto at the "World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security". The conference statement declared in part:
Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war... These changes represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe. (emphasis added)[5]
From individual actions to the international community, the conference urged "specific actions to reduce the impending crisis" (emphasis added).[5]
In 2005, former Vice-President of the United States Al Gore wrote an op-ed in Salon describing anthropogenic global warming as a "climate crisis". [6]
In 2019, the United States House of Representatives established the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.[8]
Media outlets embracing "climate crisis"
Criticism
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Some social scientists expressed caution over emergency framing such as "climate crisis".[11]
References
- ^ "Call It a Climate Crisis Campaign". Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ "Call it a Climate Crisis". Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ Carrington, Damian (May 17, 2019). "Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ Zillman, John W. "A History of Climate Activities". World Meteorological Organization. World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ a b Center for International Environmental Law. (1990). "Selected International Legal Materials on Global Warming and Climate Change". American University International Law Review. 5 (2): 515. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- ^ Gore, Al (November 4, 2005). "The Time to Act is Now". Salon Magazine. Retrieved 26 July 2019."It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly and wisely. "Global warming" is the name it was given a long time ago. But it should be understood for what it is: a planetary emergency that now threatens human civilization on multiple fronts."
- ^ "United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis / About". United States House of Representatives. 2019. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) Crediting Shawna Faison and House Creative Services. - ^ "Democrats Establish a New House 'Climate Crisis' Committee". The Atlantic. December 28, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
TheGuardianwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Signe, Dean. "ScienceAlert Editor: Yes, It's Time to Update Our Climate Change Language". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Hodder, Patrick; Martin, Brian (September 5, 2009). "Climate Crisis? The Politics of Emergency Framing" (PDF). Economic and Political Weekly. 44 (36): 53, 55-60. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
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