The fine line of science: Why is the climate crisis so now ‘gobsmacking.’ but so is progress, and what can we say about it?
Scientists walk a fine line, and a constantly shifting one. They gather temperature data and build models to figure out how glaciers are changing, how fires like the one that destroyed Lahaina in August are getting more intense, or how the temperature in our world is going to change. A phrase like “Absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” is a reflection of how the world is getting less and less objective by the day.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has tried to figure out how to communicate the seriousness of the climate change problem for decades. You have to find a balance between being scientifically accurate and still being you, because that is what you are like as a scientist. But you also have to be communicating in really powerful ways.”
Pick a word and it will probably grow deficient for describing a disaster. Climate-related catastrophes can be described with the phrase “mega”. “We tack ‘mega’ on everything,” says Heather Goldstone, chief communications officer of the Woodwell Climate Research Center. It is a megaheat wave, a megadrOUGHT and a megastorm. It just kind of loses the punch after a while. It doesn’t convey the enormity of what we’re facing.
Source: Yes, the Climate Crisis Is Now ‘Gobsmacking.’ But So Is Progress
2023 will be the hottest year on record. Is this how it’s going to be right now? Rethinking the reality of climate science
And scientists are also just people. “It’s a really tricky balance to navigate, in between being a scientist and being a thinking, feeling human being,” says Kate Marvel, a senior climate scientist at Project Drawdown, which advocates for climate action. “Because we are all conflicted. We’re not neutral observers—we live here.”
“We’re pretty sure that the year of 2023 will be the hottest on record, at least based on what we’re seeing now”, says Hausfather who is a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth.
Extreme heat, floods, and record-hot oceans were just some of the disasters caused by the record-breaking year. The forecasts for how the planet will warm are in line with the extreme temperatures.
“If we don’t change things, if we keep going on the trajectory that we’re going, we will look back at 2023 and think of it as: remember that year that wasn’t so bad?” says Tessa Hill, marine scientist at the University of California Davis.
Hausfather says they know why this is happening. A year like this would not have transpired without the trillion tons of carbon we put into the atmosphere over the last century.
“How unpreparedwe are is the main lesson,” said Ebi, who studies heat at the University of Washington. There are places that have heat wave response systems. They certainly saved lives. They didn’t save enough.
Source: 2023 will be the hottest year on record. Is this how it’s going to be now?
The Ocean is Heat-Sensitive to Wind and Sea-Clean to Stars and Stripes, and Can It Survive Heat Waves?
The ocean has heat waves as well. The temperature in the water off the coast of Florida was the same as a hot tub. Heat-sensitive corals can’t survive prolonged heat, with many bleaching, turning a ghostly white color, or dying outright.