Thread by @DrJoeHanson

The fact that video clip ends with a plug for a Dr. Oz segment is the perfect underscore for its ridiculousness

https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1091318044943540225

There's an old argument that "they" (different groups play the part of "they" depending on who's talking) keep changing the name for climate change/global warming because the old term isn't working or because the science changed. This is not true

The story goes that "global warming" wasn't working or warming had paused so "they" changed it to "climate change". According to the above accusation, now "they" are changing it to "extreme weather" because one part of Earth got really cold for a few days

First off, scientists never changed "global warming" to "climate change". "Climate change" is found in research papers dating back to the 50s. The "CC" in IPCC stands for "climate change". Scientists have talked about both things for almost as long as they've been studying this

Secondly, there's good reasons to use different terms, because they're different things. "Global warming" is the long-term trend of rising average temperatures. "Climate change" is diverse effects on our planet's natural cycles as a result of global warming. Both are happening.

"Extreme weather" is a type of climate change that describes weather events at the extremes of historical averages. Climate change, powered by global warming, is causing more weather events which fall at these historical extremes. Different terms that all tell one story.

And that story is that we are changing our planet's atmosphere in big ways by burning fossil fuels, and that is leading to extreme and sometimes unpredictable effects on our planet's natural cycles. The same story scientists have been telling for decades.

The most ridiculous part of this "they are changing the name" argument is that the biggest push for using "climate change" over "global warming" came from conservative strategist Frank Luntz. So… who is "they" again?

@skepticscience has more: skepticalscience.com/climate-change…