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Climate change is complex and will play out differently depending on where you are (and who you are). It’s confusing! It’s contradictory! And what am I to do? EVs are expensive, my house leaks heat, and my AC is nonexistent. It’s hot, it’s freezing, it’s hot, aarrggggghgbkjdhfsj!
Our world’s climate is changing in ways that well-meaning scientists are trying hard to understand. But this stuff can be difficult to make sense of — even for those who are really plugged into the climate space. Plus, it’s become politicized and polarized, which obviously doesn’t help.
That’s why I think our culture needs more conversations in good faith about our warming climate. And that’s what I’m attempting to do here: an exercise in building empathy around our shared befuddlement.
At Vox Climate, we care — and think often about — meeting our readers where they are when it comes to explaining the ways that climate change will impact all of our lives. To that end, we recently asked our readers — you! — to send us your questions and ideas that you’d like us to explore.
Thank you for trusting us with your questions. And now — here are some answers.
Can climate change trigger earthquakes?
I’ve been wondering about that connection myself. Luckily for both of us, Vox climate correspondent Umair Irfan has done a lot of reporting on this. His answer: Climate change could have a tiny effect on earthquakes.
The challenge with providing a definitive answer here is that there hasn’t been enough research establishing the connection between climate change and the frequency or severity of earthquakes. But scientists are not ruling out the possibility. Umair writes: “As average temperatures rise, massive ice sheets are melting, shifting billions of tons of water from exposed land into the ocean and allowing land masses to rebound. That global rebalancing could have seismic consequences, but signals haven’t emerged yet.”
“What might occur is enough ice melts that could unload the crust,” said Greg Beroza, a Stanford University geophysics professor. Dear reader, I caution you here: So far, there’s no evidence of this happening nor an indication of which parts of the world might reveal a climate-change signal.
You can read more about what we know about earthquakes, where they will strike and how to save as many lives as possible when they do here. (Also, stay tuned: We’re doing even more reporting on this topic as we speak.)
Besides recycling and conserving heat and coolant, investing in electric cars and solar, and voting for climate candidates, what can individuals do to slow climate change?
I have good news for you, the answer is empowering: Way more than you think!
Thing 1: Join a group. Leverage your unique interests and build grassroots power. Climate journalist Rebecca Leber recommends, for the time-pressed in particular, the organization Climate Changemakers, which offers activities that take between 2 minutes and an hour, like contacting your representative.
Thing 2: Think critically about your aims and influence and create a power map. As Leber explains: “To make the abstract more tangible, activists use a power map, a simple X-Y axis chart widely used in all kinds of grassroots campaigning. The purpose is to figure out how to reach a clear and specific end goal, and come up with an actual path for reaching it.” Amazon workers in Minnesota built momentum and staged the largest work stoppage in the company’s history. It happened because labor activists were organized; they were organized partly because they created a power map. Get mad as hell, organize, do the damn thing!
Thing 3: Take your conversations about the climate crisis offline. Climate change is emotional and political. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to disengage with the memes, the reels, and the comment sections — and bring these conversations into our own lives. Elevate your questions and concerns with your friends and your family — or, perhaps even more influentially, your coworkers: You can bring your climate-conscious mindset to implement change at your workplace. By “zooming out and seeing your discipline or job function more broadly,” says Jamie Alexander of the climate-solutions-oriented nonprofit Project Drawdown. “How can this job function be leveraged in service of the climate?” Push your company to do better.
If you want to read more, check out Leber’s hopeful story here.
And our last from this round:
Why are daily weather forecasts so often wrong these days? Is it harder to forecast due to climate change?
I really love this question because we’ve never tackled it head-on. We’ve written about the annoying issues and quirks that plague weather apps (check out this great story) and why local forecasters are just generally going to be your best bet for getting the beat on your local weather. (Shoutout to my own, beloved towny weather geek, the Durango Weather Guy).
But to answer your question, I turned to the team and we did some digging.
As for the role of climate change, here’s what we found out: According to Kerry Emanuel, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at MIT, it’s: “luckily no.”
In an interview with Climate Portal, an initiative by MIT to provide science-based information about the causes and consequences of climate change, Emanuel explained further: “What matters most is the dramatic improvement in the science of weather forecasting. Today’s 7-day forecast is as accurate as the 3-day forecast was in the 1980s, an improvement that blows away any smaller uncertainties arising from climate change. The credit goes to bigger data sets, better real-time data, and, most importantly, the continual rise in computational power, which lets forecasters simulate the exceedingly complex weather system with ever-better accuracy.”
So there you have it.
But we’re not quite done here. We’ve got to challenge the premise of the question: What do we mean by “wrong”? It turns out that weather forecasts have actually improved quite a bit, as Emanuel’s quote above makes clear (if you want an additional source on that, here’s one). We tend to demand a high level of precision from forecasts — Will I need an umbrella on my way to work? Should I pack a sweater for my barbecue? — but remember that predictions are a game of probabilities. So getting soaked on a day with just a 15 percent chance of precipitation doesn’t mean you should delete your weather app just yet. If you analyzed dozens of these predictions (I know, who has the time?), you’ll find they’re pretty close to the mark most of the time. You can read about this more in this helpful story from NPR.
Confusingly, there are conflicting takes on The Internet (I won’t link them, sorry). But, smart readers, don’t be fooled. Plus, can we all admit that we carry just a little bit of a bias toward our weather apps? We’re probably more likely to remember when the Apple weather app scorned us on our sunny beach day. (Damn rain!)
Let’s keep this conversation going. Do you have a question you’d like to see us answer?
No question is too big or too small, and you can submit as many questions or suggestions as you’d like. What do you want our climate team to explore? We’ll use your inquiries and ideas to inform and improve our coverage at Vox.com.
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