With Britain experiencing the coldest weather since records began, why am I surprised to read the usual clap trap from the so-called 'climate sceptics' who don't believe that man-induced carrbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are dangerously impacting on the world's climate? The front page of today's Express Newspaper, one of Britain's most facile of tabloids, has a snow covered scene with the headline Global Warming? It's the Coldest Winter on Record.
As I prepare to leave for the United Nations climate change in Mexico, it is extraordinary how many people continue to deny that our climate is changing. This flux is sometimes known as 'Global Warming", but it is actually just shorthand for 'Climate Change'. The fact is that over 95 percent of climatologists have identified a significant increase in the average temperature of the planet, whcih they direclty blame on the acceleration of GHGs that we are pumping in to the atmosphere.
Local weather conditions vary. There is no connection between this and the big-picture phenomenon of climate change.
As I make this point of clarification, I am mindful of how funny this will read in years to come, by the time that climate change is universally accepted and the world has become fully committed to curbing GHGs, having conquered its addiction to fossil fuels and now using clean, renewable energy technology.
Right now, as a pack my suitcase for the warmth of Cancun, it's -15 degrees celsius outside, here in Prague, with more than 12 centimetres of snow on the ground.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
