The Olympics have been going on for almost a week now, and there has been very little discussion about the climate conditions. This is not just a trend for the Olympics — the media seems to be covering this topic less. That’s because with this past winter, there has been a growing sense that climate change has stopped.
This is the farthest thing from the truth. This past winter and the extreme weather patterns are even more evidence for climatic change. With the extreme winter that has been happening in large portions of the United States, a sense that climate change has paused is growing. This fallacious belief is based on one scientific study that media giants such as National Geographic, ABC and The Conversation sensationalized. Yet when The Guardian investigated, they found, “even though these reports spoke in detail about the complexity of the research … they could inadvertently cement the idea that global warming has in some way stopped, when it hasn’t.”
This has had the inadvertent result of limiting the discussion about climate change. Instead of looking at all the evidence, we have assumed that one study can be generalized. When you look at the other indicators of climate change, it’s obvious this is a continuing problem.
Just look at the climate surrounding the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Max Cobb, president of the U.S. Biathlon Board, said, “This really resembles spring skiing. It’s not as if the athletes haven’t seen this before. It’s just rare for the Olympics.” It may be rare now, but if you look at the temperature trends, this is only going to become more normal. Global temperatures have been increasing for the past half-century, and we have begun to see an acceleration. With each Winter Olympics, the average temperatures for the Games have increased. The temperatures for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway were below freezing, while the 2014 Winter Olympics have had temperatures around 50 degrees.
This past winter in the U.S. demonstrates how drastic climate change is becoming. The Midwest and East Coast have been slammed by storm after storm, while the West has experienced a heat wave. It has been a while since I can remember having spring rain during February. Far from being a rare occurrence, though, these extreme weather phenomena are becoming the norm.
This lack of discussion about climate change is a sign of a larger trend of apathy toward the changes we must make to combat this problem. We have been discussing measures to slow down climate change for decades now. Instead of critically assessing these problems we attempt surface changes. The first step toward these changes we need is discussion. We must have an ongoing discussion about change. We can never forget the urgency of this dilemma.
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