When the D.C. area and other Southern cities had record snowstorms, conservatives tried to use it as "proof" that global warming didn't exist, as in the Fox News clip above. Climate, as many pointed out in return, is of course different from weather, and any day's given weather event isn't proof or disproof of anything.
Weather patterns are another story, though, and there is even evidence that the snowstorm itself was evidence of climate change. Scientists are usually reluctant to blame a specific event on a larger phenomenon. But the extreme weather events of the past few months, especially Pakistan's dramatic floods, are causing some scientists to question whether it's time to start publicly saying that we are likely seeing human-inspired climate change. They held a meeting in Colorado last week to discuss the topic, according to New Scientist.
The aim of the Attribution of Climate-Related Events workshop was to discuss what information is needed to determine the extent to which human-induced climate change can be blamed for extreme weather events - possibly even straight after they have happened.
The article points to studies that blamed the 2003 European heat wave on climate change, and also noted that blaming particular events on global warming as a whole might open the door to legal challenges for compensation. Overall, there has to be some way to show people the import of changing energy use to prevent these things from happening.
-- Monica Potts
