“Climate change” tricks us into complacency by framing it as slow, diffuse, and maybe not even bad.
Call it “climate crisis” instead. Reinforce that it’s already hurting everyone and must be addressed now. Use our brain’s flaws for good. Language matters!
Learned today that right wing political operative Frank Luntz evidently popularized the term climate change as a vague, harmless, even natural sounding alternative to global warming, in an effort to downplay the danger and need for action.