Bill McKibben of 350.org has some thoughts for the sarcasm-deprived:
It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods — that’s the important thing.
Just be careful to make sure you don’t let yourself wonder why all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity — that is, why there have been unprecedented megafloods in Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan in the past year. Why it’s just now that the Arctic has melted for the first time in thousands of years.
No, better to focus on the immediate casualties, watch the videotape from the store cameras as the shelves are blown over. Look at the news anchorman standing in his waders in the rising river as the water approaches his chest.
The dilemma for the climate-change deniers, out in force post-tornado, is that every time they maintain there’s no connection between singular events and more generalized ‘global weirding’, they have a bigger stake in denying the whole phenomenon. They become the far-side equivalent of Chicken Littles. ‘Ain’t nothing that natters here, folks. Keep movin’ along.’
The big problem is that not only are single events not reliable indicators, neither are single years. Even multiple years can be statistical flukes. Deniers can keep claiming “coincidence” as long as they want, it’s just a matter of degree as the probabilities stack up. How many years of record temperatures and unprecedented weather does it take to make a convincing case? For some people, the case will never be made.
We’re like the proverbial frog in the saucepan. The water gets warmer and warmer, but it happens slowly enough that we don’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late.