Global Warming Being Referred to as ‘lovely weather’

[TaRaRaBoomDeeAy]

What’s that all about, then?

It's really not.

You can't hold up every sunny day, every rainy day, every fall of snow as evidence of climate change in a country that's always had 4 seasons. It was the entire month of August being cold and wet that was unusual, not this.

This constant pressure to feel anxious about the climate and declare it loudly so people will know you’re a fully paid up Guardian reader is exhausting

Extra points if you can compound the anxiety of additional people around you- as then you can pat yourself on the back for doing your bit.

Quite!

In fact yesterday, I didn't use any petrol, dried my laundry outside, made a picnic from the contents of my fridge, and enjoyed generating lots of electricity from my solar panels. So I managed to enjoy the lovely weather at the same time as reducing my carbon footprint.

It is affecting young people because of the anxiety their parents are passing into them! The media too , to a certain degree but the number of friends I have who constantly bang on to their children about how they’ll have no earth left for their grandchildren is terrifying.

Yes ! Misery loves company.

It's another record breaking pattern of weather for the time of year. After a record breaking June and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees last year. The awful July was related to the heatwave in Europe. I agree that it's surprising people aren't using it more as a prompt to action, rather than arguing that it's perfectly normal and a good chance to catch some rays. I'm perhaps more grumpy because I actively dislike hot, sticky weather, but I even if I liked it I'd be alarmed.

We had a few weeks of nice weather in June, and a week of hotter than usual weather in September. If we'd had those same maybe 4 weeks of hot sunny weather spread through July and August it wouldn't have seemed that unusual?

Overthinking my arse. I agree the unconstructive doom mongering can get too much but the total climate change denial and outrage and what aboutery every initiative that tries to address it in any way is infuriating.

FFS, we’ve had one of the most miserable summers I can remember (it rained literally every day in July), millions of people are dreading the long cold winter because they’re already struggling, and now instead on enjoying a bit of sunshine and glass of wine In the garden we’re all what, supposed to be whipping ourselves with birch sticks and watching David Attenborough documentaries on repeat in a darkened room? Because that would really help…

I very much take climate change seriously and act accordingly but I am not going to stop this enjoying every sunny day we get for the rest of my life. If you think this approach is going to help your “cause” then you need to give your head a wobble.

I'm not at all outraged about attempts to address climate change. I absolutely think that we need to do more, and I support efforts to tackle it even if they do cause inconvenience to me personally. Ultimately, we are all going to need to make changes, but action is needed at national/international level - we can't just rely on individuals to make changes because many won't.

In the meantime, I don't see how me moping about a bit of sunshine is going to help address the problem in the slightest. Whether you enjoy the hot weather or not won't make the slightest bit of difference.

I just don't think the climate activists have understood that the same prompts that got life's pessimists on board with worrying about climate change won't be the same prompts that will trigger an optimist to lean in to the climate conversation.

They seem to think that if they just turn up the volume on anxiety and doom to increasingly dramatic and shrill peaks they will final push through the optimists threshold for engaging change. The weather is gorgeous and so we should all be very, very worried is a failed and ridiculous tactic to engage people who won't be motivated by anxiety and hopelessness and hyperbolic fear mongering.

It's not just enjoying it though is it? It's the constant arguing that it's normal, we always had hot Septembers, July was chilly, we wouldn't think this way if it was last week. You can see that on this thread.

September is often fine. But not this hot. I don't think 30 plus degree weather as 'lovely' by any stretch.

Biggest mistake was referring to it as Global Warming. A lot of people who either just can't wrap their heads around the concept or don't want to accept the reality of it can easily go "well it was cold today, what's that Global Warming all about?".

Each individual weather event isn't Climate Change but the general trend is overwhelmingly pointing to more and more extreme weather events.

But don't you think climate change scientists know the difference? Yes, we've always had heat waves, yes, there have often been warm spells in September. However, what we're seeing now is a dramatic increase in the number of heat waves. Record breaking temperatures year after year. A significant increase in the number of extreme weather events. An increase in global temperatures (despite the UK having a cool summer this year). Scientists know the difference between normal temperature variations that existed for thousands of years and what were experiencing in recent years.

Climate change is happening, regardless of what anyone says anyway. I see people refer to it as 'opinion' but it's not opinion, it's fact.

Apologies - I've re-read your post and I think we agree! My comment is directed at those who argue it's normal.

But people do remember warm, and sometimes hot, Septembers. And the difference between how they are remembered and what we had this week may be marginal.

But the point is one record breaking week in September, isn't climate change. All of the weather is climate change - including all those boring, rainy grey days in July while Europe was baking.

But coming out with the misery stick while people are enjoying good weather - is less about education or conversation as it is about morality and attempting to make people feel guilty for being happy and having fun. That shit won't work on most people, that's what you are seeing here on this thread, guilt Teflon. It's a failed tactic.

And that's fine, whether you think 30 is pleasant or not is just a personal preference.

People have already posted on this thread to note that temperatures of over 30 are not unprecedented in September - similar temperatures were recorded more than a century ago. Not every example of slightly unseasonably weather is necessarily evidence of climate change - the weather has always been variable to some extent.

But yes, the climate is changing and much more action needs to be taken. Personally, I think you will switch more people off from the issue by catastrophising about a bit of warm weather in September, which is not hugely out of the ordinary at all. It trivialises it and makes people think that climate change is no big deal, when it is actually a very big deal indeed.

It’s usually nice in September. We had a heat wave September to October 2011 (probably others but I can’t remember those, in 2011 I was in a very hot hospital ward then on the beach at Lyme Regis resting in a tent with newborn dtds while dh played with dd1 in the sea first week of October. We can enjoy the nice weather without thinking about the planet dying. Or do you think we should all be miserable as we head towards the end of the world?

Yesterday was lovely for us, a day at a beautiful beach and swimming and a picnic.

Just because you had to move someone doesn’t mean it wasn’t lovely for anyone else

It's not about collectively sitting at home being miserable. It's about calls to action - holding the Government to account to address things properly rather than telling us to "just enjoy the lovely weather" while they stoke up a culture war over the ULEZ as a distraction. I don't see the "we are all fucked anyway, may as well dance on the deck of the titanic " approach as essentially any more optimistic. I do take the point that July would have been just as good a time to make this call to arms, when we had unseasonably wet weather, and I was quietly enjoying the fact it was comfortably cool. I was uneasy about the weather then though tbf, while thanking my stars that I'd not booked a holiday in the med.

@longestlurkerever But that’s just it. Climate change is no more real or more serious when the weather is “lovely” than when it’s cold and wet. There is no reason whatsoever for people to be more worried about climate change this week than in July. If it’s suddenly freezing in a month’s time that doesn’t mean we can all relax. It’s silly to link the way people feel about short term weather patterns to concern about climate change.

I don't think it's silly though really. Extreme weather events are becoming so common now that the increased frequency is something tangible that you can see with your own eyes. I think it's natural to assume each one might be a prompt to action. My children refer to "hot play" in the way we referred to wet play now. Sports day has rarely been safe to go ahead due to extreme heat, and the rain storms we have now are more like tropical storms with drizzle rare. You don't need scientists talking to you about what this means any more.

It’s not that unusual to get a warmer spell in autumn, the term ‘Indian Summer’ is hardly new