What is in a word

Numerous media outlets and institutions would like us to change the phrases we use in connection with the climate as it will, so they say, change the impact of the words on the listener.                                                                                                                                                                   
In 2019 “Climate Emergency” was proclaimed to be Word of the Year. Its expedient usage had propelled it to such heights that it could no longer be overlooked. Indeed the climate change which we had hitherto talked of, had reached a point where one really had to sit up and take notice. A new phrase could, it would seem, suddenly make us all realise that we were actually facing a crisis, or even a breakdown. It remains to be seen if this change of phrase alters people`s perception of situation in which our climate finds itself. A cynic can still just as easily say, “In an emergency, call the emergency services, they deal with such things. I don`t know what I can do”.                                                             
Or, maybe it is I who is being cynical if I think changing the expression we use will not change the nonchalant attitude which many people feel when faced with the results of climate change.                     
I refuse to be put in the corner with so-called “climate science deniers”, I am no such thing for we certainly are facing real challenges. So, it only follows that I do not wish to be left huddling with the “climate sceptics”, although I do feel a certain scepticism as to whether we, as a global community, will be able to turn the tables.

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