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Earth passed a feared global warming milestone Friday, at least briefly | Average global temperatures were more than 2 degrees Celsius above a pre-industrial benchmark on Friday, preliminary data show (wapo.st)

submitted 1 year ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net

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I'll note that for most purposes, when people talk about going to 2°C above what it was in the late 1800s, they usually are talking about the long-term average, not one-day events.

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[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These articles that conflate a 2ºC higher daily average with the disastrous consequences of a 2ºC higher yearly average make me nervous. Most people aren't going to get the distinction when it's not being spelled out, and I question whether noting every day it goes over the average is even a useful metric to begin with compared to the yearly average.

If we keep having articles like this a few days a year I worry people are going to get numb to it when they don't see immediate consequences.

[–] guitarsarereal@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

But the article did actually explain the difference between crossing this threshold for a day and the average moving up over time. It's like the third sentence. This is further down in the article:

“I think while we should not read too much into a single day above 2C (or 1.5C for that matter) it’s a startling sign nonetheless of the level of extreme global temperatures we are experiencing in 2023,” Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with Stripe and Berkeley Earth, said in a message to The Washington Post.

Climate change is a complex problem that we can only see play out over time. This a newsworthy headline because it is a new milestone -- it's the first time that recorded temps hit 2 degrees above average for a full day. Just because it's not the single most important milestone that announces the apocalypse, doesn't mean it's not significant and newsworthy or "alarmist" in any way to report it. It lets us see the trend as it plays out in real time.

The article literally correctly explained the significance of this event and quoted a scientist telling people not to panic, what's the problem?

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I thought making it plural made it clear already, but I wasn't just talking about this one article.

I'm also not sure where you got 2 degrees above average for a month? The article is about a single day.

[–] guitarsarereal@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Typo, I'm prone to them early in the morning.

TBH though if you look at the state of climate journalism and think it's alarmist, you're just a climate denier at this point. Anyways, if you're annoyed about climate alarmism, shouldn't you find a climate alarmist article to complain on instead of a reasonable, well-reported article on the matter?

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 1 year ago

I'm not having a conversation about shit I didn't say.