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A highly paid political scriptwriter(& a small army of researchers) coined the phrase "climate change" and worked it into all the politicos' speeches of the day

by tunap 10y ago

A highly paid political scriptwriter(& a small army of researchers) coined the phrase "climate change" and worked it into all the politicos' speeches of the day to make it stick. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/luntz.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/int...

philipkglass 10y ago
It looks like he promoted use of the phrase "climate change" during the GWB administration but that's not when the phrase was coined: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=climate+change%2C+global+warming&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cclimate%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cglobal%20warming%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=climate+change... The term "climate change" appeared in research literature long before (resistance to acknowledging) anthropogenic climate change became a significant political issue. See for example this short 1970 communication in PNAS "Carbon Dioxide and its Role in Climate Change" http://www.pnas.org/content/67/2/898.short http://www.pnas.org/content/67/2/898.short I think that the term "climate change" is better than "global warming" since it also encompasses localized cooling events that might be caused by anthropogenic emissions, e.g. the hypothesized collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation that could lead to colder winters in Western Europe.
- tunap 10y ago
  I apologize, "coined the phrase" is indeed incorrect. It was a scientific term before it's mainstream usage. He intentionally initiated the substitution from GW to CC in all dialogues from the White House(the entire GOP?) which ultimately led to the mainstream usage in the public forum. After noting the change in language(and the Dems callng foul) I found his interview and how the public dialogue is orchestrated to be quite interesting. Cannot recommend the Frontline video enough. I don't disagree, Climate Change seens more appropriate/accurate.

by tunap 10y ago

philipkglass 10y ago

It looks like he promoted use of the phrase "climate change" during the GWB administration but that's not when the phrase was coined: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=climate+change%2C+global+warming&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cclimate%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cglobal%20warming%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=climate+change... The term "climate change" appeared in research literature long before (resistance to acknowledging) anthropogenic climate change became a significant political issue. See for example this short 1970 communication in PNAS "Carbon Dioxide and its Role in Climate Change" http://www.pnas.org/content/67/2/898.short http://www.pnas.org/content/67/2/898.short I think that the term "climate change" is better than "global warming" since it also encompasses localized cooling events that might be caused by anthropogenic emissions, e.g. the hypothesized collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation that could lead to colder winters in Western Europe.

tunap 10y ago
I apologize, "coined the phrase" is indeed incorrect. It was a scientific term before it's mainstream usage. He intentionally initiated the substitution from GW to CC in all dialogues from the White House(the entire GOP?) which ultimately led to the mainstream usage in the public forum. After noting the change in language(and the Dems callng foul) I found his interview and how the public dialogue is orchestrated to be quite interesting. Cannot recommend the Frontline video enough. I don't disagree, Climate Change seens more appropriate/accurate.