Climate is changing. We need to do the same.

President Trump, the stable genius, is pretty hot-tempered when it comes down to climate change. He has been a fierce opponent of global warming or of science by large. Maybe because it's beyond his comprehension (a lot of things are).

First, we heard about Global warming and then climate change.

So a common misconception that rose to prominence is that since global warming was not happening, scientists changed the term in climate change. But this is incorrect because the term was changed not because the temperatures are not rising, indeed they are rising, but simply to avoid creating confusion, already exacerbated by some moron whose tweets are unfortunately read by millions of people.

On a cold winter day, someone could say, where the hell is global warming? We need you. Because people generally, confuse weather with climate.

Weather refers to the atmospheric conditions at a particular place and time, in most places weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour.

Climate refers to the long-term atmospheric patterns in a particular area. It's the average of weather over time and space.

Because global warming is a term that refers to the spike in the Earth's average surface temperature. And the keyword here is average: a rise in temperature won't necessarily be felt uniformly across the globe.

So climate change is simply a term to cover a wider range of topics such as floods, more intense storms, ocean acidification, other than obviously the rise of the average temperature of the Earth due to greenhouse gas.

So it's clear that the rising of temperature is only one of the many effects of climate change.

But we need to understand that we are not doomed. There is hope. What we do matter.

When we talk about things like environment emotions are intrinsically present. Because when people talk about climate change they naturally adopt philosophical and emotional positions. And these attitudes move to the direction of increasing hysteria and demand, whether that's appropriate or not.

Moreover, we are not sure if the scary and apocalyptic scenery described, or denied, so vehemently will even occur: long term prediction of climate is not possible since it does not follow a linear model. We cannot predict the weather for a month. How you are supposed to predict the complex climate patterns?

Another point that I want to make clear is that we are not here to save the planet. It's stupid to think we might even have the power to do it. Our planet is four and a half billion years old and during this period has witnessed constant, endless, incredibly violent change...Explosive volcanic eruptions, cosmic rays, solar flares, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, dreadful meteor shower, oceans rising and falling, worldwide floods, whole continents moving and colliding into each other, creating in this way whole mountains ranges such as the Urals, formed during the Uralian Orogeny due to the collision of the eastern edge of the supercontinent Laurussia with the rheologically weak continent of Kazakhstania. So it's clear that we do not represent a threat to the planet.

As Michael Crichton said: “The planet has survived everything in its time, it will certainly survive us.”

In my opinion, it's so hard to tackle the problem of climate change because it's not one single event that will change the equilibrium forever. Instead, it's a constant and gradual process, whose effects can be seen but are not as devastating as someone is depicting them.

The biggest catastrophe of climate change is that there will never be a catastrophe.

In the meanwhile, the most severe consequences will be felt by the people of some of the poorest countries, whose voice gets greatly unheard, like in Manila, Haiti, Yemen or Pakistan.

We want to hear about a disaster. But we don't need a disaster to act.

Global warming is real and is occurring. Just check the data: you need consensus in politics, not in science.

And it is also clear that human activity is definitely involved in it. But there is no catastrophe on the horizon, for the planet at least. We simply don't know what the effects will be in the long term. However, there are suggestions that we might be a threat to our own survival and need to take action if we want to prolong our stay here.

I wrote a short story on the topic. You can take fifteen minutes of your time and read it.

Otherwise, if you are in a hurry you could skip directly to the final part ("In short"), where I've summarised the basic concepts and given my opinion on this topic.

Climate is changing. So should we.

Washington City, 2022

The helicopter was flying high above Washington City, the rotors casting shadows on the muddy water of the seaside. It was raining, drenching sheets of water fell from the grey sky, hammering on the reinforced glass. Bernie sighed as he squinted to see in the darkness. He could barely outline the tall skyscrapers, cloaked in mist and smog. Well more smog than mist, but that didn't matter anymore. Hardly anything mattered anymore. He listened to the crackle in his earphones as the communication tower asked for an upgrade. -21 North, 56 South, I've got 20 liters of fuel left, winds moving North-West with constant velocity of…uh…- he paused as he checked the tachymeter -25 km/h. I'm going to land in about ten minutes at dock number 45- -only ten minutes left- he thought relieved -and my darn watch turn will be over- the helicopter rushed forward, the nose slightly tipping. Through the Plexi Bubble he could discern the crisps and gentle waves of the sea, no fishes though, not those nasty little things anymore. They grew only in arctic waters nowadays, far away from the States. Bernie wasn't actually worried, he had never liked fishes, so did It really matter if they had migrated somewhere else? No, it didn't. And did the reasons for that migration really matter? No, they didn't. The only thing that mattered to him was that his turn was about to finish. The helicopter began to climb over the buildings, blanketed in greyish smog; then, a glowing helipad popped into his view. Gently he touched down and relaxed in his seat as the sound of the rotors faded slowly.

*

The air in the restaurant was warm and soothing, Bernie looked at the large window even though he couldn't see anything other than black, impenetrable, inky obscurity. He started humming softly, staring casually toward the gigantic tv screen that was built into the nearest wall. It was playing some sort of ad, the launch of the innovative iPhone thirteen, with six cameras, one hell of a screen you couldn't fit in your pocket anymore, and still no headphone jack. Not that they were a thing these days, almost no major flagship had a headphone jack, they were all starting to apply a very peculiar philosophy: given the fact that we can't add anything really innovative, and given the fact that we have to produce at least a new model per year all we can do to maintain this cycle going is to remove stuff and spend billions in intelligent marketing. And it worked, smartphones were becoming stupid phones again, and people remained stupid all along. The ad showed a last glimpse of the new slick aluminum frame, before disappearing abruptly. There was another breaking news, though it really didn't sound like "breaking news" to Bernie. The reporter, a fat dude with oily hair, sounded pretty annoyed; he was waving weakly the hand, as to push away an insignificant insect.

-There is…uh…breaking news, doctor and researcher …uh…Le-ònard Ping will report more on it- The frame shifted and a little Chinese man in a lab coat and round glasses smiled forcedly, he was standing on a dock. Behind him the water crisped gently, it had a darkish tonality to it. He tried a little smile but didn't really succeed.

-I guess you can say so, John, we have breaking news and it's quite bad…I guess- he was the sort of person to guess a lot. -It has to do with climate change- he paused for a second, probably thinking if to guess even that affirmation but decided not to.

Bernie rolled his eyes and gave a little sigh, why the hell they still had to talk about climate change? All right, the climate was changing, he already knew that, but what were they supposed to do? Reverse what they had been doing for millions of years? Being humans. That was the point, he had decided a long time ago, their only fault was to be humans and they couldn't do anything about it. The climate was bound to change, it had changed many times in the eons before humans and it was going to change again, humans were only accelerating that process, what was the big deal?

-The I.A.C.C. (International Association on Climate Change) has just published a new article that declares that the effects of this rising in temperature will be unprecedented- was saying the Chinese doctor, -some of these events are: massive wildfires, the melting of icebergs and glaciers, frequent flooding and the water level will go up to from one to four feet in the next century…-

He was interrupted by the anchor who had burst in an irritable laugh - sorry, Le-ònard, can you repeat that again? –

The doctor didn't seem to be having that good of a time, a little vein on his neck started pulsing alarmingly -it's Leonard, and as I said the water level will rise somewhere from one foot to four feet in the next century-

The laugh became more outpitched -so…you're saying that we should worry about that? -he managed to say -about a mere one to four feet rise in a whole century? –

Leonard snapped angrily -John, here I am, straining my already pollution filled lung to inform you of the risk we are running as humans, and still, you find something funny in my words. Tell me, what's so funny about climate change? –

The anchor returned serious -nothing…just that four feet doesn't seem that much, and we can control wildfires in the long term, and I wouldn't actually worry about the glaciers melting…what is the worst possible scenario, in all your scientific papers? The extinction of species, right? -He asked, and without waiting for a response continued -I don't see any problem there, species have been going and coming on the Earth from the beginning of time-

-That's the point- said the doctor, half screaming -aren't you forgetting something? We too are a freaking species! –

-Um- John seemed taken aback, he raised a stubby hand as to calm down the doc, -I was just saying that the, uh, species and the, um, earth…-he left the sentence unfinished.

Leonard tore his headphones and stumped them on the ground -stop with all this uh-species and um-earth rubbish, we are going to kill ourselves, that's what you don't understand! –

There was an electric buzz and the image of the doctor on the dock was replaced by the anchor's studio. John grinned at the video camera, -well looks like someone's temperature is rising too-

Bernie smiled too, slicing his rare medium steak, it was a good one, lame and direct. It happened rarely that they really said something funny on television, they usually inserted clapping sounds and automatic laughs hoping that the human psychology would do the rest. He took a bite, chewing the delicious juicy meat; he wasn't bothered by the whole -even we are a species- argument.

But really, a part of him thought, weren't they a species as well? Like he knew they were more intelligent, and they had all the ‘we are human, we are better' package…on the other hand, they were nothing more than mere animals, animals that had learned to build skyscrapers and rockets, but still animals that could easily be wiped off the face of the Earth, as thousands of species before them.

Dear me, he shook slightly his head, drifting around like that…I shouldn't even think about it, it doesn't make any sense.

And with that reassuring thought permeating his mind he restarted eating with renewed appetite.

It was dessert time. Bernie stuck out his tongue reading carefully the names written in elegant handwriting…Mousse de le crème de le Lemon aut Fragola? It would have sounded nice to order something like that, he would have appeared to be some kind of French gentleman, the only problem being that he couldn't even remotely pronounce that. At last, he went for a more traditional Apple Pie.

-There is No Planet B! – The scream came from somewhere near the entrance, it was high-pitched -No going back! We must save Mother Earth –

Bernie turned in his seat, the menu slipped from his hands and hit the floor. Someone was running toward him, a humane figure that was nude for the most part, most part comprehending torso, back, legs, arms, feet, hand, and lower back. Only the front patch¹ was covered by a big leaf.

Cardoon or Angel's Trumpet, the silly thought crossed Bernie's mind. It was interesting that these stupid thoughts came to you when there were objectively more important things to think about, these ‘objectively more important things' comprehended people running half-naked (well actually more than half) towards you. Bernie hurriedly jumped over his chair, the other costumers in the restaurant followed his example. The N.M.M. (Naked, Mad Man) stopped in front of his table, jerking his head like a chicken, Bernie smelled the odor of sweat coming from the Naked Man's skin. N.M.M started sniffing around, walking slowly from table to table.

-RED MEAT! -he raged gripping in his filthy hands a greasy leftover of red meat, dribbles of spit went down to his chin, -RED, RED! –

There was no other sound in the restaurant, except for the sound of the tv. Someone turned even that one off.

-Red, like the color of blood! –The Naked Man started shaking the hand that was tightly gripped to the piece of meat -like the blood that circulated in this poor creature, it was God's creation you know? It was a creature made by God! Are you going to object even that? –

He kicked a chair; it flipped a couple of times before swerving in front of a terrorized waiter.

You have to admit, Bernie whispered under his breath, that the man has some next-level oratory skills stuffed up his sleeves…

-We, the Homo Sapiens, the ‘intelligent ones', we, the chosen ones, we, the mightiest of all species, are destroying our planet- He was saying, the blood from the piece of meat ran down to his elbow, where it created a small vortex before falling in big, reddish droplets.

Bernie considered calling 4-22, the special number instituted by the government for emergencies related to mad people in general, but then he would have to sign a lot of paperwork, answer to infinite calls by annoyed clerks, drive back and forth to the police department…better not to do anything and wait for the others to do something ².

The N.M.M jumped on a table, his bare feet crashing refined wine glasses and precious ceramic plates -The consumption of food accounts for 24% of the greenhouse emissions, about twice as much as the amount of global pollution made by cars! This stake! -The hand holding the piece of meat shot up, dangling in front of a young and pompous looking guy, -the process of making this stake produced 330 grams of carbon dioxide, you idiot! –

Slap, the slippery sound made Bernie wince. He saw the pompous looking guy tumble and fall on the ground, where N.M.M. jumped over him like a WWA professional player.

Enough is enough, Bernie jumped off the chair and ran for the entrance, it all had been entertaining and fun but now he actually risked getting seriously hurt…and anyways someone else could handle the situation, it was not his duty.

*

-Oh, Gracious Goodness! -Bernie made himself comfortable on the couch, sipping a glass of icy cold beer, -these madmen that run away like that, why the hell don't the police do something? -

He switched on the tv, the channels were fewer by the day, but Wise News, the real news channel, wasn't a goner. They were currently transmitting "The Hamlet for America Show".

-All right, we have to take a break now, we'll return in a few moments to announce the new revealing and illuminating tweet of our beloved President, I know some of those fake news channels have already started to say that it is stupid and idiotic…but trust me, the President knows what he's doing, don't you forget: he's a very stable genius, stable indeed. We will talk about this and more after the break. Stay with us, friends. –

The screen showed the American flag before fading slowly and leaving space to the infinite cycle of ads.

New York, headquarters of Wise News

-Cut! We're not live anymore! –

Hamlet sighed in relief, pushing himself from the desk -holy whack! Sometimes I think it's getting too big for me. –

In the studio lights went down an immediately people were over him, shouting and pushing.

-Hamlet, here, I have to apply the makeup! –

-Hamlet, could you look to the camera 3B, we gotta recalibrate the frame! –

-Hamlet, adjust your tie, it's slightly to the left! -

-Hamlet, you messed up with the whole phone call! -The last voice was louder than the others, his producer paced angrily toward him, -when that guy asked you about the latest tweets from the President, the controversial ones-

Hamlet got up angrily, pushing aside the glass of water that someone was handing him -The controversial ones? They're all controversial, that's what you don't understand, Scott! – When no answer came, he continued on: -Seriously, I'm getting tired of finding a viable justification for every tweet, and what's the big deal with the call? They asked me something, I didn't know the answer and coincidentally the connection was lost-

Scott nodded -you're right, sorry, it's difficult even for me-

But Hamlet was already on the other side of the room, trying to sneak in the kitchen.

-He Tweeted! He Tweeted again! -Lynda, the Social Manager, waved her hands, silencing the others.

Hamlet rolled his eyes, closing violently the door behind him, all prospect of a quick Americano blown away in an instant -Not again. That moron! –

-Again, yes- His secretary, a little man that had to fact check everything, put a tick in his little notebook -Moron, yes-

Lynda started reading -In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching sixty degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In the coming days, expected to get even colder. People can't last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you-

-Bloody hell! -Scott gritted his teeth, mumbling insults under his breath -now I see because they- he gestured a large semicircle with his tiny hands -offend him, it's so easy. With the load of bull shit, he says every day it doesn't take a lot of effort…-

The Just-T-iffy team (yeah, they really had to create a team of people just to justify Trump's controversial tweets) was already in action. After all, they had about fifteen minutes to come up with a reasonable justification, prepare a written text, make some graphics and go live just in time for the show.

And somehow, they managed to do all that in ten minutes, the justification was pretty weak, Hamlet thought sitting in his chair and guzzling a bottle of water, but it was the best they could do in that time. He adjusted his tie and, while someone applied make-up all over his face, his inky eyes drifted on the paper he was holding.

Welcome back to the show, this is Hamlet and you are watching the Hamlet for America show. (smile and pause).

So, let's start with the new tweet that our President has posted a few moments ago (Energic, continue to smile).

You know, sometimes I think that the human race is falling in disgrace, like how the hell some of those fake news channels, created, by the way by some aliens to study our behavior and then take us off guard…but more of that in the next show (conspiratorial tone) dare to say that our beloved Head of State is idiotic? How dare they! (Don't smile anymore, aloud but not screaming)

Let me explain myself (a little I-Know-Better smile), even though there shouldn't be any need if everyone had the huge IQ level of the President, but I can't pretend that much…anyways my point is that the President is once again illuminating us, driving the whole country in the right direction by putting some subtleties in his tweets. (Straight faced, without hesitation like you were reciting some prayers) Now let's analyze the text: In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching sixty degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In the coming days, expected to get even colder. People can't last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you.

The first sentences are pretty plain, the President is complementing our beautiful country and explaining the facts, which by the way are totally true. I understand that the last two sentences may cause some sort of misunderstanding, but you have to be very careful in the analysis…

With What the hell is going on with Global Change? The president seems to be raising awareness on the topic, probably asking for some details to experts. (Pause for a while. DON'T LAUGH). Moreover, these days since the indignant outburst of protests, one thing is crystal clear: Climate Change hysteria is changing our kids, making them rebellious and unrespectful and maybe, that's what Trump wanted to point out.

As for the last sentence, we're not going to tell you the meaning until the next episode…you try to guess it and send your explanations by tweeting with the hashtag StableGenius StableAnswers. (smile once again).

-Hey, Hamlet! –

He winced, turning abruptly his head to the right. A lights technician dressed completely in black, from the plain sweater to the joggers, was snickering at him from his high position. He kind of resembled a black crow crouched on the struts, ready to fly over him. The technician was screwing something in place, but his attention seemed to be captured by Hamlet and the paper he was holding in his hands. He nimbly jumped down from the strut, dusting off his black denim jeans.

-Happy to observe that you're still protecting our ‘Beloved President', so much that in fact, I'm starting to think that you are justifying him as a person, and not his ideas or the single actions he takes. –

-Er…-Hamlet stared at him, -exactly who the hell are you? -

-Micheal Igor, - the man grinned at him -exactly Micheal Igor-

Oh, Hamlet thought

biting his tongue, this man has sarcasm and sarcasm isn't a good thing because it means that he is a thinking man, and someone who can think on his own isn't fundamentally a good thing ³.

-Your entire text is full of mistakes. It's all wrong- The technician leaned onto the table, -should I help you sort some ideas? –

Hamlet sighed resting his head on the chest -all right, make your hell of a point, but be quick: I don't have time to waste-

-Me neither. So listen carefully- Micheal said -I'm gonna say a couple of things, might as well take some notes so you can take your time later and try to understand them-

-What the hell! -Hamlet shook his fist -Do you think I'm an idiot? -

-I'll prefer not to answer that- Before letting him say anything else Micheal continued, speaking fast with a slight southern accent -do you know anything about Climate Change? –

-I suppose so-

-You suppose? – Micheal continued infuriated -you're about to go on air, you are going to be watched by millions of people who take every word you say as undeniable truth and you suppose? Here's my first point, there no space for suppositions or emotions in the topic of Climate Change, all that you have to look at are graphs, statistics, and data. Sometimes emotions bring to mistakes, they limit our ability to think properly. The second point is that Climate change exists, no matter what our President says, just look at the data, it's right in front of your eyes: Climate Change is real, and humans have been a main contributor in the matter. –

-Third. Climate change may be global, but third world countries are going to be more affected. These are countries where even a single drought can cause millions of deaths-

-Are you taking notes? Fourth. Do you know something about chaos theory? –

-No-

-Nonlinear equations? –

-No- Hamlet was beginning to feel stupid, and he didn't like it.

-All right- Micheal gave him a strange undecipherable look -using Newtonian systems you can easily predict the movement of an object knowing the mass, the force imparted to that object and all the macro variables that can play a role in the solution of the equation. I said macro variables because Newtonian physics doesn't take into account all the infinitely microscopic variables, and due to Chaos Theory tiny differences become amplified…Let's start from the beginning: before the 1960s scientist were able to predict with great success certain kinds of behavior: pendulums, springs, rolling balls, trains moving down a track, and all that stuff. They are simple motions; few variables play a role here and they are all calculable and measurable, they are described by a linear equation, and mathematicians can solve them easily. Then we have nonlinear equations, they describe turbulent motions, like water flowing out of a sprout, wind moving around a flying helicopter, weather, and It's almost impossible to solve them. All the laws of physics and maths couldn't just pin it down, so they created a new theory: Chaos Theory. It originally was meant to be an attempt to make computer models of weather, but it eventually didn't work out. Even nowadays, with all our microprocessors, we still can't predict the weather accurately. That's because the behavior of the system is sensitively dependent on initial conditions. –

-Duh- Hamlet shook his head -I've already known all of that, I denied it before just to see if you really knew your stuff- his voice was plain and confident. Only the black eyes moving slightly to the left revealed he was lying.

-And you really know your stuff -Micheal sighed, Hamlet had lied for so many years that now you could hardly recognize when he was being honest and when not ⁴. -Anyways let's move to the fifth point. The biggest catastrophe of Climate change is that there won't be a real catastrophe, a turning point. We're going to take small steps backward, that will slowly but certainly bring us on the verge of Chaos. -

-Another point we should clear is that we can't destroy or save the earth, it would be arrogant and egomaniac even to think that. Earth has been here for four and a half billions of years, it has survived catastrophic events, it will certainly survive us. But we won't. We need to take action, not for the earth, but for ourselves. –

-Okay- Hamlet said pissed off -whatever- and he started rereading the text. Welcome back to the show, this is Hamlet and you are watching the Hamlet for America show.

Micheal Igor turned his back to him, humming something under his breath.

*

Two hours later,

The car was speeding down the highway, Hamlet snatched a tape at random and tried to wrestle it out of its brittle plastic box while staying on the road. The title proclaimed it to be the Moonlight Sonata, real music, that's what he needed.

He rammed it into the cassette player.

The first dark notes washed over him, and he tried to immerse himself, relaxing in the driver's seat. But the technician's words inevitably started filling his head: -Nonlinear equations, Verge of Chaos, we need to save ourselves…-

-Whatever- He muttered under his breath -whatever-

The car plunged into the darkness of the night, disappearing in the cloud of greyish smoke.

¹ Formal and elegant name for You-know-What. If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say You-Know-What, then I'll help you by saying that You-Know-What is anatomically situated opposite to You-Kidding-Me-If-You-Don't-Know-Even-This…

² As a matter of fact, that was the same consideration that went in the minds of every single person assisting the scene, it was so mean and uncivil that every single one of them thought it would be too mean and uncivil for the others to think about it.

³ That's why Hamlet avoided that process before speaking a word, you never were too cautious these days. And anyway, that's what they all said.

⁴ Not that it mattered, a lot of people who knew Hamlet didn't even think about considering the first option.

In short:

Why I've written this article?

Because I think there is a great amount of ignorance around this topic. Each time we talk about climate and environment we get emotional and start depicting catastrophes or on the other hand, there are people who simply deny it completely and label it a “propaganda created by someone to take our money”.

The fact is that in a world where slogans are so common, we usually don't stop to think carefully about the concept behind those words.

If someone chants “There is no planet B” or “Climate change is a hoax invented by some country”, most of us will start chanting them too or rejecting them completely, depending on how much we like or dislike the person who said them. But the fact is that here we are talking about a scientific fact, and one that requires prediction in the long term, so there is little space for emotions or slogans.

We live in a fast word and we want to do everything fast. But to understand these concepts you need to take a little bit of time, think carefully and look at all the data available.

We have data that say that climate change is a real phenomenon, that oceans are rising 3 mm per year, that the temperature is rising, that there will be more floods and more intense and frequent hurricanes, but they do not predict any catastrophic event.

What measures we can take?

While many people think that the solution lies in recycling, unfortunately, it's not true. Recycling is important, but it's not the solution to climate change.

Instead, we should use more sustainable transportation systems and reduce our carbon emission, even by what we choose to eat ( e.g. we should reduce our intake of meat)

Our brains are well adapted to deal with clear and present danger, they are not meant to deal with long term and gradual danger, which climate change is.

That's why I think that the biggest catastrophe of climate change is that there will never be a catastrophe.

And that's where the government should act, like in Australia where they implemented a carbon tax, which was working great: there has been a big fall in electricity sector emissions since carbon tax. (unfortunately and surprisingly they repealed a year later)

It remains only to remind the reader that nearly all positions on climate change remain strongly contended and fiercely debated. We simply don't know what the future will be like. We can simply predict. And predictions are exactly what they are supposed to be: mere suppositions.

So my conclusion is that there is no need to believe in an apocalyptic event or to create false catastrophes. But this does not mean we should not start taking action. Because climate change is real and its effects are real: we do see stronger and more frequent hurricanes and floods, glaciers are melting, sea level is rising and the average temperatures are rising too. They are in no way putting the earth in jeopardy but surely they are endangering many species and causing massive sufferings to people, especially to those who live in poorer countries who solely rely on what they can get out of natural resources, and were one drought can lead to a famine affecting millions of people.

Therefore, we should start taking action immediately, without waiting for a disaster to occur before we act and reduce our carbon emission to help ourselves and the other species, not the planet.

-We haven't got the power to destroy the planet- or to save it. But we might have the power to save ourselves. -

Michael Crichton