I'm sorry but would you mind if we talk about the weather? I know it's not quite Abu Dhabi but it's been pretty warm in the UK over the past few days, including the country's hottest day ever. The news coverage has veered from wild excitement at that record-breaking achievement, to distress at melting railway tracks and a top five chart of the nation's favourite ice lollies. (The top spot went to the Magnum, in case you were wondering.)
It’s true that us Brits love a bit of small talk about sunshine and rain. A study earlier this year by Sky Arts TV channel about what it means to be British had talking about the weather in the number one spot. Not far below that was apologising for everything.
What is also true – both in the UK and around the world – is that we are all talking about the weather in completely the wrong way. We need to change that – urgently.
Here’s why. On July 25, BBC Weather’s Twitter account posted a weather map of the UK with the number 39 on it, along with the tweet “Morning, if we're going to do it TODAY'S THE DAY! We will of course keep you posted.” The tone was of palpable excitement that the record of the previous high of 38.5C might be broken.
Supporting news coverage featured the kind of heatwave stories that typify the British summer season: people flocking to beaches, ensuring you take water, and was it too hot to do the housework? (The answer to that final question was a definitive yes from me.)
This strange mix of breathless delight at a new temperature high, woven together with an assumption that hot weather is something to be shrugged off, is dangerous, because it directs us away from the gravity of the climate situation.
The World Wildlife Fund tweeted: “This is a #ClimateEmergency – not something that should be celebrated. #Hottestdayoftheyear.”
The way we think about global warming affects the steps we take to tackle it, as history shows.
In 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius proposed that widespread coal production would lead to more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and a rise in global temperatures. Arrhenius thought global warming was a good thing and that it would lead to “more equable” climates.
Until the mid-1970s vague terms such as “inadvertent climate modification” were used to designate this trend. Without the term having a sense of cause or tangible effect, no wonder little was done.
Next week marks the birthday of Wally Broecker's paper called "Are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming?" published in the journal Science in 1975. The article created a shift to the term "global warming".
This was reinforced when Nasa scientist James Hansen gave evidence at a Senate hearing in 1988 saying: “Global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming.”
It was only in the 2000s that the term climate change became more popularised. It offers specificity about the outcomes we experience, because while the overall trend is towards a rise in global temperature, its impact is a broader change in weather conditions. The accuracy was important, but was potentially misused.
There are reports that in 2002 the Republican Party under George W Bush deliberately shifted the discourse towards “climate change” because it is sounds less terrifyingly specific.
As the heatwave reportage shows, we need to get our framing of the issue right, so we consider the issue more seriously and start taking the right practical steps. This is especially important, as there is an active movement to use language to undermine our efforts. A key proponent of this is US President Donald Trump.
Trump's tweets on global warming
In 2010, he said there was no global warming because it was cold. “With the coldest winter ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast, the Nobel committee should take the Nobel Prize back from Al Gore,” he tweeted. Mr Gore had just been given the award for his work on the subject.
Mr Trump has even used the evolution of language as a way of denying the problem.
In February 2014, he tweeted: “Massive record setting snowstorm and freezing temperatures in US. Smart that GLOBAL WARMING hoaxsters changed name to CLIMATE CHANGE! $$$$”.
The way we talk about climate change has altered since it was first discussed at the end of the 19th century. But nearly 125 years on, we need to push back on misleading language, whether from exuberant weather experts or malicious global leaders. Language matters. And if we need to ring the alarm about the way we talk about the weather, then I’m not sorry about that at all.
Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World
The specs: 2018 Bentley Bentayga V8
Price, base: Dh853,226
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 550hp @ 6,000pm
Torque: 770Nm @ 1,960rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.4L / 100km
England XI for second Test
Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
AVOID SCAMMERS: TIPS FROM EMIRATES NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES
Mar 10: Norwich(A)
Mar 13: Newcastle(H)
Mar 16: Lille(A)
Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)
Apr 2: Brentford(H)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Scoreline
Australia 2-1 Thailand
Australia: Juric 69', Leckie 86'
Thailand: Pokklaw 82'
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Specs
Engine: 3.0L twin-turbo V6
Gearbox: 10-speed automatic
Power: 405hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 562Nm at 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 11.2L/100km
Price: From Dh292,845 (Reserve); from Dh320,145 (Presidential)
On sale: Now