Part 6 | Reporting the Climate: A (Doable) Tip Sheet (It's Physics, Not Politics) - and 'Turn the Climate Switch On'
Our podcast episode discussing the 'Reporting the Climate' news tool just dropped!
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“Could you explain it like I’m five?” a journalist said, asking the World Weather Attribution team to explain, in a way people can easily understand, how humankind is responsible for climate change.
This exchange took place at the December press launch of the WWA’s report on extreme weather for 2025. Below is the reply from Friederike Otto, a professor in climate science at Imperial College London and co-founder of WWA:
“We know that when we burn fossil fuels that that releases CO2 into the atmosphere. And we know, from very fundamental science, fundamental physics and chemistry, the characteristics of CO2 molecules. CO2 molecules absorb infrared radiation, which is heat. And so if you have more of these molecules in the atmosphere, that means that the atmosphere is warming. . . .
Therefore we expect to see, with increased burning of fossil fuels, more CO2 in the atmosphere and the warming of the atmosphere – and that is exactly what we see. The predictions of how much CO2 lead to how much warming is sic exactly what we have observed over the years to come true.
A warmer atmosphere means that, of course, there’s a higher risk of heat waves, a lower risk of cold waves. The heat waves that we get can get hotter than they would otherwise have gone, and also a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, and that needs to get out of the atmosphere, and it does so as heavy rainfall.
So all of this is very fundamental physics. It doesn’t require any climate model or anything. And that, of course – how that exactly plays out locally – that is where we would then need the[weather] observations and [climate] models, but it is fundamentally what we are seeing.
It would be very strange if we wouldn’t see that, because it would then mean that the fundamental laws of physics would not work. But they do – and, in the case of climate change, to our detriment.”
At the same event, where the challenges to climate science and action in the current geopolitical environment were discussed, Otto also pointed out: “With the geopolitical situation as it is, the most important thing to understand is that no matter your political view, climate change is harming you, your lives, your livelihood opportunities, and economic prosperity.”
More data visualization below:
This the sixth and last installment of the content of ‘Reporting the Climate': A (Doable) News Tool’ - :)
Johanna, editor/founder of the Reporting ASEAN series