Not ‘cyclical’: Human activity and climate change
How a co-worker’s outburst prompted me to learn more
“Where do they get that crap? It’s cyclical!”
My co-worker startled me. At the time, we worked together at a newspaper, editing content, writing headlines and designing news pages. I had given him one of my proofs to give a final read-through, and this was how he brought it back to me.
I looked at him with all the bewilderment one would have if approached by a co-worker who appeared hostile for no reason.
“It’s cyclical!” he repeated, banging his pointer finger against the proof, and then he angry-walked back to his desk.
I turned my attention to the proof to see what prompted the outburst. Even with eight stories on the page, I could easily spot the one that offended him. He had circled the headline in fat red marker and wrote in the margin, “It’s cyclical!!!”
The article was about climate change.
I am no scientist, so I had long accepted what news story after news story reported: Human activity was warming the world, and Earth’s weather patterns were becoming more erratic as Mother Nature struggled to find balance.
But my co-worker did make me wonder: Earth does have natural temperature…