We just had the World's Hottest Day!, page-236

“Climate change caused the warmest June ever” or similar headlines bury the lede. This isn’t a passive process or one of Earth’s natural climate shifts.

This is decades of fossil fuel burning and land use driven by capitalist systems. Climate change is the EFFECT.

Here’s why language matters. “Hottest ever” opens you up to an immediate, and common, criticism from climate disinformation agents that “Earth has been hotter before.”

Which, yes! You get an A+ in geology!But here’s the thing: that predates human civilization by a long time. We don’t live in the Pliocene. Our food systems were not developed in the Pliocene. Our coastal cities were not built when sea levels were 22 m (72 feet) higher than today.

“Hottest ever” is not only inaccurate, it also misses an opportunity to provide that context. “the last time we saw average global temperatures this high was the last interglacial, when sea levels were 4 to 6 meters higher than today” tells us more about impact.