Column Chronicles: Understanding Climate Change, part one

Understanding Climate Change, part one

Frank Cotolo
January 18, 2018

The controversy over "Climate Change" is politically challenged throughout the world in which it occurs and yet so many people don't understand the issue.

Professor Ornery Shackle, 98, has been studying Climate Change long before it became a political topic and he was kind enough to sit with me and explain the reasons for misconstruing its definition and how it may affect each of us.

ME: What is Climate Change?

SHACKLE: Slowly, the weather becomes warmer in spots that have been generally colder and colder in spots where the weather has been generally warmer.

ME: How new is that in the history of the world?

OS: Copernicus noticed radical climate changes as far back as the fifteen hundreds, when he thought the Earth was the center of the universe.

ME: He was so wrong about that, so how was he right about Climate Change?

OS: Wait, I meant to say that most people thought Earth was the center of the universe but Copernicus did not.

ME: So when he figured that out he noticed Climate Change?

OS: Who?

ME: Copernicus.

OS: He noticed Climate Change in his hometown of Royal Prussia. His first name was Nicolaus but his friends called him Nicky.

ME: So what did he say about Climate Change in the fifteen hundreds?

OS: Who?

ME: Copernicus.

OS: Once Copernicus, whose friends called him Nicky, realized that the Earth and other planets revolved around the Sun, he realized that the climate on Earth changed and once it did it would not stop changing, though seasons were still happening.

ME: Are you saying that Copernicus predicted Earth would have a climate crisis that could destroy life?

OS: Don't put words in Copernicus' mouth. Or mine, for that matter. I simply said that Copernicus, whose friends called him Nicky, theorized that the climates on Earth could not stay as they were in the fifteen hundreds, and that, well, all right, so yes, that is what I was saying but still, don't put words in either of our mouths.

...to be continued.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.