What is climate “change?”

Vincent J. Curtis

13 Jan 24

The alleged climate “crisis”, so called climate change, relies on ambiguity and a lack of philosophical, that is to say, scientific precision to put over the panic mongering.  The panic mongering, in turn, is all about justifying political actions that control people’s lives: Don’t fly! Drive EVs! Do this, not that! Etc.

‘Climate change’, as an expression, is non-specific, non-falsifiable, and, for that reason, unscientific. What is the definition of climate? There isn’t one.  Does climate have units of measurement by which one can quantitatively measure its change?  No, it doesn’t.  And if climate is not quantitative in character but rather qualitative, does one climate change into another; or does a climate, considered as substance, change in accidental attributes?  If the former, climate is a quality rather than a substance, and then climate must be an attribute of a substance.

If climate is the attribute of something else, then that something else must be the substance.  Is the atmosphere that substance? If so, the atmosphere would have many accidental attributes, many of them dependent upon location: as a quilt has many colors: a specific color at a specific location. It would be wrong to speak of climate as substance when it’s an attribute.

Attributes themselves don’t change; substances change in accidental attributes.  Red remains red even if the substance colored red changes to blue. If climate is an attribute of the substance atmosphere, then it is atmosphere that changes in attributes, changing from one climate to another, not climate that changes.

This highlights the problem of ambiguity of climate. There’s color, and then there are colors, like red and blue. If climate changes, does that mean color changes from red to blue, or that a substance colored red changes color into blue? Climate must be like color, with red and blue being like different climates, the accidental attributes of a substance.

If climate is like color, then a climate is like a color; a climate refers to a set of accidental attributes of a substance. Of course, accidental attributes of a substance can change; they are accidents, after all.  Climate change, then, is like color change. Like blushing.

This brief philosophical analysis shows the unscientific ambiguity in the debate over climate change.  It is not climate that changes, but the atmosphere that changes in climate. These changes are qualitative and not subject to measurement, since it is the quantitative that is measurable.  The only quantitative measurement that’s sensible concerning the atmosphere is the temperature, and that that too is fraught with scientific and philosophical problems.  One of them, for the climatistas, is the stability of global temperature, according to the currents means of measurement.

The distinction between climate change and change in climate may seem trivial, but it isn’t.  Climate is an accidental attribute of the atmosphere, and the accidental attributes of a substance are susceptible to being changed.  You’d expect climate to change.  And, expressions like climate “chaos” and climate “collapse” are absurdities; absurdities that feed into the panic mongering.  It is the substance that collapses, not the attribute; and no one is saying that the atmosphere is about to collapse.

Aristotle observed that there is no science of accidents, and this observation holds good for climate.  Climate science has no explanation for why climatic characteristics exist where they do, but not in other places.  Sure, Arizona has a dry, desert-like climate; but why doesn’t it rain there?  Meteorology might have some handwaving explanation involving wind patterns, but climate science has none at all; it simply takes as bruttal fact that Arizona has a desert climate.  Hence, climate science is mystified if Arizona were to have a year of unusual rain; all climate science might say is that the climate changed, perhaps temporarily.  California and Australia are two places prone to alternate extremes of drought and flood, and all climatology can say is that climate in those places are prone to alternate between one extreme and another without being able to forecast when or why such climate change occurs.

Weather is distinct from climate. Sticking with Aristotle’s Categories, weather, especially a weather event, may be thought of as a passion of the substrate, atmosphere, quick and temporary; and since weather and climate are related, climate might be considered as the habit of having certain of those weather passions. We call a person irascible who has the habit of getting angry easily; and climate may be thought of in this respect: that a climate is the habit of having certain kinds of weather at a place.  As an irascible person has a disposition at rest, and becomes angry as a habit; so to the atmosphere may have a natural disposition to weather at rest, with a habit towards certain weather events; and either the habit or the disposition at rest are said to characterize a place’s climate.

To summarize: Climate is qualitative in character, and therefore not measurable quantitively.  Climate, being like color, doesn’t change, it is the substrate that changes in climate, as red remains red even as the substrate colored red changes to blue. Climate also seems like habit in weather, for climate is related to characteristic weather patterns. A change in climate, like change in habits, can take a long time, many years, to confirm: that a period of anomalous weather signifies a real change in climate, or that period is merely a spontaneous and temporary departure from the expected, takes time to confirm. Since climate lacks a definition, of the tendency of California and Australia to alternate periods of drought and flood, one can say that these places are prone to alternative extremes of climate; and that drastic change in climate is to be expected in these places.

Climate “change” is a misnomer; it is misleading shorthand for “change in climate.” Climate is a qualitative attribute, not a substance.  Planet earth does not have “a climate” it has many climates, and these are accidental attributes of the atmosphere.  It can take time, often years, to confirm changes in climate are real and permanent.

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