Express Fools

I think it's time - as my blog enter its third day - to talk about some science and fulfil my top of page pledge. But before I do, I feel I must declare an interest.

You might have been wondering why I think that my talking to you via this blog somehow improves the world. The truth is, I don't. But I'd like it to.

And that's the interest I must declare: I'm looking to get into the broadcast industry.

Ah, those fateful words, how they grate! I feel bad just saying them.

Why? Because "I'm looking to get into the broadcast industry" is the kind of thing people say. In my mind, when I say it, I feel no more worldly than a child saying "when I grow up I want to be an astronaut", because, like children who declare extraterrestrial ambitions, the number of people who say it does not compare favourably to the number who actually do it.

As a scientist (I have a physics degree) I'm keenly aware of the numbers. And so I feel the need to justify my aims with dubious humour, hence this blog.

Part of the reason this blog exists, then, is to help me flex my creative, descriptive and critical muscles. After a few weeks' hard blogging I have every confidence that I'll be journalistically "ripped". That was my first use of that word in that context. I feel quite queasy.

In a very ideal world I'd love to become a science broadcaster, and I feel that if, one day, my audience were more than just me, I have the potential to have a positive impact not only on people's knowledge of science, but also on their care for the world and personal empowerment.

Heady aims need a lowly start. So here we are. And first up, a few quick words on the difference between WEATHER and CLIMATE.




The image above illustrates the need to clarify this difference. Unfortunately, though, my blog post won't be circulated as widely as the words of those Express morons.

The difference is key, but doesn't take much explanation.

WEATHER refers to short term conditions. Hour by hour, day by day or even week by week changes in our experiences of the elements.

CLIMATE refers to longer term patterns in the general behaviour of the weather systems across countries, continents, or even the whole world.

So when The Express refers to SNOW CHAOS in its subtle, considered way, and tries from this WEATHER anomaly, in one area of the world, to suggest that thousands of eminent climate scientists have got predictions about the movement of the global climate wrong, they are proving themselves to be huge mooncalves. Especially as it's all in the name of a quick titter that could do lasting damage to the opinions of their many readers.

The question is, will the Express lead with "DROUGHT CHAOS - It turns out they were right" when water runs out across large areas of the world?