What is climate change?

The other day I was chatting with a friend about how well the Economist has been covering climate change and particularly the international elements. He was surprised because, "it was an environmental thing," his understanding being that it wasn't an economic thing.

This sort of got me rattled because climate change, in my mind, is absolutely an economic thing and isn't really an environmental thing. Sure it can be, and to many people it is, but to most people, including myself, who aren't identified 'environmentalists' climate change rightly means something very important too!

The more we learn about climate change, the more we understand how it permeates all elements of our lives. Unless urgent action is taken, it is set to transform societies, politics, geographies, and culture. Recent articles show it as a huge threat to national security, a problem for grape growers, a migration issue, a menace to tomatoes, a big factor in property development, a problem for allergy sufferers, a bird migration issue, and the list goes on and on and on.

The fact is that to wine lovers, climate change should be a grape-thing, to hawks a national defense thing, to bird watchers a bird thing, and tomato growers a tomato thing. It should be whatever you care about dearly.

Think about what you care about most then type "climate change and (that thing/person/place)" into Google, Bing or whatever. I think you'll find that that thing is a climate change thing too.

And please share what you find in the comments section below!! We are all interested.