COP, Anthropogenic, Solastalgia...What?

It is time to improve communication on the most dangerous crisis the world is facing

- Jey Sushil

IN Britain, the most common point of conversation is the weather. Whether it will rain or it will be a cloudy day or a bright one. But climate change doesn't enter conversations with the same ease at all. Ask a common man anywhere in the world, "What do you think about climate change?" and most responses will not even include the words climate change. However, pollution, extreme heat, floods, and storms will find a mention immediately. John Marshall, who is trying to improve the communication on climate change conversations, says that the concept has become so abstract that ordinary people feel alienated from it. The crisis is not of how to communicate an abstract idea for a TED talk like Marshall does. In the real world, it boils down to the use of language. Climate change and environmental degradation not only impact our life but also our language, but is anyone listening or willing to change the language of the most dangerous crisis the world is facing? Let me explain with an example. Anyone who is reading this article knows how to read English but how many would be able to explain terms such as COP, carbon emissions, Greenhouse Effect, Net Zero, or anthropogenic? All these words are related to climate change, but they don't make sense even for someone well-versed in English. Now think about the masses in India of which only a minuscule percent speaks or understands English. This is just one part of the problem. I am yet to underline the concepts and words that originate due to climate change or what scientists have named the age of the Anthropocene. The website of the Bureau of Linguistic Reality has dedicated itself to coining new words for problems arising from climate change. The new words can be from any language, and anyone can propose new words. Let’s take one of my favourites: