2018 has been a year of extreme weather, from exceptional rainfall and floods in some parts of the world to drought in others, California’s prolonged and deadly fire season and even wildfires in the arctic. While it is not possible to attribute any single event to climate change, the trend towards more and more powerful extreme weather events is almost certainly a direct result of the continuing warming of our world. Climate change came up in a recent conversation with friends and one member of the group, while acknowledging that climate change was real and worrying, said that he couldn’t accept that it was caused by human activity. Everyone else in the room tried to convince him, arguing that the science was compelling and that there is not other plausible explanation. My friend remained unconvinced. Not because he mistrusts scientists, but because he finds it impossible to believe that anything human beings do could have such an enormous impact on the global climate. I can … Read More...