[smcl]

I imagine it's partly because because skeptics would have a field day any time it snowed a lot or was less warm than normal and say "so much for global warming!". It might sound obvious and silly to us, but a simple folksy sort of observational logic defeating the so called experts can be quite persuasive and validating :(

[LanceH]

Decades ago, I was saying the same thing in the opposite direction when backers of global warming were saying, "look how hot it is." I'm talking the 80's when I said it was a terrible argument, because all it takes is a cold day to refute it...and here we are.

I seem to get downvoted every time I mention this, as apparently people want to forget global warming was ever bolstered by, "look how hot it is" and they would prefer to just now ridicule people for the same errors their side was guilty of for literally decades.

So yes, the event is real. Ridiculing opponents for making the same argument with the same temporary data points isn't winning anything.

[smcl]

It really is not the same though. "Every year we not only see hotter maximum spot temperatures, but new hottest average month records, glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate and there is strong evidence linking that to human activity" is not the same as "Winter has arrived yet again, take that, science nerds!".

[MeinBlutIstBlau]

I think most people don't care because they can't change anything. What exactly do you want a penny pinching working class family to do? Cut back consumption? Easy for people who have loads more money to say. Not so easy for people who break laws just to survive economically, socially, and culturally. Nobody wants to be a schizoid living in a dungeon alone but saving the planet. Coupled with excessive spending habits of morons who can't balance a single transaction in a register make for jealousy or FOMO in many groups of people who suddenly become aware they're gonna die and all they did was live day to day instead of enjoying it.

[smcl]

It is true that an individual can live as carbon-neutral and eco-friendly as possible without making nary a dent on global warming. However it is also true that all of these individuals have the power to elect people who can to do something. One very simple example I can think of that happened in recent history was Trump pulling the US out of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change mitigation. If the public at large were educated on the subject, there would be widespread outrage and a lot of pressure NOT to do this - but his base leaned heavily climate-change-sceptic so it was A-OK (bonus: it really triggered the libs which would go down well even with Trump fans who are undecided on climate change). Now, would that agreement alone fix everything and arrest climate change? Probably not, but getting the world to agree on something was one step in the right direction.