Climate crisis

{{short description|Term for the threat of climate change}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Use American English|date=May 2024}}{{Italicize title}} {{about|the term or expression, ''Climate crisis''|substantive discussion of the current warming of the Earth's climate system |Climate change|formal recognition of climate change as a crisis or emergency|Climate emergency declaration}} [[File:20200112 "Climate crisis" vs "Climate emergency" - Google search term usage.png|thumb|right|upright=1.3 | Google trends data shows that, following the 2006 release of Al Gore's film, ''An Inconvenient Truth,''<ref name="Medium_20181218" /> searches for the term ''climate crisis'' increased, with a resurgence beginning in late 2018. Also graphed: searches for the term ''climate emergency''.]]

'''''Climate crisis''''' is a term that is used to describe global warming and climate change and their effects. This term and the term '''''climate emergency''''' have been used to emphasize the threat of global warming to Earth's natural environment and to humans, and to urge aggressive climate change mitigation and transformational adaptation.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/><ref name=legal_materials_global/><ref name=Bloomberg_20190917/><ref name=FifthEstate_20190930/>

The term ''climate crisis'' is used by those who "believe it evokes the gravity of the threats the planet faces from continued greenhouse gas emissions and can help spur the kind of political willpower that has long been missing from climate advocacy".<ref name=EEnews_20190710/> They believe, much as ''global warming'' provoked more emotional engagement and support for action than ''climate change'',<ref name=EEnews_20190710/><ref name=WashPost_20180129/><ref name=YaleGWvsCC_2014/> calling climate change a crisis could have an even stronger effect.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/>

A study has shown the term ''climate crisis'' invokes a strong emotional response by conveying a sense of urgency.<ref name=Grist_20190429/> However, some caution this response may be counter-productive<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905/> and may cause a backlash due to perceptions of alarmist exaggeration.<ref name=NAAEE_2013/><ref name=SciAlert_20190525/>

In the scientific journal ''BioScience'', a January 2020 article that was endorsed by over 11,000 scientists states: "the climate crisis has arrived" and that an "immense increase of scale in endeavors to conserve our biosphere is needed to avoid untold suffering due to the climate crisis".<ref name="BioscienceWarningLetter_20200101" /><ref name="BioSci_Warning2021_20210728" />

== Scientific basis == {{Further|Scientific consensus on climate change|Effects of climate change}} [[File:20211103 Academic studies of scientific consensus - global warming, climate change - vertical bar chart - en.svg |thumb|right |upright=1.3 |''Scientific consensus on causation:'' Academic studies of scientific agreement on human-caused global warming among climate experts (2010–2015) reflect that the level of consensus correlates with expertise in climate science.<ref name= Cook_2016>{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=John |last2=Oreskes |first2= Naomi |last3=Doran |first3=Peter T. |author4-link=William Anderegg |last4=Anderegg |first4=William R. L. |last5=Verheggen |first5=Bart |display-authors=4 |date=2016 |title=Consensus on consensus: a synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming |journal=Environmental Research Letters |volume=11 |issue=4 |article-number=048002 |bibcode= 2016ERL....11d8002C |doi= 10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002 |doi-access=free |hdl=1983/34949783-dac1-4ce7-ad95-5dc0798930a6 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> A 2019 study found scientific consensus to be at 100%,<ref name="Powell2019">{{cite journal |last1=Powell |first1=James Lawrence |author-link=James L. Powell |date=20 November 2019 |title= Scientists Reach 100% Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0270467619886266 |journal=Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages= 183–184 |doi= 10.1177/0270467619886266 |s2cid= 213454806 |access-date=15 November 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and a 2021 study concluded that consensus exceeded 99%.<ref name= EnvRschLtrs_20211019>{{cite journal |last1=Lynas |first1=Mark |author2-link=Benjamin Z. Houlton |last2=Houlton |first2=Benjamin Z. |last3=Perry |first3=Simon |title=Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature |journal=Environmental Research Letters |date=19 October 2021 |volume=16 |issue=11 |page= 114005 |doi=10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966 |bibcode= 2021ERL....16k4005L |s2cid= 239032360 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Another 2021 study found that 98.7% of climate experts indicated that the Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity.<ref name=Myers_2021>{{cite journal |last1=Myers |first1=Krista F. |last2= Doran |first2=Peter T. |last3=Cook |first3=John |last4=Kotcher |first4=John E. |last5=Myers |first5=Teresa A. |title=Consensus revisited: quantifying scientific agreement on climate change and climate expertise among Earth scientists 10 years later |journal= Environmental Research Letters |date=20 October 2021 |volume=16 |issue=10 |page=104030 |doi= 10.1088/1748-9326/ac2774 |bibcode= 2021ERL....16j4030M |s2cid= 239047650 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]

Until the mid-2010s, the scientific community had been using neutral, constrained language when discussing climate change. Advocacy groups, politicians and media have traditionally been using more powerful language than that used by climate scientists.<ref name=Monash_20200103/> From around 2014, a shift in scientists' language connoted an increased sense of urgency.<ref name=":112">New, M., D. Reckien, D. Viner, C. Adler, S.-M. Cheong, C. Conde, A. Constable, E. Coughlan de Perez, A. Lammel, R. Mechler, B. Orlove, and W. Solecki, 2022: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGII_Chapter17.pdf Chapter 17: Decision-Making Options for Managing Risk]. In: [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2539–2654, {{doi|10.1017/9781009325844.026}}</ref>{{rp|2546}} Use of the terms ''urgency'', ''climate crisis'' and ''climate emergency'' in scientific publications and in mass media has grown. Scientists have called for more-extensive action and ''transformational'' climate-change adaptation that focuses on large-scale change in systems.<ref name=":112" />{{rp|2546}}

In 2020, a group of over 11,000 scientists said in a paper in ''BioScience'' describing global warming as a ''climate emergency'' or ''climate crisis'' was appropriate.<ref name="Guardian_20191105" /> The scientists stated an "immense increase of scale in endeavor" is needed to conserve the biosphere.<ref name="BioscienceWarningLetter_20200101" /> They warned about "profoundly troubling signs", which may have many indirect effects such as large-scale human migration and food insecurity; these signs include increases in dairy and meat production, fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, activities that are all concurrent with upward trends in climate-change effects such as rising global temperatures, global ice melt and extreme weather.<ref name="BioscienceWarningLetter_20200101" />

In 2019, scientists published an article in ''Nature'' saying evidence from climate tipping points alone suggests "we are in a state of planetary emergency".<ref name=Nature_2019/> They defined ''emergency'' as a product of risk and urgency, factors they said are "acute". Previous research had shown individual tipping points could be exceeded with a {{convert|1|-|2|C-change|F-change}} of global temperature increase; warming has already exceeded {{convert|1|C-change|F-change}}.<ref name=Nature_2019/> A global cascade of tipping points is possible with greater warming.<ref name=Nature_2019/>

== Definitions == In the context of climate change, the word ''crisis'' is used to denote "a crucial or decisive point or situation that could lead to a tipping point".<ref name="FifthEstate_20190930" /> It is a situation with an "unprecedented circumstance".<ref name=FifthEstate_20190930/> A similar definition states in this context, ''crisis'' means "a turning point or a condition of instability or danger" and implies "action needs to be taken now or else the consequences will be disastrous".<ref name="DictionaryCom_WhatIsClimateCrisis" /> Another definition defines ''climate crisis'' as "the various negative effects that unmitigated climate change is causing or threatening to cause on our planet, especially where these effects have a direct impact on humanity".<ref name="SciAlert_20190525" />

== Use of the term == thumb|Logo of the United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, formation of which was authorized on January 9, 2019.<ref name=UShouseSelCommittee_2019/>

=== 20th century === thumb|Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed at the launch of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor in 2009, where the term ''climate crisis'' was used.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has used crisis terminology since the 1980s; the Climate Crisis Coalition, which was formed in 2004, formalized the term ''climate crisis''.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/> A 1990 report by the ''American University International Law Review'' includes legal texts that use the word ''crisis''.<ref name=legal_materials_global/> "The Cairo Compact: Toward a Concerted World-Wide Response to the Climate Crisis" (1989) states: "All nations ... will have to cooperate on an unprecedented scale. They will have to make difficult commitments without delay to address this crisis."<ref name=legal_materials_global/>

=== 21st century{{anchor|Covering Climate Now}} === thumb|U.S. Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders at the December 2018, "Solving Our Climate Crisis, a National Town Hall" {{quote box |title = Letter to Major Networks: Call It a Climate Crisis — and Cover It Like One |quote = The words that reporters and anchors use matter. What they call something shapes how millions see it—and influences how nations act. And today, we need to act boldly and quickly. With scientists warning of global catastrophe unless we slash emissions by 2030, the stakes have never been higher, and the role of news media never more critical.

We are urging you to call the dangerous overheating of our planet, and the lack of action to stop it, what it is—a crisis––and to cover it like one. |source = Public Citizen open letter June 6, 2019<ref name=PublicCitizen_20190606/> |align = right |width = 338px |border = 1px |fontsize = 100% |bgcolor = #fafafa |title_bg = #fafafa |title_fnt = #202060 |qalign = left |salign = right }}

In the late 2010s, the phrase ''climate crisis'' emerged "as a crucial piece of the climate hawk lexicon", and was adopted by the Green New Deal, ''The Guardian'', Greta Thunberg, and U.S. Democratic political candidates such as Kamala Harris.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/> At the same time, it came into more-popular use following a series of warnings from climate scientists and newly-energized activists.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/>

In the U.S. in late 2018, the United States House of Representatives established the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, the name of which was regarded as "a reminder of how much energy politics have changed in the last decade".<ref name=Atlantic_20181228/> The original House climate committee had been called the "Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming" in 2007.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/> It was abolished in 2011 when Republicans regained control of the House.<ref name=Bloomberg_20190917/>

The advocacy group Public Citizen reported that in 2018, less than 10% of articles in top-50 U.S. newspapers used the terms ''crisis'' or ''emergency'' in the context of climate change.<ref name=Grist_20190617/> In the same year, 3.5% of national television news segments in the U.S. referred to climate change as a crisis or an emergency (50 of 1,400).<ref name="Grist_20190617" /><ref name="ActionNetwork_201905" /> In 2019, Public Citizen launched a campaign called "Call it a Climate Crisis"; it urged major media organizations to adopt the term ''climate crisis''.<ref name="ActionNetwork_201905" /> In the first four months of 2019, the number of uses of the term in U.S. media tripled to 150.<ref name="Grist_20190617" /> Likewise, the Sierra Club, the Sunrise Movement, Greenpeace, and other environmental and progressive organizations joined in a June 6, 2019 Public Citizen letter to news organizations<ref name=Grist_20190617/> urging the news organizations to call climate change and human inaction "what it is–a crisis–and to cover it like one".<ref name=PublicCitizen_20190606/>

{{quote box |title = |quote = We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. Nor can we treat something like a crisis unless we understand the emergency. |source = Greta Thunberg, December 10, 2020<ref name=Ecowatch_20201211/> |align = right |width = 338px |border = 1px |fontsize = 100% |bgcolor = #fafafa |title_bg = #fafafa |title_fnt = #202060 |qalign = left |salign = right }} In 2019, the language describing climate appeared to change: the UN Secretary General's address at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit used more emphatic language; Al Gore's campaign The Climate Reality Project, Greenpeace and the Sunrise Movement petitioned news organizations to alter their language; and in May 2019, ''The Guardian'' changed its style guide<ref name=FastCo_20211206/> to favor the terms "climate emergency, crisis or breakdown" and "global heating".<ref name=GuardianStyleGuideActualText_20190517/><ref name=GuardianCarrington_20190517/> Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner said: "We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue. The phrase 'climate change', for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity."<ref name=GuardianArticle_20190517/> ''The Guardian'' became a lead partner in Covering Climate Now, an initiative of news organizations ''Columbia Journalism Review'' and ''The Nation'' that was founded in 2019 to address the need for stronger climate coverage.<ref name=Guardian_20210412/><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hertsgaard |first1=Mark |title=Covering Climate Now signs on over 170 news outlets |url=https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/covering-climate-now-170-outlets.php |magazine=Columbia Journalism Review |date=August 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922043845/https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/covering-climate-now-170-outlets.php |archive-date=September 22, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In May 2019, The Climate Reality Project promoted an open petition of news organizations to use ''climate crisis'' instead of ''climate change'' and ''global warming''.<ref name=EEnews_20190710/> The NGO said: "it's time to abandon both terms in culture".<ref name=ClimateReality_20190501/>

In June 2019, Spanish news agency EFE announced its preferred phrase was "''crisis climática''".<ref name=Grist_20190617/> In November 2019, ''Hindustan Times'' also adopted the term because ''climate change'' "does not correctly reflect the enormity of the existential threat".<ref name=HindustanTimes_20191124/> The Polish newspaper ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' also uses the term ''climate crisis'' rather than ''climate change''; one of its editors described climate change as one of the most-important topics the paper has ever covered.<ref name=EJO_20200218/>

Also in June 2019, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) changed its language guide to say: "Climate crisis and climate emergency are OK in some cases as synonyms for 'climate change'. But they're not always the best choice ... For example, 'climate crisis' could carry a whiff of advocacy in certain political coverage".<ref name=CBC_20190705/> Journalism professor Sean Holman does not agree with this and said in an interview:<blockquote>

It's about being accurate in terms of the scope of the problem that we are facing. And in the media we, generally speaking, don't have any hesitation about naming a crisis when it is a crisis. Look at the opioid epidemic [in the U.S.], for example. We call it an epidemic because it is one. So why are we hesitant about saying the climate crisis is a crisis?<ref name=CBC_20190705/></blockquote>

In June 2019, climate activists demonstrated outside the offices of ''The New York Times''; they urged the newspaper's editors to adopt terms such as ''climate emergency'' or ''climate crisis''. This kind of public pressure led New York City Council to make New York the largest city in the world to formally adopt a climate emergency declaration.<ref name=NYTimes_20190705/>

In November 2019, the website Oxford Dictionaries named ''climate emergency'' Word of the year for 2019, with ''climate crisis'' being on the shortlist. The term was chosen because it matches the "ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year".<ref name=Guardian_20191120/>

In 2021, the Finnish newspaper ''Helsingin Sanomat'' created a free variable font called Climate Crisis that has eight weights that correlate with Arctic sea ice decline, visualizing historical changes in ice melt.<ref name=FastCompany_20210216/> The newspaper's art director said the font both evokes the aesthetics of environmentalism and is a data visualization graphic.<ref name=FastCompany_20210216/>

In updates to the World Scientists' Warning to Humanity of 2021 and 2022, scientists used the terms ''climate crisis'' and ''climate emergency''; the title of the publications is "World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency".<ref name="BioSci_Warning2021_20210728" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ripple |first1=William J |last2=Wolf |first2=Christopher |last3=Gregg |first3=Jillian W |last4=Levin |first4=Kelly |last5=Rockström |first5=Johan |last6=Newsome |first6=Thomas M |last7=Betts |first7=Matthew G |last8=Huq |first8=Saleemul |last9=Law |first9=Beverly E |last10=Kemp |first10=Luke |last11=Kalmus |first11=Peter |last12=Lenton |first12=Timothy M |date=October 26, 2022 |title=World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022 |journal=BioScience |volume=72 |issue=12 |pages=1149–1155 |doi=10.1093/biosci/biac083 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=1808/30278}}</ref> They said: "we need short, frequent, and easily accessible updates on the climate emergency".<ref name="BioSci_Warning2021_20210728" />

Within weeks of his second inauguration in 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration flagged hundreds of words to limit or avoid on government websites, memos, and unofficial agency guidance—the list including ''climate crisis''.<ref name=NYTimes_20250307>{{cite news |last1=Yourish |first1=Karen |last2=Daniel |first2=Annie |last3=Datar |first3=Saurabh |last4=White |first4=Isaac |last5=Gamio |first5=Lazaro |title=These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/us/trump-federal-agencies-websites-words-dei.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=7 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250313142156/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/us/trump-federal-agencies-websites-words-dei.html |archive-date=13 March 2025 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Effectiveness == {{Further|Public opinion on climate change|Climate psychology}}

In September 2019, Bloomberg journalist Emma Vickers said crisis terminology may be "showing results", citing a 2019 poll by ''The Washington Post'' and the Kaiser Family Foundation saying 38% of U.S. adults termed climate change "a crisis" while an equal number called it "a major problem but not a crisis".<ref name=Bloomberg_20190917/> Five years earlier, 23% of U.S. adults considered climate change to be a crisis.<ref name=WashPost_20191209/> {{As of|2019}}, use of crisis terminology in non-binding climate-emergency declarations is regarded as ineffective in making governments "shift into action".<ref name=FifthEstate_20190930/>

=== Concerns about crisis terminology === {{see also|Fear appeal}} ''Emergency framing'' may have several disadvantages.<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905/> Such framing may implicitly prioritize climate change over other important social issues, encouraging competition among activists rather than cooperation. It could also de-emphasize dissent within the climate-change movement.<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905/> Emergency framing may suggest a need for solutions by government, which provides less-reliable long-term commitment than does popular mobilization, and which may be perceived as being "imposed on a reluctant population".<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905/> Without immediate dramatic effects of climate change, emergency framing may be counterproductive by causing disbelief, disempowerment in the face of a problem that seems overwhelming, and withdrawal.<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905/>

There could also be a "crisis fatigue" in which urgency to respond to threats loses its appeal over time.<ref name=Monash_20200103/> Crisis terminology could lose audiences if meaningful policies to address the emergency are not enacted.<ref name=Monash_20200103/> According to researchers Susan C. Moser and Lisa Dilling of University of Colorado, appeals to fear usually do not create sustained, constructive engagement; they noted psychologists consider human responses to danger—fight, flight or freeze—can be maladaptive if they do not reduce the danger.<ref name=UnivColo_200412/> According to Sander van der Linden, director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab, fear is a "paralyzing emotion". He favors ''climate crisis'' over other terms because it conveys a sense of both urgency and optimism, and not a sense of doom. Van der Linden said: "people know that crises can be avoided and that they can be resolved".<ref name=BBCSciFocus_20200103/>

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said in early 2019 crisis framing is only "effective for those already concerned about climate change, but complacent regarding solutions".<ref name=SciAlert_20190525/> She added it "is not yet effective" for those who perceive climate activists "to be alarmist Chicken Littles", and that "it would further reinforce their pre-conceived—and incorrect—notions".<ref name=SciAlert_20190525/> According to Nick Reimer, journalists in Germany say the word ''crisis'' may be misunderstood to mean climate change is "inherently episodic"—crises are "either solved or they pass"—or as a temporary state before a return to normalcy that is not possible.<ref name=CleanEnergyWire_20190919/> Arnold Schwarzenegger, organizer of the Austrian World Summit for climate action{{not in source|date=May 2024|reason=source doesn't say Schwarzenegger organized Austrian World Summit}}, said people are not motivated by the term ''climate change''; according to Schwarzenegger, focusing on the word ''pollution'' might evoke be a more-direct and negative connotation.<ref name=CleanTechnica_20230606/> A 2023 U.S. survey found no evidence that ''climate crisis'' or ''climate emergency''—terms less familiar to those surveyed—elicit more perceived urgency than ''climate change'' or ''global warming''.<ref name=DeBruin_ClimacticChange_2024812/>

=== Psychological and neuroscientific studies === In 2019, an advertising consulting agency conducted a neuroscientific study involving 120 U.S. people who were equally divided into supporters of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party and independents.<ref name=CBSnews_20190516/> The study involved electroencephalography (EEG) and galvanic skin response (GSR) measurements.<ref name=Grist_20190429/> Responses to the terms ''climate crisis'', ''environmental destruction'', ''environmental collapse'', ''weather destabilization'', ''global warming'' and ''climate change'' were measured.<ref name=CBSnews_20190516/> The study found Democrats had a 60% greater emotional response to ''climate crisis'' than to ''climate change''. In Republicans, the emotional response to ''climate crisis'' was three times stronger than that for ''climate change''.<ref name=CBSnews_20190516/> According to CBS News, ''climate crisis'' "performed well in terms of responses across the political spectrum and elicited the greatest emotional response among independents".<ref name=CBSnews_20190516/> The study concluded ''climate crisis'' elicited stronger emotional responses than neutral and "worn out" terms like ''global warming'' and ''climate change''.<ref name=Grist_20190429/> ''Climate crisis'' was found to encourage a sense of urgency, though not a strong-enough response to cause cognitive dissonance that would cause people to generate counterarguments.<ref name=Grist_20190429/>

==Related terminology== {{also|Climate movement#Declaring emergency state|Climate emergency declaration}} <noinclude>{{quote box |title = Global boiling has arrived |quote = Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived. |source = — António Guterres, U.N. Secretary-General<ref name=UN_20230727/> 27 July 2023 |align = right |width = 325px |border = 1px |fontsize = 100% |bgcolor = #fafafa |title_bg = #fafafa |title_fnt = #202060 |qalign = left |salign = right }}

[[File:2008- Number of academic papers including the term, climate emergency.svg |thumb|Terms like ''climate emergency'' and ''climate crisis'' have often been used by activists, and are increasingly found in academic papers.<ref name=WashPost_20231030>{{cite news |last1=Osaka |first1=Shannon |title=Why many scientists are now saying climate change is an all-out emergency |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/10/30/climate-emergency-scientists-declaration/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030165112/https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/10/30/climate-emergency-scientists-declaration/ |archive-date=30 October 2023 |url-status=live }} Data source: Web of Science database.</ref>]]

thumb|An example of the terms ''climate crisis'' and ''climate emergency'' being used together during a protest march Research has shown the naming of a phenomenon and the way it is framed "has a tremendous effect on how audiences come to perceive that phenomenon"<ref name=NAAEE_2013/> and "can have a profound impact on the audience's reaction".<ref name=BBCSciFocus_20200103/> Climate change, and its real and hypothetical effects, are usually described in scientific-and-practitioner literature in terms of ''climate risks''.

The many related terms other than ''climate crisis'' include:{{efn|Following dates are not necessarily the first use of such terms.}} * ''global weirding'' (author and environmentalist L. Hunter Lovins, as a variation of ''global warming'', early 2000s)<ref name=Discover_20231208>{{cite magazine |last1=Yulsman |first1=Tom |title=As Weather Extremes Increase in 2023, Global Weirding Becomes a Better Term |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/as-weather-extremes-increase-in-2023-global-weirding-becomes-a-better-term |magazine=Discover |date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250126134001/https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/as-weather-extremes-increase-in-2023-global-weirding-becomes-a-better-term |archive-date=26 January 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> * ''climate catastrophe'' (used with reference to a 2019 David Attenborough documentary,<ref name=ABCaustralia_201908/> the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season,<ref name=NYTimes_20200103/> and the 2022 Pakistan floods<ref name=Guardian_20220828/>) * ''threats'' that impact the earth (World Wildlife Fund, 2012—)<ref name=WWF_201911/> * ''climate breakdown'' (climate scientist Peter Kalmus, 2018)<ref name=KalmusTwitter_20180829/> * ''climate chaos'' ("The New York Times" article title, 2019;<ref name=NYTimes_20190410/> U.S. Democratic candidates, 2019;<ref name=NewYorker_20190711/> and an Ad Age marketing team, 2019)<ref name=BBCSciFocus_20200103/> * ''climate ruin'' (U.S. Democratic candidates, 2019)<ref name=NewYorker_20190711/> * ''global heating'' (Richard A. Betts, Met Office U.K., 2018)<ref name=Grist_20190824/> * ''global overheating'' (Public Citizen, 2019)<ref name=PublicCitizen_20190606/> * ''climate emergency'' (11,000 scientists' warning letter<ref name=BioscienceWarningLetter_20200101/> in ''BioScience'',<ref name=CNET_20191105/><ref name=Grist_20191105/> and in ''The Guardian'',<ref name=Bloomberg_20190917/><ref name=GuardianStyleGuideActualText_20190517/> both 2019), * ''ecological breakdown'', ''ecological crisis'' and ''ecological emergency'' (all set forth by climate activist Greta Thunberg, 2019)<ref name=GretaThunberg_20190504/> * ''global meltdown'', ''Scorched Earth'', ''The Great Collapse'', and ''Earthshattering'' (an Ad Age marketing team, 2019)<ref name=BBCSciFocus_20200103/> * ''climate disaster'' (''The Guardian'', 2019)<ref name=Guardian_20191219/> * ''environmental Armageddon'' (Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama)<ref name=APnews_20200927/> * ''climate calamity'' (''Los Angeles Times'', 2022)<ref name=LATimes_20220728/> * ''climate havoc'' (''The New York Times'', 2022)<ref name=NYTimes_20220927/> * ''climate pollution'', ''carbon pollution'' (''Grist'', 2022)<ref name=Grist_20220929/> * ''global boiling'' (U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres speech, July 2023)<ref name=UN_20230727/> * ''climate breaking point'' (Stuart P.M. Mackintosh, ''The Hill'', August 2023)<ref name=TheHill_20230822/> * (Has humanity) ''broken the climate'' (''The Guardian'', August 2023)<ref name=Guardian_20230828/> * ''(climate) abyss'' (spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, May 2024)<ref name=Guardian_20240509/> * ''climate hell'' (U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, June 2024)<ref name=UN_20240605/> * ''climate warming'' (''Nature Ecology and Evolution'', June 2025)<ref name=NatureEandE_20250604/> * ''climate overshoot'' (''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nexus'', November 2025)<ref name=PNASnexus_20251118/> * ''greenhouse warming'' (''Nature Climate Change'', November 2025)<ref name=NatureCC_20251105/>

Terms other than ''climate crisis'' have been investigated for their effects upon audiences, including ''global warming'', ''climate change'', ''climatic disruption'',<ref name=NAAEE_2013/> ''environmental destruction'', ''weather destabilization'' and ''environmental collapse''.<ref name=Grist_20190429/>

In 2022, ''The New York Times'' journalist Amanda Hess said "end of the world" characterizations of the future, such as ''climate apocalypse'', are often used to refer to the current climate crisis, and that the characterization is spreading from "the ironized hellscape of the internet" to books and film.<ref name=NYTimes_20220203/>

==See also== * {{annotated link|Climate psychology}} * {{annotated link|Economic analysis of climate change}} * {{annotated link|Environmental communication}} * {{annotated link|Extinction Rebellion}} * {{annotated link|Human extinction#Risk estimates|Human extinction risk estimates}} * {{annotated link|Media coverage of climate change}} * {{annotated link|Psychology of climate change denial}} * {{annotated link|Public opinion on climate change}}

==Footnotes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist | 30em | refs=

<ref name=ABCaustralia_201908>{{cite news |title=Climate Change: The Facts |url=https://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/climate-change-the-facts/ |agency=Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC Australia) |date=August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111203605/https://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/climate-change-the-facts/ |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=ActionNetwork_201905>{{cite web |url=https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/call-it-a-climate-crisis |title=Call it a Climate Crisis |website=ActionNetwork.org |access-date=July 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517213330/https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/call-it-a-climate-crisis |archive-date=May 17, 2019 |url-status=bot: unknown }} Earliest Wayback Machine archive is May 17, 2019.</ref>

<ref name=APnews_20200927>{{cite news |last1=Anna |first1=Cara |title=Leaders to UN: If virus doesn't kill us, climate change will |url=https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-oceans-environment-united-nations-general-assembly-d073896990db973a3e45db26787d6a18 |work=Associated Press News |date=27 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123095038/https://apnews.com/article/climate-climate-change-oceans-environment-united-nations-general-assembly-d073896990db973a3e45db26787d6a18 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Atlantic_20181228>{{cite magazine |last=Meyer |first=Robinson |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/house-democrats-form-new-committee-climate-crisis/579109/ |title=Democrats Establish a New House 'Climate Crisis' Committee |magazine=The Atlantic |date=December 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725085237/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/house-democrats-form-new-committee-climate-crisis/579109/ |archive-date=July 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=BBCSciFocus_20200103>{{cite news |last1=Rigby |first1=Sara |title=Climate change: should we change the terminology? |url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/climate-change-should-we-change-the-terminology/ |work=BBC Science Focus |date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103220414/https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/climate-change-should-we-change-the-terminology/ |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=BioscienceWarningLetter_20200101>{{Cite journal |last1=Ripple |first1=William J. |last2=Wolf |first2=Christopher |last3=Newsome |first3=Thomas M. |last4=Barnard |first4=Phoebe |last5=Moomaw |first5=William R. |date=January 1, 2020 |title=World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency |url=https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806 |journal=BioScience |language=en |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=8–12 |doi=10.1093/biosci/biz088 |issn=0006-3568 |access-date=January 20, 2020 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415141528/https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806 |url-status=live |doi-access=free |hdl=2445/151800 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=BioSci_Warning2021_20210728>{{cite journal |last1=Ripple |first1=William J. |last2=Wolf |first2=Christopher |last3=Newsome |first3=Thomas M. |last4=Gregg |first4=Jillian W. |last5=Lenton |first5=Timothy M. |last6=Palomo |first6=Ignacio |last7=Eikelboom |first7=Jasper A. J. |last8=Law |first8=Beverly E. |last9=Huq |first9=Saleemul |last10=Duffy |first10=Philip B. |last11=Rockström |first11=Johan |display-authors=4 |title=World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2021 |journal=BioScience |date=July 28, 2021 |volume=71 |issue=9 |article-number=biab079 |doi=10.1093/biosci/biab079 |url=https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biab079/6325731 |access-date=August 8, 2021 |archive-date=August 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826155112/https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biab079/6325731 |url-status=live |doi-access=free |hdl=10871/126814 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=Bloomberg_20190917>{{cite news |last1=Vickers |first1=Emma |title=When Is Change a 'Crisis'? Why Climate Terms Matter |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-17/when-is-change-a-crisis-why-climate-terms-matter-quicktake |agency=Bloomberg |date=September 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920211602/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-17/when-is-change-a-crisis-why-climate-terms-matter-quicktake |archive-date=September 20, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=CBC_20190705>{{cite news |interviewer=Gillian Findlay |title=Treat climate change like the crisis it is, says journalism professor |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-july-7-2019-1.5198309/treat-climate-change-like-the-crisis-it-is-says-journalism-professor-1.5198311 |agency=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707191340/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-july-7-2019-1.5198309/treat-climate-change-like-the-crisis-it-is-says-journalism-professor-1.5198311 |archive-date=July 7, 2019 |url-status=live }} • [https://web.archive.org/web/20190920211112/https://www.osoyoostimes.com/editorial-climate-change-or-climate-emergency/ Archive of CBC quote] in ''Osoyoos Times''.</ref>

<ref name=CBSnews_20190516>{{cite news |last1=Berardelli |first1=Jeff |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/does-the-term-climate-change-need-a-makeover-some-think-so-heres-why/ |title=Does the term "climate change" need a makeover? Some think so — here's why |agency=CBS News |date=May 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108222555/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/does-the-term-climate-change-need-a-makeover-some-think-so-heres-why/ |archive-date=November 8, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=PublicCitizen_20190606>{{cite web |title=Letter to Major Networks: Call it a Climate Crisis – and Cover it Like One |url=https://www.citizen.org/article/letter-to-major-networks-call-it-a-climate-crisis-and-cover-it-like-one/ |website=citizen.org |publisher=Public Citizen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017044453/https://www.citizen.org/article/letter-to-major-networks-call-it-a-climate-crisis-and-cover-it-like-one/ |archive-date=October 17, 2019 |date=June 6, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=CleanEnergyWire_20190919>{{cite news |last1=Reimer |first1=Nick |title=''Climate Change'' or ''Climate Crisis'' – What's the right lingo? |url=https://www.cleanenergywire.org/blog/climate-change-or-climate-crisis-whats-right-lingo |agency=Clean Energy Wire |date=September 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115192357/https://www.cleanenergywire.org/blog/climate-change-or-climate-crisis-whats-right-lingo |archive-date=November 15, 2019 |location=Germany |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=CleanTechnica_20230606>{{cite news |last1=Shahan |first1=Zachary |title=Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants Us To Focus On ''Pollution'' Rather Than ''Climate Change'' |url=https://cleantechnica.com/2023/06/06/why-arnold-schwarzenegger-wants-us-to-focus-on-pollution-rather-than-climate-change/ |work=Clean Technica |date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607075243/https://cleantechnica.com/2023/06/06/why-arnold-schwarzenegger-wants-us-to-focus-on-pollution-rather-than-climate-change/ |archive-date=7 June 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=DeBruin_ClimacticChange_2024812>{{cite journal |last1=de Bruin |first1=Wandi Bruine |last2=Kruke |first2=Laurel |last3=Sinatra |first3=Gale M. |last4=Schwarz |first4=Norbert |title=Should we change the term we use for "climate change"? Evidence from a national U.S. terminology experiment |journal=Climatic Change |date=12 August 2024 |volume=177 |issue=129 |article-number=129 |doi=10.1007/s10584-024-03786-3|bibcode=2024ClCh..177..129B |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=ClimateReality_20190501>{{cite web |title=Why Do We Call It the Climate Crisis? |url=https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-do-we-call-it-climate-crisis |website=climaterealityproject.org |publisher=The Climate Reality Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924143300/https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/why-do-we-call-it-climate-crisis |archive-date=September 24, 2019 |date=May 1, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=CNET_20191105>{{cite news |last1=Ryan |first1=Jackson |title='Climate emergency': Over 11,000 scientists sound thunderous warning / The dire words are a call to action. |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/climate-emergency-over-11000-scientists-sound-thunderous-warning/ |agency=CNET |date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111101846/https://www.cnet.com/news/climate-emergency-over-11000-scientists-sound-thunderous-warning/ |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=UnivColo_200412>{{cite web |last1=Moser |first1=Susan C. |last2=Dilling |first2=Lisa |title=Making Climate Hot / Communicating the Urgency and Challenge of Global Climate Change |url=https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-1734-2005.22.pdf |website=University of Colorado |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810160417/https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-1734-2005.22.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |pages=37–38 |date=December 2004 |url-status=live }} Footnotes 33–37. Also published: [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00139150409605820 December 2004, ''Environment,'' volume 46, no. 10, pp. 32–46] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518220418/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00139150409605820 |date=May 18, 2020 }}.</ref>

<ref name=DictionaryCom_WhatIsClimateCrisis>{{cite web |title=What does climate crisis mean? / Where does climate crisis come from? |url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/tech-science/climate-crisis/ |website=dictionary.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221232324/https://www.dictionary.com/e/tech-science/climate-crisis/ |archive-date=December 21, 2019 |date=December 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=EconPolWeekly_20090905>{{cite journal |last1=Hodder |first1=Patrick |last2=Martin |first2=Brian |title=Climate Crisis? The Politics of Emergency Framing |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |date=September 5, 2009 |volume=44 |issue=36 |pages=53, 55–60 |url=https://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/09epw.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710070732/https://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/09epw.pdf |archive-date=July 10, 2020 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

<ref name=Ecowatch_20201211>{{cite web |author1=Common Dreams |title=Greta Thunberg Warns Humanity 'Still Speeding in Wrong Direction' on Climate |url=https://www.ecowatch.com/greta-thunberg-paris-agreement-2649450989.html |website=Ecowatch.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116205503/https://www.ecowatch.com/greta-thunberg-paris-agreement-2649450989.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4 |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |date=December 11, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=EEnews_20190710>{{cite news |last1=Sobczyk |first1=Nick |title=How climate change got labeled a 'crisis' |url=https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060718493 |agency=E & E News (Energy & Environmental News) |date=July 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013224254/https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060718493 |archive-date=October 13, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=EJO_20200218>{{cite web |title=Do European media take climate change seriously enough? |url=https://en.ejo.ch/specialist-journalism/do-european-media-take-climate-change-seriously-enough |website=European Journalism Observatory (ejo.ch) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227194908/https://en.ejo.ch/specialist-journalism/do-european-media-take-climate-change-seriously-enough |archive-date=February 27, 2020 |location=Switzerland |date=February 18, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=FastCompany_20210216>{{cite magazine |last1=Smith |first1=Lilly |title=This chilling font visualizes Arctic ice melt |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90604481/this-chilling-font-visualizes-arctic-ice-melt |magazine=Fast Company |date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223111423/https://www.fastcompany.com/90604481/this-chilling-font-visualizes-arctic-ice-melt |archive-date=February 23, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=FastCo_20211206>{{cite magazine |last1=Visram |first1=Talib |title=The language of climate is evolving, from 'change' to 'catastrophe' |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90702024/the-language-of-climate-is-evolving-from-change-to-catastrophe |magazine=Fast Company |date=December 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206133950/https://www.fastcompany.com/90702024/the-language-of-climate-is-evolving-from-change-to-catastrophe |archive-date=December 6, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=FifthEstate_20190930>{{cite news |last1=Mukheibir |first1=Pierre |last2=Mallam |first2=Patricia |title=Climate crisis – what's it good for? |url=https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/climate-change-news/climate-crisis-whats-it-good-for/ |work=The Fifth Estate |date=September 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001235212/https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/urbanism/climate-change-news/climate-crisis-whats-it-good-for/ |archive-date=October 1, 2019 |location=Australia |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=GretaThunberg_20190504>{{cite news |last1=Picazo |first1=Mario |title=Should we reconsider the term 'climate change'? |url=https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/term-climate-change-global-warming-greta-thunberg |agency=The Weather Network (CA) |date=May 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112054631/https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/term-climate-change-global-warming-greta-thunberg |archive-date=November 12, 2019 |url-status=live }} includes link to Thunberg's tweet: ●{{nbsp}}{{cite web |last1=Thunberg |first1=Greta |title=It's 2019. Can we all now please stop saying 'climate change' and instead call it what it is |url=https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1124723891123961856 |website=twitter.com/GretaThunberg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106085407/https://twitter.com/gretathunberg/status/1124723891123961856 |archive-date=November 6, 2019 |date=May 4, 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=November 11, 2019 }}</ref>

<ref name=Grist_20190429>{{cite magazine |last1=Yoder |first1=Kate |title=Why your brain doesn't register the words 'climate change' |url=https://grist.org/article/why-your-brain-doesnt-register-the-words-climate-change/ |magazine=Grist |date=April 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724095513/https://grist.org/article/why-your-brain-doesnt-register-the-words-climate-change/ |archive-date=July 24, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Grist_20190617>{{cite magazine |last1=Yoder |first1=Kate |title=Is it time to retire 'climate change' for 'climate crisis'? |url=https://grist.org/article/is-it-time-to-retire-climate-change-for-climate-crisis/ |magazine=Grist |date=June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629072442/https://grist.org/article/is-it-time-to-retire-climate-change-for-climate-crisis/ |archive-date=June 29, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Grist_20190824>{{cite magazine |last1=Watts |first1=Jonathan |title=Global warming should be called global heating, says key scientist |url=https://grist.org/article/global-warming-should-be-called-global-heating-says-key-scientist/ |magazine=Grist |date=December 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824192844/https://grist.org/article/global-warming-should-be-called-global-heating-says-key-scientist/ |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Grist_20191105>{{cite magazine |last1=McGinn |first1=Miyo |title=11,000 scientists say that the 'climate emergency' is here |url=https://grist.org/article/11000-scientists-say-that-the-climate-emergency-is-here/ |magazine=Grist |date=November 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214215942/https://grist.org/article/11000-scientists-say-that-the-climate-emergency-is-here/ |archive-date=December 14, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Grist_20220929>{{cite magazine |last1=Yoder |first1=Kate |title='It makes climate change real': How carbon emissions got rebranded as 'pollution' |url=https://grist.org/health/how-carbon-emissions-got-rebranded-climate-pollution-ira/ |magazine=Grist |date=September 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929173123/https://grist.org/health/how-carbon-emissions-got-rebranded-climate-pollution-ira/ |archive-date=September 29, 2022}}</ref>

<ref name=GuardianArticle_20190517>{{cite news |last1=Carrington |first1=Damian |title=Why The Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment / From now, house style guide recommends terms such as 'climate crisis' and 'global heating' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment |newspaper=The Guardian |date=May 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006183640/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment |archive-date=October 6, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=GuardianStyleGuideActualText_20190517>{{cite news |last1=Hickman |first1=Leo |title=The Guardian's editor has just issued this new guidance to all staff on language to use when writing about climate change and the environment... |url=https://twitter.com/LeoHickman/status/1129322707110236160 |publisher=Journalist Leo Hickman on Twitter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115203234/https://twitter.com/LeoHickman/status/1129322707110236160/photo/1 |archive-date=November 15, 2019 |date=May 17, 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=November 15, 2019 }}</ref>

<ref name=GuardianCarrington_20190517>{{cite news | last=Carrington | first=Damian | title=Why The Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment | newspaper=The Guardian | date=May 17, 2019 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment | access-date=January 31, 2021 | archive-date=January 28, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128115422/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment | url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20191105>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering |title=Climate crisis: 11,000 scientists warn of 'untold suffering' |last=Carrington |first=Damian |date=November 5, 2019 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114130151/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering |archive-date=January 14, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20191120>{{cite news |last1=Zhou |first1=Naaman |title=Oxford Dictionaries declares 'climate emergency' the word of 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/21/oxford-dictionaries-declares-climate-emergency-the-word-of-2019 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=November 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121023002/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/21/oxford-dictionaries-declares-climate-emergency-the-word-of-2019 |archive-date=November 21, 2019 |url-status=live }} "Climate emergency" was named word of the year.</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20191219>{{cite news |last1=Goldrick |first1=Geoff |title=2019 has been a year of climate disaster. Yet still our leaders procrastinate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/20/2019-has-been-a-year-of-climate-disaster-yet-still-our-leaders-procrastinate |newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231003504/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/20/2019-has-been-a-year-of-climate-disaster-yet-still-our-leaders-procrastinate |archive-date=December 31, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20210412>{{cite news |author1=Guardian staff |title=The climate emergency is here. The media needs to act like it |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/12/covering-climate-now-guardian-climate-emergency |newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412173408/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/12/covering-climate-now-guardian-climate-emergency |archive-date=April 12, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20220828>{{cite news |last1=Baloch |first1=Shah Meer |title=Pakistan declares floods a 'climate catastrophe' as death toll tops 1,000 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/28/pakistans-south-braces-for-deluge-as-death-toll-from-floods-tops-1000 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=August 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828194349/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/28/pakistans-south-braces-for-deluge-as-death-toll-from-floods-tops-1000 |archive-date=August 28, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20230828>{{cite news |last1=Carrington |first1=Damian |last2=Lakhani |first2=Nina |last3=Milman |first3=Oliver |last4=Morton |first4=Adam |last5=Niranjan |first5=Ajit |last6=Watts |first6=Johathan |title='Off-the-charts records': has humanity finally broken the climate? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/28/crazy-off-the-charts-records-has-humanity-finally-broken-the-climate |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829072326/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/28/crazy-off-the-charts-records-has-humanity-finally-broken-the-climate |archive-date=29 August 2023}}</ref>

<ref name=Guardian_20240509>{{cite news |last1=Carrington |first1=Demian |title='The stakes could not be higher': world is on edge of climate abyss, UN warns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/09/world-is-on-verge-of-climate-abyss-un-warns |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516213957/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/09/world-is-on-verge-of-climate-abyss-un-warns |archive-date=16 May 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=TheHill_20230822>{{cite news |last1=Mackintosh |first1=Stuart P. M. |title=We need better strategies for the approaching climate breaking point |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4162840-we-need-better-strategies-for-the-approaching-climate-breaking-point/ |newspaper=The Hill |date=22 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824214953/https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4162840-we-need-better-strategies-for-the-approaching-climate-breaking-point/ |archive-date=24 August 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=HindustanTimes_20191124>{{cite news |title=Recognising the climate crisis |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/recognising-the-climate-crisis-ht-editorial/story-v3GecFh9xed242exHphqhP.html |work=Hindustan Times |date=November 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191125065018/https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/recognising-the-climate-crisis-ht-editorial/story-v3GecFh9xed242exHphqhP.html |archive-date=November 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=KalmusTwitter_20180829>{{cite web |last1=Kalmus |first1=Peter |title=Stop saying 'climate change' and start saying 'climate breakdown.' |url=https://twitter.com/ClimateHuman/status/1034993858243743744 |website=@ClimateHuman on Twitter |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111205952/https://twitter.com/ClimateHuman/status/1034993858243743744 |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |date=August 29, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=legal_materials_global>{{cite journal |author1=Center for International Environmental Law. |title=Selected International Legal Materials on Global Warming and Climate Change |journal=American University International Law Review |date=1990 |volume=5 |issue=2 |page=515 |url=https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1589&context=auilr |access-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-date=June 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623032037/https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1589&context=auilr |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=LATimes_20220728>{{cite news |last1=Roth |first1=Sammy |title=August is coming. Prepare for climate calamity |url=https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2022-07-28/august-is-coming-prepare-for-climate-calamity-boiling-point |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728130918/https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2022-07-28/august-is-coming-prepare-for-climate-calamity-boiling-point |archive-date=July 28, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Medium_20181218>{{cite magazine |last1=Rosenblad |first1=Kajsa |title=Review: ''An Inconvenient Sequel'' |url=https://mediummagazine.nl/review-inconvenient-sequel/ |magazine=Medium (Communication Science news and articles) |date=December 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329095537/https://mediummagazine.nl/review-inconvenient-sequel/ |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |location=Netherlands |quote=... climate change, a term that Gore renamed to ''climate crisis'' |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Monash_20200103>{{cite news |last1=Bedi |first1=Gitanjali |title=Is it time to rethink our language on climate change? |url=https://lens.monash.edu/@environment/2020/01/03/1379384/is-it-time-to-rethink-our-language-on-climate-change |work=Monash Lens |publisher=Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) |date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131062829/https://lens.monash.edu/@environment/2020/01/03/1379384/is-it-time-to-rethink-our-language-on-climate-change |archive-date=January 31, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=NAAEE_2013>{{cite web |title=Words That (Don't) Matter: An Exploratory Study of Four Climate Change Names in Environmental Discourse / Investigating the Best Term for Global Warming |url=https://naaee.org/eepro/research/library/words-dont-matter-exploratory-study-four |website=naaee.org |publisher=North American Association for Environmental Education |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111200641/https://naaee.org/eepro/research/library/words-dont-matter-exploratory-study-four |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |date=2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=Nature_2019>{{Cite journal |last1=Lenton |first1=Timothy M. |last2=Rockström |first2=Johan |last3=Gaffney |first3=Owen |last4=Rahmstorf |first4=Stefan |last5=Richardson |first5=Katherine |last6=Steffen |first6=Will |last7=Schellnhuber |first7=Hans Joachim |date=2019 |title=Climate tipping points — too risky to bet against |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=575 |issue=7784 |pages=592–595 |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-03595-0 |pmid=31776487 |bibcode=2019Natur.575..592L |hdl=10871/40141 |s2cid=208330359 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name=NatureCC_20251105>{{cite journal |last1=Yi |first1=Gyuseok |last2=Lee |first2=June-Yi |last3=Kwon |first3=Eun Young |last4=Lee |first4=Sun-Seon |last5=Kim |first5=Myeong-Hyeon |last6=Park |first6=Wonsun |last7=Stein |first7=Karl |last8=Timmermann |first8=Axel |display-authors=4 |title=Future mesoscale horizontal stirring in polar oceans intensified by sea ice decline |journal=Nature Climate Change |date=5 November 2025 |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=1315–1323 |doi=10.1038/s41558-025-02471-2 |bibcode=2025NatCC..15.1315Y }}</ref>

<ref name=NatureEandE_20250604>{{cite journal |last1=Lin |first1=Da |last2=Du |first2=Shuai |last3=Zhao |first3=Zhe |last4=Zhang |first4=Tianlun |last5=Wang |first5=Lu |title=Climate warming fuels the global antibiotic resistome by altering soil bacterial traits |journal=Nature Ecology and Evolution |date=4 June 2025 |volume=9 |issue=8 |pages=1512–1526 |doi=10.1038/s41559-025-02740-5 |pmid=40468041 |bibcode=2025NatEE...9.1512L |url=https://ddd.uab.cat/record/318441 }}</ref>

<ref name=NewYorker_20190711>{{cite magazine |last1=Kormann |first1=Carolyn |title=The Case for Declaring a National Climate Emergency |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-case-for-declaring-a-national-climate-emergency |magazine=The New Yorker |date=July 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006011423/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-case-for-declaring-a-national-climate-emergency |archive-date=October 6, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=NYTimes_20190410>{{cite news |last1=Shannon |first1=Noah Gallagher |title=Climate Chaos Is Coming — and the Pinkertons Are Ready |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/10/magazine/climate-change-pinkertons.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905205512/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/10/magazine/climate-change-pinkertons.html |archive-date=September 5, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=NYTimes_20190705>{{cite news |last1=Barnard |first1=Anne |title=A 'Climate Emergency' Was Declared in New York City. Will That Change Anything? |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/nyregion/climate-emergency-nyc.html |date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011062000/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/nyregion/climate-emergency-nyc.html |archive-date=October 11, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=NYTimes_20200103>{{cite news |last1=Flanagan |first1=Richard |title=Australia Is Committing Climate Suicide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.html |work=The New York Times |date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103120623/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/opinion/australia-fires-climate-change.html |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=NYTimes_20220203>{{cite news |last1=Hess |first1=Amanda |title=Apocalypse When? Global Warming's Endless Scroll |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/arts/climate-change-doomsday-culture.html |work=The New York Times |date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425053157/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/arts/climate-change-doomsday-culture.html |archive-date=25 April 2023 |quote=the climate crisis is outpacing our emotional capacity to describe it. |url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

<ref name=NYTimes_20220927>{{cite news |last1=Sengupta |first1=Somini |title=Who pays for climate havoc? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/climate/climate-imf-world-bank.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927134118/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/27/climate/climate-imf-world-bank.html |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=PNASnexus_20251118>{{cite journal |last1=Krucziewics |first1=Andrew |last2=Zommers |first2=Zinta |last3=Kimutai |first3=Joyce |last4=Garschagen |first4=Matthias |last5=Fisher |first5=Joshua |title=The human and social impacts of climate overshoot |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Nexus |date=18 November 2025 |volume=4 |issue=11 |article-number=pgaf332 |doi=10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf332 |doi-access=free |pmid=41262980 |pmc=12624506 }}</ref>

<ref name=SciAlert_20190525>{{cite web |last1=Dean |first1=Signe |title=ScienceAlert Editor: Yes, It's Time to Update Our Climate Change Language |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/is-it-time-to-call-it-a-climate-crisis |website=Science Alert |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731033043/https://www.sciencealert.com/is-it-time-to-call-it-a-climate-crisis |archive-date=July 31, 2019 |date=May 25, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=UN_20230727>{{cite web |title=Secretary-General's opening remarks at press conference on climate |url=https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-07-27/secretary-generals-opening-remarks-press-conference-climate |website=UN.org |publisher=United Nations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729175851/https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-07-27/secretary-generals-opening-remarks-press-conference-climate |archive-date=29 July 2023 |date=27 July 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=UN_20240605>{{cite web |title=There is an exit off 'the highway to climate hell', Guterres insists |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150661 |publisher=United Nations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240605165621/https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150661 |archive-date=5 June 2024 |date=5 June 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name=UShouseSelCommittee_2019>{{cite web |title=United States House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis / About |url=https://climatecrisis.house.gov/about |website=climatecrisis.house.gov |publisher=United States House of Representatives |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402194738/https://climatecrisis.house.gov/about |archive-date=April 2, 2019 |date=2019 |url-status=live }} Crediting Shawna Faison and House Creative Services.</ref>

<ref name=WashPost_20180129>{{cite news |last1=Samenow |first1=Jason |title=Debunking the claim 'they' changed 'global warming' to 'climate change' because warming stopped |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/29/debunking-the-claim-they-changed-global-warming-to-climate-change-because-its-cooling/ |work=The New York Times |date=January 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029050220/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/29/debunking-the-claim-they-changed-global-warming-to-climate-change-because-its-cooling/ |archive-date=October 29, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=WashPost_20191209>{{cite news |last1=Guskin |first1=Emily |last2=Clement |first2=Scott |last3=Achenbach |first3=Joel |title=Americans broadly accept climate science, but many are fuzzy on the details |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/americans-broadly-accept-climate-science-but-many-are-fuzzy-on-the-details/2019/12/08/465a9d5e-0d6a-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209180652/https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/americans-broadly-accept-climate-science-but-many-are-fuzzy-on-the-details/2019/12/08/465a9d5e-0d6a-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html |archive-date=December 9, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=WWF_201911>{{cite web |title=Tackling Threats That Impact the Earth |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats |website=World Wildlife Fund |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002105242/https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |date=2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name=YaleGWvsCC_2014>{{cite journal |last1=Maibach |first1=Edward |last2=Leiserowitz |first2=Anthony |last3=Feinberg |first3=Geoff |last4=Rosenthal |first4=Seth |last5=Smith |first5=Nicholas |last6=Anderson |first6=Ashley |last7=Roser-Renouf |first7=Connie |title=What's in a Name? Global Warming versus Climate Change |journal=Yale Project on Climate Change, Center for Climate Change Communication |date=May 2014 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.10123.49448 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316859513 |access-date=January 5, 2020 |archive-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130021307/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316859513_What%27s_in_a_Name_Global_Warming_versus_Climate_Change |url-status=live }}</ref>

}}

==Further reading== * {{cite magazine |title=Act now and avert a climate crisis (editorial) |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02734-x |magazine=Nature |date=September 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922201707/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02734-x |archive-date=September 22, 2019 |url-status=live }} (''Nature'' joining Covering Climate Now.) * {{cite journal |last1=Feldman |first1=Lauren |last2=Hart |first2=P. Sol |title=Upping the ante? The effects of "emergency" and "crisis" framing in climate change news |journal=Climatic Change |date=November 16, 2021 |volume=169 |issue=10 |page=10 |doi=10.1007/s10584-021-03219-5 |bibcode=2021ClCh..169...10F |s2cid=244119978 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-021-03219-5 |url-access=subscription }} * {{cite magazine |last1=Hall |first1=Aaron |title=Renaming Climate Change: Can a New Name Finally Make Us Take Action |url=https://adage.com/article/industry-insights/renaming-climate-change-can-new-name-finally-make-us-take-action/2218821 |magazine=Ad Age |date=November 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221160744/https://adage.com/article/industry-insights/renaming-climate-change-can-new-name-finally-make-us-take-action/2218821 |archive-date=December 21, 2019}} (advertising perspective by a "professional namer") * {{cite magazine |last1=Visram |first1=Talib |title=The language of climate is evolving, from 'change' to 'catastrophe' |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90702024/the-language-of-climate-is-evolving-from-change-to-catastrophe |magazine=Fast Company |date=December 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206133950/https://www.fastcompany.com/90702024/the-language-of-climate-is-evolving-from-change-to-catastrophe |archive-date=December 6, 2021 |url-status=live }}

==External links== * [https://coveringclimatenow.org/about/ Covering Climate Now (CCNow)], a collaboration among news organizations "to produce more informed and urgent climate stories" ([https://web.archive.org/web/20210412180057/https://coveringclimatenow.org/about/ archive])

Crisis * Crisis Crisis Category:2010s neologisms Category:2020s neologisms