global weirding

English

Etymology

A pun on the term "global warming", Thomas Friedman of The New York Times is sometimes credited with coining the term "global weirding". Although he frequently promotes use of the term, he does not claim authorship explaining:

I prefer the term 'global weirding,' coined by Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because the rise in average global temperature is going to lead to all sorts of crazy things — from hotter heat spells and droughts in some places, to colder cold spells and more violent storms, more intense flooding, forest fires and species loss in other places.[1]

Noun

global weirding (uncountable)

1. An alternative to global warming to reflect the belief that climate change causes or will cause various weather-related extremes, including both hot and cold weather, to become more intense.

References

• Global Weirding: Frost Damage Casts Long Shadow (treehugger, March 3, 2008)
• Local gardeners do their part to record possible 'global weirding' (Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, August 8, 2008)
• The language of global weirding (The Seattle Times, August 7, 2008)
• NYT's Tom Friedman is Wrong on Global 'Weirding' (Huffington Post, December 4, 2007)