A lot of times in my discussions with climate change deniers / skeptics / "lukewarmers" / and misguidedly stubborn science misinformers (MSSMs), there will be admissions from them that things are changing, the globe is warming (GW), some of it is even caused by humans (thus anthropogenic, AGW), but for various misguided reasons, they say that despite the changes, it won't be bad, and certainly not "catastrophic"(i.e., CAGW).
To which I frequently ask, what is catastrophic? Is it catastrophic when a flash flood from an extreme rainfall event washes away Main Street in your village? Is it catastrophic when one of the famous rivers that runs through your country dries up? Is it catastrophic when 90% of the world's coral reefs might be gone in 30 years?
Here's another example:
The olive oil capital of the world, parched
"The morning that [olive oil farmer] Mr. Bautista studied the withered olive tree branch, he was sweating in heat that was already headed above 100 degrees by 11 a.m. As he drove his Toyota pickup truck around the 5,000 trees that he cultivates in a grove beside the tiny village of El Molar, where he grew up, he was already ruing lost profits. He and other farmers expect that the olive crop of Jaén will be about 50 percent smaller than last year. Government estimates of lost income now stand at $1 billion."
The article goes on to explain how climate change, economics, and culture changes could threaten the olive oil production in this region, altering both an economic anchor and a historical way of life.
Is that catastrophic?
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