News | USA TODAY | September 2021

Confounded by climate terms? You’re not alone. Mitigation, adaptation, WTH?

Even if you’re concerned about a rapidly warming planet, it can be tough to decipher all the jargon. Take three parts science-speak and two parts bureaucratic lingo, add a dash of pontificating economists, and you’re left scratching your head. You’re not alone.

A new study by the University of Southern California and the United Nations Foundation finds U.S. residents struggle to understand terms used in international reports to describe climate change, and think it could be done a lot more simply.