News | NPR | September 2021

Enough With The Climate Jargon: Scientists Aim For Clearer Messages On Global Warming

Here’s a sentence that’s basically unintelligible to most people: Humans must mitigate global warming by pursuing an unprecedented transition to a carbon neutral economy.

A recent study found that some of the most common terms in climate science are confusing to the general public. The study tested words that are frequently used in international climate reports, and it concluded that the most confusing terms were “mitigation,” “carbon neutral” and “unprecedented transition.”