[Coral-List] grandma test RE: Record setting cold in south Florida

[Sarah Frias-Torres]

When I explain science to my non-science family in Barcelona, I use the "Grandma test". If my grandma understands what I'm saying, then I'm saying it clearly.
In Europe, we are experiencing severe cold this winter.
On a recent phone call, grandma said that with all this global warming going on,  she shouldn't be feeling the cold in her old bones (with an accusing tone, as if I'm responsible for the whole thing...).Grandma, I said, with global warming, everything is more extreme. It doesn't mean we'll be warmer every time, but at least where you live (she doesn't like the term "temperate latitudes", too scientific), we'll have colder winters, and warmer summers. Global warming puts things out of balance.
So it's two sides of the same coin, grandma said, one side is extreme cold, the other extreme heat. Both included in the same coin.
... and that's why grandma is the best science communicator I know.
Perhaps we can use such strategy when communicating about global warming... or global climate change, or whatever name better describes what we are going through.

Sarah Frias-Torres, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Scholar &Schmidt Research Vessel Institute Postdoctoral Fellowhttp://independent.academia.edu/SarahFriasTorresOcean Research & Conservation Association 1420 Seaway Drive, 2nd Floor Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 USA http://www.teamorca.org



> Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 10:28:40 -0500
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> From: eshinn at marine.usf.edu
> Subject: [Coral-List] Record setting cold in south Florida
> 
> Listers may have seen headlines associated with the Cancun meetings 
> that say  "2010 in top 3 of hottest years ever"  Here is an 
> inconvenient official dreport.  Corals in keys will need blankets 
> this winter. 
> <http://www.gohydrology.org/><http://www.gohydrology.org> Gene
> -- 
> 
> 
> No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
> ------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
> E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
> University of South Florida
> Marine Science Center (room 204)
> 140 Seventh Avenue South
> St. Petersburg, FL 33701
> <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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