"Why do you think Climate should never change?"
A reader sent in this question. I think it could mean a lot of different things based on tone or context. For example, apart from its literal sense, it could also be taken to mean, "Why is (modern) climate change problematic?" or "Why should we worry about (modern) climate change?". Here, I try to address these, one-by-one. "Why do you think Climate should never change?" Actually, I don't think that the climate should never change. An inspection of the paleoclimatic record (a record of the climate of the past) readily elicits many, many instances of climate change in the history of our planet. In fact, over sufficiently long timescales, climate change is the norm, not an aberration. Consider, for example, the "Ice Ages". These are popularly (but incorrectly*) thought to refer to the cold periods of the Quaternary Glaciation. Over the last 1 million years, the climate rhythmically fluctuated between warmer Interglacials and colder Glacials. T...