Greater Storms and Tempests

We are running out of phrases. “Global warming” worked for a while, but it didn’t fully capture what was happening, especially to global precipitation patterns. “Climate change” is certainly better, although it implies change that can be neatly plotted on a graph over time, which suggests both order and predictability when there is neither. “Climate breakdown” may be more accurate. Or “emergency.” Or “crisis.” Or “catastrophe.” In his 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’, Pope Francis referred to the planet as “an immense pile of filth.” That’s as good a phrase as any.

There is one word that we don’t often use when talking about climate change, although in many ways “hope” is the most human word in the world. Climate hope starts from the premise that it’s not too late to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” to quote article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It comes in many shapes and sizes — from local...