Don't talk about Religion or Politics or the Weather

Common etiquette says that discussing religion or politics in polite conversation is taboo. 

Along the same lines, the traditional safe topic is the weather.

Not anymore.

These days, talking about the weather is as equally fraught as religion or politics. You don’t even have to say “Global Warming,” or “Climate Change.” Any mention of the weather is bound to raise our blood pressure. Even if the weather where you are is fine, it isn’t somewhere else. Even if the weather is normal, we don’t know how long that will last. 

The ice is melting, the Amazon is burning, there are heatwaves and catastrophic flooding, there are hurricanes and cyclones. The list of weather related catastrophes is very long and very frightening.

The solutions to the immediate problems are breathtaking in their cost and scope. The solutions to the long term problems are fading fast into impossibility. 

We have a choice, we can either take talking about the weather out of polite conversation, or we can face it head on. This is an issue that crosses international borders, that crosses religious beliefs, that affects every living thing on this planet. Ignoring it is far too dangerous than risking an irate discussion.

Yes, let’s talk about the weather, and yes, let’s do something, too.