Oxford Dictionaries has selected ‘Climate Emergency’ as the ‘Oxford Word of the Year 2019’. It made the cut as the phrase’s usage increased by a whopping 10,796 percent the past year. The website defines Climate Emergency as:
“A situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.”
According to Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford Word of the Year is a word or an expression shown through usage evidence to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.
In the first week of November, over 11,000 scientists declared a climate emergency. According to a report by The Washington Post, scientists from 153 countries from various disciplines warned that the world “clearly and unequivocally faces a climate emergency”.
Across the world, climate crusaders have been protesting against governments and organisations for not doing enough to check climate change. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, students had organised a week-long Global Climate Strike in September 2019.
Oxford Corpus, which collects data on the usage of words, revealed 10,796 percent increase in the usage of ‘Climate Emergency’ over a period of one year from September 2018 to September 2019. They also reported ‘Climate Emergency’ as the most used phrase for any kind of emergency among health, hospital and family.
UK Parliament become the first parliament on 1 May to declare climate emergency. They are joined by 13 other countries including Spain, France and Portugal, among others.
(With Inputs from Oxford Dictionaries and The Washington Post)
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