What is Climate Change? Simply put, the climate changes. It can get warmer, or colder, drier or wetter. More windy? More stormy--but that is usually because it got wetter.
Anyway, what they mean of course is global--meaning the entire planet--warming--getting hotter. But for the past 1.5 decades it hasn't.
So the world wasn't getting warmer. Therefore they had to change the name. The used Climate Change--which, as shown above, can go many different ways.
Whenever I encounter a liberal who uses term the conversation goes something like this:
Lib: Blah, blah, blah, climate change, blah, blah...
Me: Hold up! You me global warming, right?
Lib: No, climate change!
Me: But doesn't climate change include getting COLDER? Is THAT what you mean?
Lib: No! Geetting hotter, because we put all this carbon dioxide in the atmosphere!
Me: Then you do mean global warming! Be honest. The climate can change many different ways, even in various locations. For example, the Sahara Desert was once grasslands. It got much drier after the Ice Age glaciers melted. But here, you're talking about the whole planet getting warmer due to mankind's industry, is that not correct?
Lib: (They have to concede here, but usually double down or go into a personal attack, like calling me a denier, or not knowing science, or something... At that point the conversation is over. You cannot continue with such people. So...) Honest lib: Well, yes.
Me: But Satellite readings have basically shown that the Earth's temperature has remained unchanged since the early 2000's. Many of the scientist supporting global warming has referred to this as a "Hiatus". However, the computer models they use that shows how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would cause a steady rise in temperature globally just haven't turned to be true at all, given the measurements, so why can't they simply admit that their computer models are wrong?
Honest lib: I don't know.
So once again, let's analyze the good General's statement, here:
Climate change, caused in large part by the carbon pollution we dump into our air, presents risks to the safety of both our nation and our world at large.
Climate change. He absolutely means global warming. According to all those many computer models, dumping carbon dioxide--not carbon, General!--causes the temperature to rise. If this were true, then yes, certain areas of the globe that now are inhabited by millions of people would get flooded by the sea, or too dry for agriculture, and that could cause mass movements of refugees and nations going to war.
BUT first you have to ignore or HIDE the real evidence that shows despite carbon dioxide levels rising--although much slower than was predicted and put into the computer models--the global temperatures are NOT going up. If that doesn't happen, there is no global warming (which you inaccurately call climate change) threat.
No global warming, no national security threat.
Military planning often has to involve what ifs and sometimes even unlikely events occurring, but that hardly means global warming is undeniable.
Nice term, by the way? What do you call someone who would still deny what you claim?
And 1.5 decades is a small portion of the time records have been kept, and less than the blink of an eye in time overall. Then the validity of the records must be determined, after all the lying that has been exposed (partly by their own e-mail communications).
And now at least one source predicts a "little ice age" due to sunspot activity or lack thereof, I forget which.