What I usually say is “climate” is a dumbing-down of “biosphere”, that latter term having Russian origins (or so I learned from Dr. Lynn Margulis). To me, a focus on “climate change” entails being “narrowly focused on global temperature” as The One Big Indicator, followed by arguments over whether humans control the thermostat (sure, we’re terraformers, and maybe not that good at it).

But the biosphere? We’ve clearly transformed it completely, to where it’s hugely different than in prehistoric times (just look at satellite pictures — all those cities, missing forests!). There’s no denying that.

That the whole “terraforming / geomorphing” of the biosphere debate got railroaded into raging debates on “global temperature” (as if that’s all that matters) bespeaks of some PR campaign’s brilliance at keeping us stupid.