The word of the year for 2019 is "Climate Emergency," according to Oxford Dictionaries. Last year, that honor went to "Toxic."

Climate emergency is defined as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it."

Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of The Guardian, stated why this term stands out from others such as "Climate Change," which sounds rather passive and gentle when scientists are talking about a catastrophe for humanity. The paper even changed their style guide for writing about climate issues.

Use of the word "Climate Emergency" increased steeply over the course of 2019 and by last September, it was more than 100 times as common as it had been the year before.

Going Deeper:

Check out S&P's extensive topic on "Climate Change." Although large numbers of people are Earth advocates and recognize that "change" has turned into "emergency," some persist in denying that anything significant is happening. But, as we wrote in our overview, "We believe that the global warming crisis is calling us to change our ideas and actions about the environment and our everyday habits." Click on the blue icons on the page to explore our curated content on climate change:

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