Wine folks rightfully speak of mouthfeel as a quality of wine. Words have mouthfeel too. When I say “Anthropogenic” I get a bad puckery finish that makes me want to smack my lips. This word is bandied about as a badge of worthiness to enter into climate discussion.It is often spoken solemnly, as if by a judge pronouncing sentence.

Words like this get coined to foster objectivity, to separate us so we can do better analysis.In this case we are rather like a doctor diagnosing an unknown condition in himself. The downside is that one can get to thinking that those miserable anthropogenes are to blame.

Good wine is an emergent property of grape juice and clear thinking and good writing are emergent properties of words. It is time to step up and call it human CO2 and human warming. “Human”, now there is a word with good mouthfeel.