"Like Frogs in a Slowly Boiling Pot"?

Eleanor Salter believes that the decision of the UK's Meteorological Office to change heatwave temperature thresholds in eight English counties, is a 'gift' to climate change deniers ( https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/30/met-office-fewer-heatwaves-england-optics-action). This Met Office decision is certainly one way of reducing the number of heatwaves in a county. A heatwave is defined as there being three consecutive days above a threshold temperature for a specific area. The threshold temperature varies from county to county. The Met Office decision is defended on the grounds that the 'undeniable warming trend', makes original temperature thresholds obsolete. Average temperatures obtained between 1990-2020, rather than those used earlier (1981-2010) will be used. The Met Office claim this will make messaging the general public clearer. It will not, of course, lower the actual temperatures. It will simply need to be hotter to qualify as a heatwave. Elevated ambient temperatures have detrimental effects on the health of both humans and animals. Salter thinks that the Met office decision follows the shifting baseline syndrome. This syndrome is a gradual change in the accepted norms for conditions of the natural environment. As she points out, the shifting baseline syndrome has been used to make reductions in 'greenhouse gas' emissions, look better than they really are. It's clearly a valuable aid to the greenwashing and pledging industries!