The climate and the media
The lengthy documents they are supposed to summarise are frequently more measured and sober than the exaggerated and decontextualised versions of them portrayed in the media.
As we approach the UN Climate Change Conference, the headlines that decorate the ‘climate’ section on the BBC website include the following:
- UN emissions reports a ‘thundering wake-up call’
- Attenborough in ‘act now’ warning over climate
- Make people fly less, ministers told
- Can your sex life be eco-friendly?
- How hot could it get where you live?
Halloween seems to be a suitable date for the conference to open in Glasgow, given the frightening outlook that one is presented with.
The core claims of climate change science appear to be broadly sound (though with a tendency towards downplaying non-human factors). But the press releases and author statements we hear and read are loaded with the biases and ideologies of the climate change ‘movement’. They are often unrepresentative of the actual evidence available.
The lengthy documents they are supposed to summarise are frequently more measured and sober than the exaggerated and decontextualised versions of them portrayed in the media. This translates into a hyperbolic, and in some cases, bizarre menu of news article, as the above examples show.
Environmental problems are continuously presented as apocalyptic; rarely embedded within historical, global, and economic context.
What some convincingly argue are the best available solutions for reducing emissions, such as nuclear power and hydroelectric dams, are weirdly scorned and disapproved of by the movement (who are often themselves being manipulated by big oil and natural gas companies).
The benefits of reduced cold stress, and the possibility that adapting to a warmer climate may be a more viable option than stopping or reversing warming, is ignored.
The movement doesn’t say how development and productivity through economic growth is key to meeting the demands of ecological changes. Instead, we have a Scandinavian teenager denigrating the engines of modernity in lightweight speeches to mass applause.
As many others have remarked, climate change is real, but it is not the end of the world.
