With the climate emergency, when will the media get on board?
As it’s World Environment Day 2021, let’s look at a huge challenge — the media. One great publication which put its hat-in-the-ring early in the climate crisis, is The Guardian. It was one of the first to go all-in and they have done a fantastic job, which is why I subscribe to them — my way of supporting them for their bravery.
This article — The media is still mostly failing to convey the urgency of the climate crisis — is absolutely spot on! In fact, the damage the media is doing around many issues, but in particular the urgency of facing up to the climate crisis, is nothing short of criminal. Especially when you look at Murdoch-owned media. Heck, they’ve been a nightmare when it comes to Covid19 too.
The media’s on-going support of climate denial impacts our ability to deal with it more than anything. They have made it political and are all about backing big businesses committing ecocide towards the environment — even when these businesses know exactly what will happen as a result.
The climate crisis is not a political issue. It’s a survivability issue and we need all of the world’s media to start putting this urgency on the front pages and in every story published. We also need them to help the world’s population understand this crisis, because until we all get the common enemy we face, we have no chance overcoming it!
We cannot risk democratic voters electing leaders who step back on climate issues, because uninformed voters are voting for that. We need a globally informed population, who understand the issues AND the sacrifices necessary, and then we can pull together and do the urgent work needed.
Equally, the talk of war, division, separation, and more is out of alignment with the real crisis facing us right now. Did you know the United States’ Military is the largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world? Read this report if you’re interested in more.
Back to the media. Here’s a classic example of what I’m talking about with an article that has a very real environment story, but it’s not even mentioned — Space Plane Start-up Promises One-Hour Rides to Anywhere on Earth. One can take a guess and presume that these new space planes would have supersonic emissions, but alas, not a single reference to that fact in ANY of the articles covering this story. Not one. Hello Bloomberg! Hey, I like the idea of getting anywhere in the world within an hour, but at what cost to the planet?
We are at the point where degrowth will be critical for our very survival. Everything made in the world today must be made in alignment with earth health, and our ability to survive on this planet.
Disentangling ourselves from the fossil fuel industry will be extremely complicated — even though #TheyKnew since the 50s — but recent court cases may push this forward faster. They’ll fight ’til the death it seems, but it’s all of our deaths on the line. The economic impact of moving away from fossil fuels will be HUGE, and if only they started earlier, we wouldn’t be where we are today. No more excuses. Emissions must come down now! We have no time to lose.
However, there is another whole layer of businesses creating unsustainable crap, the sort of crap which breaks within moments of purchase. Let’s strip them out of the business landscape and please, don’t buy it, and don’t accept crappy freebies either. We, the consumers, must make different purchasing decisions, but businesses have to lead this. It’s not easy or cheap to be green. That has to stop.
So on this World Environment Day 2021, let’s face up to the truth and then get to work on solving the problems. We can do it. We can.
You still got hope?
Cheers
Andrea
Uncommon Courage launching June 10th 2021
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