Media: Journalists urged to insert climate crisis into every story
How not to do climate communications – is precisely how they are doing climate communications.
Climate: ‘”Boiling seas” part of the ClimateCrisis”‘
A competent reporter would ask why one buoy (but not the adjoining buoys) registered high sea temperatures, which then dropped by 9 degrees within hours, and by 17 degrees within 2 days. But “competent” and “reporter” rarely belong in the same sentence. Sigh.
Climate communications and Journalism’ish: Crisis, Emergency, Deniers and the language of propaganda in The Guardian
The Guardian announces that it requires their staff to use pejorative propaganda terminology rather than the facts of atmospheric CO2 levels rising, sea level ice and temperature changes, ice mass changes and so on. Anyone who does not 100% adopt The Guardian’s perspective is to be labeled a “denier” (name calling, transference from “Holocaust denier”, get on the bandwagon). The word “climate” should be associated with “crisis”, “emergency” or “heating” (transference, fear). Shrill terminology designed to inflame and create emotional outrage is a turn off and causes readers to tune out from the issues.
Climate: How the media reported on tropical storm Hilary in California
The spin began with “deadly”, “life threatening”, “catastrophic” speculation, then followed that afterwards with “It wasn’t that bad”, and stories saying the tropical storm was 100% caused by the Global Boiling ClimateCrisis, and then a few adding historical context of past tropical storms and even a hurricane.
Media invents new scary climate terminology
The Guardian invents a new term for climate topics: climate-wrecking emissions. They’ve invented many new terms that were never used by scientists or policy makers. Rather than report the news and let the facts speak for themselves, and let you think for yourself, The Guardian views its role and telling you what to think. See inside for a link to more examples of media invented terminology.
Climate: The use of propaganda techniques
Climate activists are working to reframe “climate change” to “climate pollution”.
Climate communications: Reporting focused on fear and hysteria, rather than solutions, leads to anxiety attacks, medicating young people
The media’s focus on scary, fear-based propaganda messaging – and avoidance of discussing workable solutions that are already underway – leads to intense negativity and anxiety. The result has been a majority of young people believing humanity may be extinct in ten years, even though there is zero evidence to support such nonsense. We are literally scaring people to death via false and inappropriate propaganda messaging. Some journalists are looking to “solutions journalism” moving away from the whining negativity of current news reports that focus on problems and seldom examine workable solutions,. This new approach offers hope and a positive way forward.
Climate communications: Exaggerated, unsupported threats are destroying people’s lives
Public climate communications has gone so far off the target that people now believe in apocalyptic end of life scenarios (in the near term!) that are not supported by any science at all (while telling us we must listen to the scientists). This then, is a summary and link to comments from another actual climate scientist. Because without listening, this is what we get: “I genuinely have the fear that climate change is going to kill me and all my family, I’m not even kidding it’s all I have thought about for the last 9 months every second of the day. It’s making my sick to my stomach, I’m not eating or sleeping and I’m getting panic attacks daily. It’s currently 1 am and I can’t sleep as I’m petrified.” – Young adult in the UK.
Climate communications: Professor of Atmospheric Science decries “Promoters of Climate Anxiety”
A professor of atmospheric sciences weighs in on the exaggerated, hyperbolic click-bait inducing media news stories and the negative impact they are having on mental health as many suffer severe climate anxiety. Many such stories are not merely exaggerated but false, which has led to the bizarre situation where a majority of younger voters in the U.S. believe humanity will be extinct within ten years. There is no scientific justification for these beliefs, illustrating how climate communications has gone off the rails.
#Climate communications: Dr. Hans Rosling on the problem of exaggerated claims, false urgency, leading to bad decisions on climate change policy
Excessive exaggeration in climate communications is leading to “a situation where no one listens anymore. Without trust, we are lost.” Hyperbolic and unrealistic scenarios lead to the impossibility of reaching workable solutions. Coupled with the salesman’s technique of a false sense of urgency, we create unnecessary stress – which leads the target to give up and tune out. Under urgent pressure, we make bad decisions with even worse outcomes. That’s a summary of comments from the late Dr. Hans Rosling, in his book Factfulness.