Climate change is being ignored by the media says IT op ed................

[Clanrickard]

As climate issues intensify the media, incredibly, throws in the towel - The Irish Times - Thu, Jan 19, 2012

A timely and welcome piece by John Gibbons in the IT. The piece alerts us to the fact that though climate change is intensifying reporting by the media has tapered off. The piece is worth a read. Several points stand out which I will quote below.............

GLOBALLY, 2010 was a year of weather-related disasters on an almost unprecedented scale. Last year was worse, with a record $380 billion in economic losses attributed to “natural” disasters, many climate-related, according to insurance giant Munich Re.

The piece goes on to lay some facts on drought in Australia and America. I saw the same in China when I was there. massive desertification with knock on consequences for food production. hence the Chinese and the Saudis are buying up land in Africa to grow food as their arable land shrinks. The Chinese Politburo is dominated by men with scientific and engineering degrees so they "get" this whole climate change thing. They know their science hence they are powering ahead with so-called Green technology China unveils £1 trillion green technology programme - Telegraph. Sadly our own government is a business and science free zone

Given the complexity of the issues involved, non-specialist journalists are often easy meat to be drawn into spurious “debates” which give unwarranted airtime to contrarians and industry shills (this is known as bias-in-balance

That is the nub of the issue. Too few journalists have a real grá for the environment so it lets the Luddites and shills like the laughable Lord Monckton get a foot in the door to spew their ill-informed disingenuous and false information unchallenged. RTE has, as the piece says, let their environmental correspondent position lapse.

It took forecaster Evelyn Cusack to remind us one evening last September: “climate change is not a matter of faith, it’s a matter of physics”.

The above is nice short pithy summation of the whole climate change issue (I deliberately don't use the word debate because from a scientific point of view there really isn't one). The media and our body politic need to re-focus on what is the main issue facing us. More Green technology means home grown energy, means self sufficiency and less imports. Good for the environment good for jobs and good for the economy. More effort needs to be expended challenging and refuting the industry shills and the so called climate sceptics who are trying to muddy the waters with pseudo-science.

[ibis]

Regrettably the case - indeed, it was noticed, and satirised, by The Onion last year:

WASHINGTON—According to a report released this week by the Center for Global Development, climate change, the popular mid-2000s issue that raised awareness of the fact that the earth's continuous rise in temperature will have catastrophic ecological effects, has apparently not been resolved, and may still be a problem.

While several years have passed since global warming was considered the most pressing issue facing mankind, recent studies from the Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Academy of Sciences, NASA, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and basically any scientific report available on the issue confirmed that it is not only still happening, but might also be worth stopping.

Report: Global Warming Issue From 2 Or 3 Years Ago May Still Be Problem | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

[Gimpanzee]

Too few journalists have a real grá for the environment so it lets the Luddites and shills like the laughable Lord Monckton get a foot in the door to spew their ill-informed disingenuous and false information unchallenged.

I disagree with this. The last thing that we need is a more flag waving cheerleaders who 'love' the environment churning out what amounts to little more than propaganda like Gibbons - he's a clown who makes denialist loons think they have a point. What we need is people who simply understand the science and the research that is taking place reporting on it dispassionately, but that is not likely to happen in these tighter times.

[owedtojoy]

This is a worldwide phenomenon, and the Murdoch-owned media are a big part of it.

Network News Coverage of Climate Change Collapsed in 2011 | ThinkProgress

[Ribeye]

Ah, the humble Watermelon, stupid, greedy and evil, whuddathunkit!

[Tombo]

Stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Eco industry shill wants more free PR and media driven market frenzy and gets free national media platform to say so (disingenuously).

[ibis]

This is a worldwide phenomenon, and the Murdoch-owned media are a big part of it.

Network News Coverage of Climate Change Collapsed in 2011 | ThinkProgress

Hmm. Might be nice to see an Irish version.

[Tombo]

Why didn't he drop a chart into his OPED. Something like how the planet is warming exactly as these Warmy Alarmists predicted it would::








Ooops. Or not.

[Tombo]

If mods are applying consistent policy this Alarmist OP should be merged with the existing climate change thread.





Hmmm.... let's see.

[Cassandra Syndrome]

Stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Eco industry shill wants more free PR and media driven market frenzy and gets free national media platform to say so (disingenuously).

Yep, John Gibbons is a Neo Malthusian eco-fascist hell bent on depopulation.

"There's Too Many Of Us" John Gibbons

The Irish Times - Thu, Jul 31, 2008 - Global warning: there's too many of us

In an ideal world, that they have a pretense of knowledge of, these narcissists would either co-operate with humanity or try their luck living alone without harming another human, but instead they are celebrities.