Pam Blamey writes: How could the media do a better job of reporting on “climate change”, you ask? Well for a start the media could stop using Tony Abbott’s don’t-scare-the-horses euphemism of “climate change” and call it what it is: global warming. And don’t spin riddles — spell it out! So often I find myself muttering, “Now what is that supposed to mean?”
I suggest ordinary people, such as tertiary-educated grandmothers like me, can’t afford the paywalls of multiple news outlets’ subscriptions that don’t give us what we want anyway, but rather treat us like mushrooms — fed on manure and kept in the dark.
Climate journalists could do better by interviewing credible and trusted climate scientists, like James Hansen, Hans Joachim “John” Schellnhuber, Professor Leslie Hughes, Graeme Pearman and Dr Joëlle Gergis, or NGOs and people supporting communities on the ground, such as First Nations peoples, who are already suffering the impacts of global warming. Reflective, narrative stories from climate activists in different states and territories wouldn’t go astray either; how theatrical or dangerous do protests have to be to get any attention from the media, let alone the government?
Reporters could also tell us what the government might not ever get around to telling us — how bad it is and how to prepare for the worst. Remember the old saying, “forewarned is forearmed”?
And of course, while doing all the above, the media must investigate, identify and expose the nefarious fork-tongued misinformation and disinformation spun by the innocuous-sounding institutes and think tanks of the Atlas Network, which don’t want us to know the truth about global warming, let alone what we can do about it.
Rosemary Jacob writes: I am 88. I am writing this in air conditioning, which costs me nothing as I benefit from NT government assistance with electricity costs for older residents AND I have solar panels on my roof, again with government assistance with purchase costs.
I have paid no electricity costs since the solar power was installed in early 2016.
Why are people allowed to build dwellings without installing access to renewable energy?
All open-air car parking should be under roofs covered with solar panels and backed up by storage batteries. In rural areas, wind generation should be installed wherever possible. And why — given that we are surrounded by tidal waters — are we not using tidal power?
We should be researching the continuing development of ALL forms of renewable energy as well as stringently reducing the ridiculous overuse of plastic.
I grew up in England during World War II and so am really familiar with recycling, yet I now live in a throwaway economy!
We do not need to build faster cars but we DO need to stop using fossil fuels.
The biggest problem is people’s refusal to accept change, and we need an emergency declaration of war on human-induced climate change.
The scientists cannot be ignored any longer!
Kerry Grant writes: Perhaps we no longer read articles, no matter how important they are or what they may reveal, because we all feel we are losing the battle … there is too much noise from naysayers and big business. Plus politicians don’t’ stand up for what is right, preferring to just mouth platitudes.
Julia Bovard writes: Interesting to read your listing of Tony Abbott’s announcements about climate change. Who is actually listening and why? There is a whole sector devoted to disparaging climate change. Abbott is just one person, the Murdoch media another source. Does this mean that any of them actually know anything? No. Why then do the media fight to display climate denial? It is not science just opinion.
It is certainly not much comfort to people and wildlife caught up in the horrific fires and very serious flooding which has recently underlined the insurmountable facts of climate change and environment destruction.
I hope the Liberals do not start to drag out Abbott, as they do John Howard, to illustrate the steadiness of their beliefs.
“I hope the Liberals do not start to drag out Abbott, as they do John Howard, to illustrate the steadiness of their beliefs.”
As we get the dross of the political system with all the splinter groups that make up the LNP, then that’s who will start to drag out to everything.
Look at the history of the Liberal party.
They were born out of the shreds of the much older United Australia Party (with Menzies as its Leader and at the time Australia’s Prime Minister) which collapsed in 1941. When it was under wartime pressure.
This iteration has also collapsed under strain. The time the strain is partially external, similar global issues, but mainly its internal. They are unable to run a Government when the pressure is on, when they actually have to think hard, work constructively and come up with solutions that benefit Australia and Australians. ALL Australians.
They are and always have been “fair weather sailors”.
What is apparent is that which moves people to form a political party like the Liberal party(s) has fundamental flaws. Inasmuch as when it all turns to putty, as an ideological unit, they fall to pieces. So it would appear that the underlying ideology that brings them together isn’t suitable to run a large and complex Society.
Do we want a group of such people running Australia as we head into seriously dangerous waters on many fronts, over the next decades well into the foreseeable future?
Dismal thought isn’t it!
Even more dismal is the fact that almost half the voting population still prefer them to any other party, group or independent that might actually do stuff.
“I hope the Liberals do not start to drag out Abbott, as they do John Howard”. On the contrary, I hope they do, because the more they do, the more thinking, aware people will vote for independents. Be it the teals or others, unless we get more independents in parliament we’ll be stuck with either of the two big parties, and that’s working out right now exactly the way it has always turned out. I foolishly had hopes that labor would be different this time around, stupid I know, but here we are and except for vague promises and some tinkering around the edges nothing of moment has changed. Pathetic…
He’s already busy with the Atlas – Koch Tufton St. London GWPF Global Warming Policy Foundation, Fox Board duties, visiting Inst led by Quadrant’s Euro correspondent and liaising with allies of Putin in Hungary on conservatism, family and traditional values, along with many Anglo RWNJs; while claiming to support Ukraine?
The grandmothers are telling it like it is! We need a change in our language to reflect the seriousness of the crisis. And we need the truth of the depth of the crisis to be splashed across all front pages. With an MSM that would seem to want the LNP in power regardless of our predicaments, we will all benefit from a generational change in our journos and editors.
Yes, and a grounded sense of time to avoid short term political PR and wedges of RW MSM.
Like all things on supposedly ‘high immigration’ and ‘sustainable population’ are joined at the hip, using same donors in US with fossil fuel Koch Network and climate science denial or delay, how?
Framing. Focus on short term events and (data) noise to denigrate targets i.e. immigrants and science, but ignore the long term issues.
In case of immigration focus on short term headline churn over of froth via NOM, capturing students then mislabeled as ‘immigrants’, but ignore the mass in permanent population i.e. last of the silent generation and boomer ‘bomb’ 5 million+, with decline in working age…
Climate science, same. Focus on short term noise i.e. weather events and incidents, but ignore long term warming and need for fast transition to renewables; too easy.
We need to remember that all the climate deniers have had access to the same information as the rest of us. Assuming normal intellectual abilities they should have arrived at the same conclusions as any other intelligent person. That they havent indicates other unseen or secret forces are operating. Among those other forces are corruption and self interest. These are people who are either directly benefitting from the activities causing global warming or being paid to deny it by those who are.
End of story.
Our democracy is run for the benefit of corporations, and corporations are psychopaths.
Climate Change has been left out of every major government policy for the last 20 years.
After 30 years of people realizing climate change have a dramatic effect on our lifestyle, politicians now, are even more reluctant to shape policy around it because they know the public are essentially forced to vote for one of the two parties.
There aren’t enough independents to make a difference.
The MSM are the worst culprits. Even the ABC is now telling us we can have a fully functioning nuclear power station within 10 years (10 to 15 quoted, but 10 is a possibility, yes good luck with that).
The housing problem should only be mentioned along with Labor’s “huge Australia” policy and the coming impact on the country due to climate change, while noting Australia as being the driest inhabited continent.
There is no government plan for the future because governments aren’t held liable today.
Agrippa: “The housing problem should only be mentioned along with Labor’s “huge Australia” policy and the coming impact on the country due to climate change while noting Australia as the driest inhabited continent.” Yes, Perth has just been through its hottest and driest summer ever recorded in 148 years of weather observations.
Yes, and Australia fell hook, line and sinker for the old but rebranded US fossil fueled ZPG Zero Population Growth agitprop, based on Malthus, Galton and Madison Grant, that blames population growth from immigrants who are in fact temporary student residents, for environmental issues and multiple negative correlations, based on nativist talking points and RW MSM, not science.
No one is forced to vote for either of the two parties. Number all the boxes with them last. But I know what you mean. People leave it to the shonky preference system which is designed to screw them. Madness.
The only credible story is climate change is destroying the planet and neoliberal capitalism is the main cause of global heating. Everything else is spin and dishonesty.