Stop Letting News Outlets Blame You For Climate Change

photo courtesy of pixabay

The way the public perceives an issue largely falls on the ways the news covers it. Is Joe Biden’s trip to Camp David with his family just a man having quality time with the people he loves or is it a frivolous waste of taxpayer money as he avoids addressing America’s dire problems? What about the crime rate? Do people become criminals because they were just born bad people or did they become criminals because the government failed them? 

News conglomerates from both ends of the political spectrum have the extraordinary ability to frame any issue they want in any way they wish. It can lead to proper discourse and action for things that deserve more attention OR it can lead to pointless arguments that get us nowhere near real solutions. Climate change is no different.

We’ve all been there. You’re scrolling through your social media and you come across an article with something along the lines of, “What you can do to stop climate change!” Since you’re a good person who definitely wants to stop climate change, you open the article and it gives you three or four things to help “reduce your carbon footprint.” Things like recycling, using public transportation instead of a car, and maybe— if the journalism is especially on point— planting a tree.

For starters, these are all solid ways for individual people to contribute to stopping global warming. But ask yourself, what’s the cause of climate change? Well, the short answer is greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2016, 73.2% of all greenhouse gas emissions were from energy production. So yes, individual choices like buying a hybrid are nice, but how the hell are you supposed to stop climate change when the electricity you’re powering your car with comes from burnt coal?

It all comes back to framing the issue. Coverage of global warming has honestly been sparse and the little coverage it’s gotten has been via Polar bears standing on ice cubes. It’s a call to action at best and dreadful at worst. If the only options are “make minimal changes” and “there’s nothing you can do about it,” then we might as well accept our fate and watch the Arctic melt from our TVs. 

The real solution for climate change is completely transitioning from oil, coal, and natural gas to wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear energy. While media coverage has gotten a lot better over the past two years, the media needs to properly direct public attention to the causes that absolutely need to be addressed. That’s how public perception changes, that’s how politicians get pressured, and that’s how we stop climate change.

We can hear you now, “Alright Jerk if you guys are so smart, what should I do to help stop global warming?” Well, for all the shortcomings of the big news companies, there is a lot of validity in recycling, eating a climate-friendly diet, and using public transportation. But the big changes will happen once we pressure federal and local governments to make our energy and agriculture industries carbon neutral. For that, you can organize protests, contact your representatives, and fund environment-friendly election candidates and organizations. 

So when you’re planting a tree for next year’s Earth Day, just remember to make your voice heard by those with the power to change our planet for the better. We owe it to ourselves and to our beautiful planet.