Readers of the Boston Globe, LA Times, NY Times, The Guardian and Washington Post – among the major news outlets – get some of the best articles about what’s happening to the biosphere.
BUT…those articles usually appear in a section labelled “Climate ‘something’”; Climate and Environment, Climate Crisis, Climate, Climate California. And they typically appear after World (i.e. Wars and other disasters), US News (mostly politics and disasters), US Politics (politics), New York (New York politics), Business, Technology, Science, Sports, Obituaries (that’s for the NYT, similar for others) – but before Education and Health (with the position of those last two raising other concerns).
By framing what I have called “Biosphere Degradation” as “Climate Change/Crisis” we play into the hands of the opposing forces. The discussion immediately turns to technology – by which I mean both engineering technology (e.g. CCS, Transition Fuels, Nuclear Power, Geoengineering) and financial technologies (e.g. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), Offsets, Carbon tax, EV incentives). And the forces who most resist having a deeper discussion about biosphere degradation are experts at presenting the technology arguments.
Climate change is arguably the most important topic within the degradation of the biosphere. But by being highlighted as a news section, and by similar programs on TV and radio, it tends to overshadow considerations like biodiversity (see Note below), pollution, over-consumption (ultra-consumption?), climate justice, waste and so forth.
I simply ask that news outlets consider changing their headings to be more inclusive. “Biosphere Degradation” is probably too clumsy. Some other title that captures what we are doing to the biosphere, and by extension to ourselves and all future humanity, is needed. I guess that’s what editors are for – to find a catchy heading.
AND… “we” need to acknowledge that simply by reading this material we identify ourselves as part of the problem. That’s not an easy realization.
[see also my previous post – Climate Change? Meh]
NOTE – Climate Change and Biodiversity
Climate COP29 will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11-22 November 2024
Biodiversity COP16 will take place in Cali, Colombia from 2 October to 1 November 2024
I am not qualified to make any comment about these conferences. I just wonder about the impact on the biosphere of thousands of delegates traveling to these meetings. And why they continue to be separate.