Gavin's article this week talked about the link between climate change and different weather events, specifically floods. He addresses the way weather is covered in the media, and the way that media coverage may mislead and misinform public opinion concerning the weather and things like global warming, climate changes etc.
He talked about the way that many journalists although sometimes inaccurate, cant resist the temptation to attribute specific weather events to things like global warming and climate change, in order to create a clearer understanding to the general public who may not understand the actual complexities of the real causes- when this is actually really hard to pin point.
The obvious question that Gavin gets to is whether media are helping to encourage people to think certain ways about the weather and climate change, and whether this encouragement is a positive thing. He admits that climate change press coverage CAN influence public perceptions of the issue - and that this can be both positive and negative.
In one way it gets people thinking about their actions, and thus making an effort to reduce harmful behavior... on the other...
he explains that different pressure groups, politicians and journalists need to report on these issues honestly, otherwise they may offer an unintended skew of public opinion - so when things like flooding at points end up not being attributed to climate change - they may slow the progress towards effective and positive action.
Reading this article made me think about all the news coverage that hear, read and see on a daily basis, and how a lot of it, like much other journalism on the news, is presented as a scare tactic. Most of the unfortunate weather we encounter, is almost always attributed to global warming, and although i do think it is very important to cut back on gas emissions, waste, pollution, etc. at the same time i can see where the author is coming from - if we always attribute unfortunate weather to these things, and then the unfortunate weather stops... will people think that the planet is no longer at such a great risk - when in fact the risk and harm is increasing rapidly.
Below is an article i found that really exemplifies the messages being put out to the public, that Gavin is talking about.
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