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NASA photo of United States fire smoke. The actively burned areas are red
Heat waves continue to spread on the planet, breaking records and threatening lives. This year is on track to rank among the hottest four years recorded in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Buildings and roads in the UK are literally melting. In Japan, 116 people died and more than 30,000 were taken to hospital by ambulance because of the July heat wave
. With scorching heat, deadly forest fires dominate much of the news cycle. Fires have raged in places as widespread as the American West, Greece and the Arctic. More than 10,000 firefighters are battling Carr's California fire, which has killed six people and burned more than 100,000 acres and continues to grow. In a tweet of July 29 writer Alex Steffen wrote that "the cloud of pyrocumulus [fire] is for this generation what the mushroom cloud was for Boomers."
Scientific studies have connected the Previous heat waves change climate, and a new analysis by scientists with the World Meteorological Attribution Project concluded that man-made climate change has made the last heat wave in the north of Europe more than twice as likely. Scientists have also warned that climate change makes wildfires more likely in places where high temperatures and low humidity combine.
According to a Gallup poll, more than two-thirds of Americans understand that human activity is driving global warming. and 43% of them say worry about it. However, less than half believe that global warming will pose a serious threat in their lifetime.
"This is not a future scenario, it is happening now," said Deputy Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization Elena Manaenkova. So why do not Americans connect the dots between climate and extreme weather? As we reported earlier, only one segment out of 127 segments or weather reports on ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned the heat of climate change in their reports on the heat wave that struck during a two-week period of the end of June to the beginning of July.
A report released July 27 by the nonprofit Public Citizen, "Extreme Silence: How the US Media Failed to Link Climate Change to Extreme Heat in 2018", reviewed coverage of the 50 Largest US newspapers, additional newspapers in 13 states that experienced record temperatures during the heat wave from June 27 to July 8, and national broadcasts from ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Network, MSNBC, and NBC. Shockingly, the report found that media coverage of climate change decreased during the heatwave:
Overall, these findings suggest that extreme heat burned much of the United States For nearly two weeks in early July 2018, climate change discussions in national or local media have generally failed. In contrast, outlets in each category we examined – national broadcast networks, top 50 newspapers, and newspapers in states with 10 or more heat recordings were broken – were significantly less likely to report change. in the heat. Relative content over recent heat waves that they did on average in 2018.
One of the reasons given to explain the lack of coverage is that the public does not have enough coverage. is just not interested in climate change. In a tweet published July 24, MSNBC host Chris Hayes (who actually has one of the best climate reports) wrote that incentives to cover climate change "Are not great" because the subject was "a palpable killer of the ratings."
This is a massive abdication of responsibility. The general public does not see climate change as an urgent and pressing problem because the media do not report it as such. It is considered a "niche problem," according to a recent article in The New Republic .
There is a reason why immigration and bad governance are the biggest problems in a July Gallup poll, while global warming has not even made the list: Media Coverage thorough and prolonged continues to shed light on these issues.
The world is on fire. Climate change is already wreaking havoc on coastlines, crops and critters. This is the biggest story of the century. But many journalists seem to be as apathetic as their audience.
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