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FailureToCommunicate

(14,014 posts)
Thu Nov 15, 2012, 02:03 PM Nov 2012

A BIGGER crisis than the "Fiscal cliff" or Super storm Sandy, or 9/11 is already crashing upon us...

but the MSM is all but ignoring it. Former mainstream journalist takes his colleagues to task:

Important article from the Boston Phoenix 11/5/2012

A Convenient Excuse By WEN STEPHENSON

"After a quick round of introductions, I explained to my former Globe colleagues that I wasn't there to "save the planet" or to protect some abstraction called "the environment." I'm really not an environmentalist, and never have been. No, I said, I was there for my kids: my son, who's 12, and my daughter, who's 8. And not only my kids — all of our kids, everywhere. Because on our current trajectory, it's entirely possible that we'll no longer have a livable climate — one that allows for stable, secure societies to survive — within the lifetimes of today's children.

-snip -


First: We need to see a much greater sense of urgency in the media's coverage of climate change, including in the Globe's editorial and opinion pages. This is more than an environmental crisis: it's an existential threat, and it should be treated like one, without fear of sounding alarmist, rather than covered as just another special interest, something only environmentalists care about. And it should be treated as a central issue in this election, regardless of whether the candidates or the political media are talking about it.


Second: Business-as-usual, politics-as-usual, and journalism-as-usual are failing us when it comes to addressing the climate threat. If there's to be any hope for the kind of bold action we need, a great deal of pressure must be brought from outside the system, in the form of a broad-based grassroots movement, in order to break the stranglehold of the big-money fossil fuel lobby on our politics. And in fact, there is a movement emerging on campuses and in communities across the country — especially here in New England — and the Globe should be paying attention to it.



Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/146647-convenient-excuse/#ixzz2CJZmO6JE

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A BIGGER crisis than the "Fiscal cliff" or Super storm Sandy, or 9/11 is already crashing upon us... (Original Post) FailureToCommunicate Nov 2012 OP
The people of Rapa Nui didn't stop cutting down trees until they were all gone. hobbit709 Nov 2012 #1
Sigh. dixiegrrrrl Nov 2012 #2
It feels a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic... FailureToCommunicate Nov 2012 #3
Kicked for evening crowd FailureToCommunicate Nov 2012 #4
heard him today on NPR. compelling Gabi Hayes Nov 2012 #5
here he is Gabi Hayes Nov 2012 #7
Al Gore must be irate. Everything he did to warn us has all but been ignored. jillan Nov 2012 #6

hobbit709

(41,694 posts)
1. The people of Rapa Nui didn't stop cutting down trees until they were all gone.
Thu Nov 15, 2012, 02:07 PM
Nov 2012

Human nature hasn't changed until it is forced upon them.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
2. Sigh.
Thu Nov 15, 2012, 04:21 PM
Nov 2012

Cannot disagree.
It is not that you and I and other smart folks do not see and agree on the danger, and are willing to do what we can about it.
It is that you and I and other smart folks are out numbered by greedy and not so smart folks.

FailureToCommunicate

(14,014 posts)
3. It feels a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic...
Thu Nov 15, 2012, 06:18 PM
Nov 2012

Yes, we're "outnumbered by greedy and not so smart folks" Sad but true. But sad.

We will look back on these times, and many of us will be able to say "We tried to do SOMEthing'

jillan

(39,451 posts)
6. Al Gore must be irate. Everything he did to warn us has all but been ignored.
Thu Nov 15, 2012, 11:28 PM
Nov 2012

When I heard they are telling people not to rebuild on the coasts, all I could think of was his movie showing how the coastlines we have now will all disappear.

It's pathetic that the rw talking points, compliments of the Koch bros and their ilk, and scare tactics has made climate change a taboo subject, even tho we are living through it.

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