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Way to go Greta

Great to hear her interview today on radio 4. Was rather shocked that a young adult in our family had never heard of her !!
 
Aus looking pretty grim

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-31/victoria-bushfire-mallacoota-residents-emergency/11833912

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Shame it will never get coverage similar to Greta's boat trip
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And if that isn't enough -

https://www.newsweek.com/record-hit-ice-melt-antarctica-day-climate-emergency-1479326

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Marky,

At least the malls were packed over the holidays and people bought stuff they didn’t need.

Joe
 
Well, seeing as how someone wants to argue about whether it is or was or will be means it's getting closer now to critical coverage!

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It's been the lead story on the BBC website and in the 'serious' newspapers for several days now (though admittedly it's usually a quiet time for news this time of year).
 
dweezil said:
Strange; the fires are getting loads of news coverage as an apocalyptic event on my news feeds.

Merely quoting the facts is pretty scary.
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I think the gist is that there's a general apathy and acceptance now of any large scale event causing human suffering, relocation and property destruction, along with the death of half a BILLION animals as a new normal. Granted, it's covered well on TV news and online, but you get the sense that people not in proximity to it aren't too bothered by it and prefer not to react. When contrasted with real tragedy, like a fire in a Cathedral, it just doesn't make the grade.
 
There's a reason for that - people can get a 'feel' more easily for a single, comprehensible event such as (an albeit) large building burning down than a huge a global-scale catastrophe.

That, combined with the easier approach to take of depression and fatalism (I'm depressed and scared about at an almost inevitable slow planetary death, so I'll ignore it) means it gets a global *meh* until their home is flooded or caught in a bush fire or their country gets inundated with environmental refugees.
 
One thing I noticed on Facebook, Daily mail page is people on there seem to really dislike Greta. They say some quite nasty things about her.
 
Seeker_UK said:
There's a reason for that - people can get a 'feel' more easily for a single, comprehensible event such as (an albeit) large building burning down than a huge a global-scale catastrophe.

That, combined with the easier approach to take of depression and fatalism (I'm depressed and scared about at an almost inevitable slow planetary death, so I'll ignore it) means it gets a global *meh* until their home is flooded or caught in a bush fire or their country gets inundated with environmental refugees.
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All true, except the cathedral fire had additional elements, I'd say. It's known that humans don't acknowledge distant threats with any urgency (such as death); what I'm wondering is whether that trait is enhanced with social media, with its endless distractions, along with a faction of denial. Imagining this occurred back in the day of TV and newspapers, would our general reaction be different?
 
Fatmarley said:
One thing I noticed on Facebook, Daily mail page is people on there seem to really dislike Greta. They say some quite nasty things about her.
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The Daily Mail is the traditional home of white elderly right-wing gammon, think Jeremy Clarkson etc. I’m prepared to bet on a very substantial overlap between Daily Mail readers and climate science denial (as well misogyny etc). It is an ugly gutter tabloid for ugly bigoted and ignorant people. Climate science denial seems to be very much a right wing thing IME, the more extreme right the more the denial as religion/magical thinking comes into play too, e.g. very high levels of denial in religious red-neck areas of the USA. Trump knows his market. Given the trajectory of the UK Conservative Party right into the heart of Trump territory I fear this idiocy will only increase here.
 
Marky-Mark said:
All true, except the cathedral fire had additional elements, I'd say. It's known that humans don't acknowledge distant threats with any urgency (such as death); what I'm wondering is whether that trait is enhanced with social media, with its endless distractions, along with a faction of denial. Imagining this occurred back in the day of TV and newspapers, would our general reaction be different?
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I doubt it. I recall when I was in my early teens the civil war in Nigeria resulted in millions of deaths through fighting and then famine resulting from a government blockade, but all at that time attention was focused on Vietnam.
 
Possibly, but then we've never had anything like a 6th Human Extinction Event for the front page!

I didn't think media was covering it very well until a couple of days ago when I happened to be watching TV at dinnertime. I don't have cable/Sat, and I don't usually watch evening network news. I do watch DW News on a public TV station, and that has climate news every day.

But I was surprised that when I tuned to traditional TV, both my local and national network feeds covered the fire as one of the top stories. The evening news even mentioned the horrifying estimate of wildlife death. If someone depends on internet portal feeds, automating headlines based on click counts, you might think there's very little coverage. General climate stories don't make that cut either - that's what I was driving at with the question.

Anyway, AUS Magpies have heard fire engines so often they mimic them now -

 
Tony,

Tony L said:
Climate science denial seems to be very much a right wing thing IME, the more extreme the more the denial as religion/magical thinking comes into play too, e.g. very high levels of denial in religious red-neck areas of the USA.
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If the rising and setting of the sun led to increases in taxation rates, right-wing nutters would have "experts" on Fox News and the Daily Mail denouncing the farce that is the conservation of angular momentum.

Joe
 
Marky-Mark said:
Aus looking pretty grim

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-31/victoria-bushfire-mallacoota-residents-emergency/11833912

Shame it will never get coverage similar to Greta's boat trip
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The fires have been on UK television news broadcasts virtually every day for the past few weeks and the story is in the newspapers.

I occasionally read this thread, but get the impression you don't like Greta Thunberg and the way she travels. Is this because she is 16, a girl and a Swede, or perhaps all three?

Jack
 
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