大象传媒

Media drama is the very best kind, isn鈥檛 it? The absolutely excellent organization  recently asked a bunch of publications to sign a pledge to call the climate crisis a climate emergency. Many balked. Writes CCN: 

More than 30 newsrooms have now signed the statement (), but some major outlets told us privately they won鈥檛 sign. The phrase 鈥渃limate emergency鈥� sounded like activism, they said; endorsing it might make them look biased. Instead, they added, they would let their climate coverage speak for itself.

But CCN points out that the whole point is that the coverage doesn鈥檛 speak for itself. We are in an emergency! Would you know that from today鈥檚 news? CCN goes on:

We鈥檙e not obsessed with whether a news outlet does or doesn鈥檛 use the term 鈥渃limate emergency.鈥� What matters is whether the outlet鈥檚 overall coverage treats climate change like an emergency.

And yet, the parameters of the language convey the gravity of the sitch. The Guardian realized this in 2019 and  to use climate breakdown or emergency. Two years later, the world is catching up, and what once seemed ahead of the climate curve now reads like baseline accuracy. Which is why it鈥檚 so important to default to the right language. 

One of my fave climate writers suggested that refusing to sign this pledge was no biggie, because (a) reporters don鈥檛 need to wear their emergencies on their sleeves, and (b) the outlets mostly refused because they were in lefty company. (Signatories include The Guardian and Al Jazeera). 

Let鈥檚 unpack this. Shifting their terminology is something publications do all the time to reflect new learnings and new realities (hello b to the B in Black!). Acknowledging the truth of a planet on fire isn鈥檛 wearing an XR badge on your sleeve鈥攊t鈥檚 ree-al-it-y. And cutting mainstream publications slack because they don鈥檛 want to be in gauche company is weak sauce: Who are they afraid of? It鈥檚 naive to think that outlets aren鈥檛 accountable to their readers and funders, but would this tiny shift in nomenclature cause said stakeholders to rise up? I just don鈥檛 think so. Unless, perhaps, you鈥檙e Fox News and ol鈥� Rupert is holding you out the window of a tall skyscraper.

Default to accuracy

Defaults simplify our lives. And if climate change is the default, anything beyond those words will seem over-the-top. But anything less than an accurate definition of what is happening (breakdown, crisis, emergency) undermines the severity of our situation. If we make climate crisis the default, then we diffuse its activistyness. Exactly the opposite effect of what is intended by the editorial grandees who refuse to commit to these new words.

Which is not to say there aren鈥檛 reasons you wouldn鈥檛 use the words climate emergency. If, say, you鈥檙e communicating to more conservative audiences, you would want to speak in terms that don鈥檛 alienate before you鈥檝e finished your first sentence. But meeting people where they are in a persuasive context is very different from covering the crisis in the news. However diminished we may feel the media鈥檚 power is, we still very much take our cues from the language they use. And the prominence they give the stories of the day. I see you, New York Times, with your excellent above the fold climate coverage yesterday:

As  says, 鈥渃alling for reducing emissions during a climate emergency is no more 鈥榓ctivism鈥� than telling people to wear a mask during a pandemic.鈥� (h/t !). Blau also makes this excellent point:

Which would mean this is also journalism鈥榮 most important decade in history.

— Wolfgang Blau (@wblau)

Just as this is the decade for everyone and their mother to step up to the reality of climate, we need our media to shift their coverage, language, tools, and priorities. Some certainly are, but they鈥檙e being eclipsed by the breadth of the climate emergency. I get that outlets move slowly when it comes to these shifts, careful to maintain a perceived objectivity, but the objective truth is that things are much worse than they present them, and that is, objectively, a collective moral failing.

Normalize emergency

If we normalize an emergency, then what鈥檚 the point? What does it mean if a country declares a climate emergency and then goes back to eating its lunch? Well, it means that facts are on the books. A wonderful colleague who has worked in dozens of war-torn countries put it this way: Apocalypse on Monday, then the market on Tuesday, and then back to apocalypse on Wednesday. Life goes on. It鈥檚 a realistic way of neutralizing the fear we have of allowing the language of emergency to scare the bejeebus out of us. But the sooner we lean into the reality of it, the better equipped we鈥檒l be to fight, to mitigate, to adapt. The trajectory can be changed, but it requires veracity and courage on the part of our media. See you at the market on Tuesday.

This week:

What language do you use in your life? At work I say climate crisis, among friends I say climate kerfuffle, and to myself I say climate cacacacacatastrophe. LMK!

Last week:

So many lovely words on how to (or not to) embody climate.

Writes T: Do the work, speak up, act differently, regardless of the Echo from others. Until one day someone realizes that he/she is not alone. We are more than we think. 

Writes K: My husband is less concerned about climate action and as a result, I keep many feelings to myself. He doesn’t want to feel guilty for consuming stuff and generating waste, and he makes a good point that corporations have shifted the responsibility and guilt onto us consumers for the damage they’ve done. Instead of preaching, I try to lead by example. He now remembers to use the guppy bag when washing his synthetic clothes. He likes picking up trash from random places. He even enjoys my vegan cooking. 

Love this, just do and people will start doing too!

People Dancing:

Submission from my dad. Thanks, dad!

This little man dancing with the big folks is the Twitter content I鈥檓 here for鈥�

— Rex Chapman馃弴馃徏 (@RexChapman)

Thank you for reading! If you鈥檙e new here, I鈥檓 . I work on communicating the importance of good climate policy by day, and this newsletter and my dance moves by night.

If you like MVP you can support it by telling all your friends and frogs about it.

Have a beautiful weekend,

Sarah

P.S. This is my newsletter for the week of June 18, 2021, published in partnership with 大象传媒 Media. You can sign up to get Minimum Viable Planet newsletter emailed directly to you at .