Why Climate Change Awareness Mustn’t Fade

Starting off the new year, I wanted to ensure that I keep writing as much as I can about climate issues. During November we had the COP26 summit in Glasgow where world leaders briefly made basic promises to improve the situation regarding pollution. Now we have pretty much got radio silence on the subject. Us bloggers need to find ways to keep the topic of climate change awareness alive.

Even last week the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ parodied how important issues can be ignored by the press which is often obsessed with fairly superficial topics instead. The movie highlights the possibility that a potential meteor strike could be difficult to publicise when the media seems more drawn to celebrity fall outs and lip enhancements.

Although the Netflix film is about a meteor looming, it makes you think about how easily climate news is knocked down the priority list in favour of celebrity gossip and banter. Eyes seem more to be drawn to articles about disgraced royals and squabbling Hollywood time wasters more than scientific issues that actually affect everyone on the planet.

Unflinching

The trouble with the media is that things move on pretty quickly. One minute we are watching a scandal about a famous person and the next we have forgotten about all that as we enjoy their latest blockbuster movie. In the same way, while COP26 was all over the news for a few days in Autumn, people seem to have already pretty much forgotten about it now, just a few months after.

I know people who were discussing these issues as if they were fairly fresh news. Almost as though climate change just reared its head for a week in November, soon to be swept away by the Queen’s son’s scandal and debates about whether footballers should test for covid on match days.

I know people who started to have important conversations about climate change after the news was mentioning temperature rises. It seemed that they were starting to take the issues seriously. Then over the holidays those same people have booked holidays with long distance flights and not made connections between their lives and pollution.

In Summary

I suppose the point that I am trying to make is that if we don’t keep climate change in the news then it will fast become old news. Allowing that to happen is bad because in the real world, climate change keeps on progressing at an incredible pace.

So there you have it. I think it is clear that big changes need to be made and that awareness isn’t everything BUT lack of engagement is dangerous when it comes to this critical issue. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. For simple ways to be more ecofriendly click here.

20 thoughts on “Why Climate Change Awareness Mustn’t Fade

  1. You’re not wrong about any of these things. The solution is much less clear. Climate change moves slow (though the consequences are accelerating) and people have short attention span. The other problem is more difficult to solve. Science, at least here in America, has been under attack for decades and the other side is starting to win now that they’ve essentially militarized social media to gain bigger followings. People simply don’t believe what’s in front of their eyes.

  2. I have often wondered why we give so much air time to celebrity gossip and what I call “non-stories” and push aside the big issues of the day. Maybe people don’t have the brain space or motivation to deal with something serious in this messed-up world we live in. Thanks for continuing to bring attention to the important issue of climate change.

  3. From my perspective as a middle-aged woman, I believe that there is more information on climate change now than there ever has been. Our local news has a little one story on it weekly and this was not the case even a few years ago. Is it enough? No. But I see little changes all the time. Things like no plastic bags allowed in stores anymore is a recent change in Canada and these little steps all help with a more environment friendly lifestyle.

  4. This is a very important post, and I agree that climate awareness, and our efforts to support the environment, shouldn’t just be a trend- they should be a lifestyle. Thank you for sharing 🙂

  5. We completely agree. It’s been easy for people to push it to the side, but everyone should be paying attention to climate change and how much worse it’s gotten in the past decade.

  6. Really important post, thanks for sharing! I just watched Don’t Look Up and was also at the COP26 Summit in November – climate change needs to be taken seriously by all to help keep 1.5C alive.

  7. I agree Jamie. There’s not enough being done and even when it’s talked about, it’s forgotten about the next time a celebrity buy’s a new handbag. It’s still hard to believe that there are so many people out there who don’t think climate change is an issue. Talking about it and keeping it in the news is really important.

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