Tag Archives: Climate crisis

Did you hear about the Red Alert in this week’s news?

Probably not. Most of us didn’t.

World Meteorological Organization is “sounding the Red Alert to the world.”

In his newsletter for Canada’s National Observer, climate correspondent Chris Hatch quotes the World Meteorological Organization (WMO): “The state of the climate in 2023 gave ominous new significance to the phrase ‘off the charts.’ He said the WMO officially certified last year as the hottest on record by a freakishly wide margin.

Hatch continues. “If you didn’t hear about the WMO “sounding the ‘Red Alert'” it’s probably because it barely made the news. The weekend weather forecast gets more coverage than a global red alert from the world’s meteorologists. Instead, we are inundated with articles and commentary gloating over the plight of carbon pricing or counselling strategic retreat on that policy.”

What is the main-stream media’s role in our apparent apathy, or even ignorance on the climate crisis?  That so many of us are blissfully unaware of the consequences of climate chaos is at least partly because main-steam media outlets aren’t giving us the whole truth. Stories of flooding and wildfires are covered, the words ‘climate change’ are suggested as a possible reasons for these catastrophes, but there’s no sense of urgency, no suggestion that world leaders are talking  too much and not acting nearly fast enough. If we don’t actively search out information (ie. the facts (not cliches) about the carbon tax) we won’t get accurate information and may believe that someone else is going to fix the climate emergency.

I’ve recently turned to Canada’s National Observer, The Guardian and The Tyee for more in-depth reporting.  Highly recommended.

We Can Do It


I wrote this piece as a letter-to-the-editor in response to an article on the impending drought and wildfire season.  I had to condense my ideas to 200 words. It was a good exercise. There’s so much more I wanted to say!

 

 

We know it’s coming, a summer drought and an out of control wildfire season.

The main difference between this crisis and the Covid 19 crisis was that the virus came at us like a bullet train hot out of hell, shocking us into action while the climate crisis has crept up on us slowly, over decades but is now set to cause exponentially more deaths than a mere virus ever could. But surely, if we can ‘flatten the curve’ of a deadly virus we can also flatten the curve of global warming using science, political will and public acceptance. Our individual behaviour changes would be a whole lot easier; no face masks, no social distancing, no lock downs. And we wouldn’t have to give up all those things we love like sports, theatre, dining out etc.

The solutions are many; an abrupt shift to clean energy, adopting plant-based diets, scaling back recreational air travel, and reeling in rampant consumerism to name but a few.

The climate crisis is now that bullet train. For our children, grandchildren and future generations, let’s act like we care, in our homes, our communities and in our country.