The latest #IPCC report for policymakers, released yesterday makes difficult reading. Unfortunate timing perhaps given the same-day publication of Baroness Casey’s verdict into Metropolitan Police conduct, Rupert Murdoch’s latest proposal for marriage and Boris Johnson’s dossier submission to the Privileges Committee for Partygate investigations. Unfortunate too in terms of the varying degrees of importance given to the IPCC’s ‘final warning’ to humanity by UK print media.
The Guardian and The Times both dedicated good column inches to it on their front pages, and a front page nib too from the #ft with longer reporting later in the newspaper. Daily Telegraph found space on page 9, Daily Express on page 11 and i newspaper on page 4 – still, nothing like the significant amount of coverage dedicated to the other pressing matters.
The Daily Mail ran a relatively small piece on page 19, smothered by articles on pensioners, potted geraniums, Noel Coward and cigarette holders. Such is the weight of the climate emergency for middle England. Moreso, an opinion piece on page 14 suggested that it would “be easier to trust the green lobby - and encourage people to make sacrifices to help the environment - if such hysterical language was avoided.” So, there’s a lexicon for existential crises now?
The irony is of course complete reading paragraph A3.6 of the IPCC report. “Key barriers to adaptation are limited resources, lack of private sector and citizen engagement, insufficient mobilization of finance (including for research), low climate literacy, lack of political commitment, limited research and/or slow and low uptake of adaptation science, and low sense of urgency.”
The IPCC has previously said how “media shapes the public discourse about climate change and how to respond to it” and the use of authoritative scientific data is, of course, a route to help prevent the spread of misinformation. But until all mainstream media titles sees this as a whole Earth problem and not a ‘green lobby issue’ and raise the gravitas bar, then worryingly, we could be reading “lack of citizen engagement”, “low climate literacy” and “low sense of urgency” within IPCC reports to come…
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