The UK: A Land of Dogs and Cake?

The BAFTA-supported Albert project analysed subtitles in almost 400,000 programmes. These programmes were shown last year, on all major UK TV channels. News programmes were not included in the analysis (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/15/cake-mentioned-10-times-more-than-climate-change-on-uk-tv-report). 'Climate change/emergency/crisis' got just over 14,500 mentions. Terms relating to tackling the problem (e.g. 'Climate justice/action/solution') appeared, however, fewer than 300 times. In contrast, 'Dogs' and 'Cake' got respectively more than 286,500 and almost 133,500 mentions. It was also notable that 'Biodiversity' received fewer mentions than 'Scotch egg' (a savoury snack or a meal, depending on which politician one was listening to). Individual environmental actions such as 'Recycling' got far more mentions, than major drivers of climate change, e.g. 'Energy production' and 'Transport'. There seems to be a worrying lack of focus on the issue of 'Global heating' on British TV. We seem much more concerned, about getting a slice of cake with our cup of tea, than about the fate of the planet. TV also seems to let the major polluters off the hook. Recycling is necessary but it won't, on its own, stop climate change.