This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Thursday, 7 April 2022
'Like Star Wars Without Darth Vader'?
You need the 'bad guys' to tell the full story! The third and final report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) is 3000 pages long. The report's body repeatedly highlights the resistance shown by the fossil fuel industries and oil rich nations to any attempts to counter global heating/climate change. That section of the report, is entirely controlled by the contributing scientists. The report, however, also includes a 'Summary for Policymakers'. This short section is approved by governmental and oil company representatives. 'Mysteriously', the 'Summary for Policymakers', makes no reference to the roles of fossil fuel industries and oil rich nations in countering meaningful action (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/05/ipcc-report-scientists-climate-crisis-fossil-fuels). This omission is important because the 'Summary for Policymakers' is traditionally released first and often attracts most media attention. One might be tempted to predict that some politicians, having short attention spans, will only read the 'Summary for Policymakers'? Interestingly, in the period 1980-2018, less than 1% of the research funding for climate change was directed to the social sciences (these feature heavily in this third report). Most experts now agreeing that climate change inaction will not be solved, by simply more scientific evidence that the phenomenon is real. 'Big oil', however, doesn't like having its many, carefully-cultivated myths, encouraging inaction, debunked.
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