175 Countries Sign Paris Agreement on Climate Change
It’s strange that such good news on a grand scale can receive so little coverage in the mainstream media.
In some publications, this appears on page 6 next to an ad for used cars. I choose to give it a bit more prominence.
I agree that the coverage was not adequate. However, we must consider what the real purpose if the media is, i.e., maximizing advertising revenue. Often that is not best accomplished by putting the emphasis on what is most important, but rather, by putting the emphasis on what is most lurid, exciting, and gripping. That maximizes audience size thereby maximizing advertising revenue.
The statement with the polar bear puts me in mind of a couple of things Bill McKibben said…
“Obama, and almost everyone else in power — makes the same simple-but-deadly category mistake. They think the relevant negotiation is between the people who want to drill and the people who don’t. But actually, this negotiation is between people and physics. And therefore it’s not really a negotiation.”
“The point is, we’ve got to stop pretending. The idea that you’re doing the right thing when you meet in the middle is, in this case, a dangerous delusion. It’s as if King Solomon had really wanted to cut the baby in half; some things simply can’t be split down the middle.”
Yes, McKibben makes that point often. Excellent metaphor, btw.