Climate Change | Are We Misinformed?

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Anyone interested in understanding climate change, environmental issues and global renewable energy, will be challenged to get a solid take on what's going on right now. It takes work for the majority of us to stay on top of what's happening. I recently read an article on Reuters by a seasoned environmental journalist and felt less informed by reading his article. I questioned that he didn't seem to be creating meaningful context for readers on what we was writing about. He adeptly wrote about a recent scientific report regarding new data on climate change and that was it. This new data was contrary to reports we have read throughout 2009, that clearly indicate climate change predications may be worse than initially projected. Data on this, data on that, blah, blah, blah. To a scientist perhaps this was an outstanding article but it lacked something accessible. Today's reporting on climate change is starting to sound like medical reporting for the pharmaceutical industry in North America, where you can get cancer by breathing the wrong way so you better take this pill. Oooops, yes I did just say that. Count your calories-has turned into count your carbon. Scientific Data is one thing but breaking it down into palatable contextual reading is another. Much scientific data on climate change is new and must be understood within the company of other data for it to be accurate and meaningful. Regardless, for me it still remains important to be attempting to understand our world issues on a daily basis and just as important for a vast majority of people across the world. I like to call a lot of what's out there "emergency reporting". It's topical and in the moment, and is served up like some new dish. Do we live in reaction to the reporting of news that is inaccurate? Maybe we do sometimes. With the advent of "instant buzz online news" reported against the backdrop of our struggling economies - which is being experienced most pointedly by those without work, climate issues, and an emerging renewable energy industry, what can we realistically expect? So are we also witnessing a gap in the relaying of information to the general public? Is news reporting on vital issues like climate change becoming more industry specific and elitist, over the promotion of the sharing of relevant information to an intelligent and interested world audience. Ofcourse. We have to look for our news wisely.

We found a great quiz put together at the Copenhagen 15 website for anyone interested in running through it. Take the Climate Quiz and see what you think. We have found some good information on the Cop15 website and the Guardian Environment Network for climate and renewable energy related news. We are not slamming Reuters or their journalists or any other news network for that matter, just getting real about reporting to the public in times that are changing dramatically.