Broadcast Media
BBC Radio, funded by British taxpayers, is owned by and is a division of the BBC, the British Broadcasting Company. It provides many radio programs that cover a variety of topics including music, sports, current affairs and more. Within it’s programming, across the entirety of its channels, climate change and environmental issues are featured prominently – often being the sole focus on shows or episodes – especially on BBC Radio 4. BBC Radio is supportive, though not uncritically so, of environmental and climate change-related campaigning. Shows often educate the public on key concepts or happenings within the sector, or highlight areas that are otherwise under-reported.
Content Samples:
Costing the Earth, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qdvlw
Costing the Earth is a BBC Radio 4 program on environmental issues and climate change. It focuses on man’s effect on the environment and how the environment reacts: questioning accepted truths, challenging those in charge, and reporting on progress towards improving the world. Episodes cover a wide variety of topics: from local issues to international climate change. Topics include Wildlife-Friendly Motorways, to the Forest of the Orangutan, and Spiritual Greens.
One Planet, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsn5/episodes/player
Since 1997, One Planet has been a BBC World Service program that covers environmental news and international development, looking at the way we live our lives on this planet and the consequence. The majority of episodes focus on different aspects of climate change: from ocean acidification to the impact of the changing climate in Northern Russia.
Contact: Office Mailing Address: BBC Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA
General Contact: @bbcradio4 or http://www.facebook.com/BBCRadio4
Owner: Editors: Each show on BBC Radio has a separate editor. ‘Costing the Earth’ is hosted by Tom Heap and produced by Martin Poyntz-Roberts; ‘One Planet’ is hosted by BBC’s Science Editor David Shukman.
Print Media
The Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine, which is the longest running environmental magazine having began in 1966, offers positive perspectives regarding the environment through a variety of lenses – from ecology and social justice, to spirituality and philosophy. The magazine emphasizes illustrations, art pieces and poetry as well as ideas on ethical living and book reviews, alongside more traditional ‘environmental reporting’. The Magazine is supportive, but not unqualifiedly so, of the Paris Agreement. Articles written on the subject often highlight the Agreement’s weaknesses and downsides, with the intent to generate further – and better – action.
Content Samples:
2050: We Can Make it. Issue 295 March/April 2016 ‘Walking Back to Happiness’. By Mukti Mitchell
http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article4593-2050-we-can-make-it.html
This article discusses how the current emission reduction targets in the Paris Agreement are not enough to avert dangerous climate change, and that there are other ways of contributing towards climate change mitigation. Though the Paris Agreement was a positive step forwards – sending clear signals to business and political leaders – attention must be paid to the impact of modern industrial agriculture and diets, the de-carbonization and insulation of homes and offices, and energy efficiency in transport and industry.
Social Justice Must Accompany Action on Climate Change. Issue 295 March/April 2016 ‘Walking Back to Happiness. Adam Weymouth. adamweymouth@gmail.com
http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article4589-social-justice-must-accompany-action-on-climate-change.html
Discussed in this article is how the Paris Agreement, though ambitious and a ‘success’, must give a voice to the diversity of groups within the climate justice movement. These are groups that have not previously been aligned with the environmental movement, but have become so as environmentalism is an increasingly intersectional issue. Such groups include Veterans testifying on the environmental damage of war, BME groups emphasizing environmental justice, refugees and historical developmental trends, and Indigenous group’s highlighting the negative impact of fossil fuel extraction on their land and how the sacred has become commodified. Paris must be the ‘stepping stone for the building of momentum’, but it is important that no minority or at-risk group is silenced along the way.
Contact: Office Mailing Address: Ford House, Hartland, Bideford, Devon, EX39 6EE, General Email: info@resurgence.org, Tel: 01237 441 293
Owner & Publisher: The Resurgence Trust, a registered educational charity based in Devon, UK.
Editor: Satish Kumar, has been the magazine’s editor since 1973
Online Media
The Guardian is both an online news website, and a widely distributed newspaper, that has been in print since 1821. The Guardian has a dedicated ‘Environment’ section on its website, and a sub-section devoted to Climate Change within that. Multiple articles are released daily on climate change, covering opinion pieces, developments in science, policy and politics, and international news. The Guardian believes climate change exists, is supportive and optimistic about the Paris Agreement, and demands strong action in a variety of areas related to climate change mitigation – from renewable investment and R&D, to climate justice and emission reductions.
Content Samples:
Paris climate change agreement: the world’s greatest diplomatic success. 14th December 2015. By Fiona Harvey.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/13/paris-climate-deal-cop-diplomacy-developing-united-nations
This article discusses the realities of the negotiations at the Paris Conference. The talk’s atmosphere was tense, but last minute compromises were resolved in the end and an agreement was reached. The agreement was hailed as ‘historic, durable and ambitious’, and required all countries to limit their emissions below two degrees, with regular reviews and financing provided for developing countries. However, the agreement isn’t perfect: more stringent emission reductions are required to prevent dangerous climate change.
The Paris agreement really does change everything. 7 October 2016. By Barry Gardiner.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/07/paris-agreement-climate-change-carbon-emissions
The article states that the ratification of the Paris Agreement does change things for the better for the environmental movement. This is due to it setting the world on an irreversible trajectory in which all investment, regulation and industrial strategy must now align with the vision of the new ‘green economy’. This has already started to be actualized: in 2016 more than 500 institutions with assets totaling 3.4 trillion dollars, committed to divestment form fossil fuels. Government policies and market forces are uniting in pushing for a low-carbon revolution, and financial decision makers are recognizing the inescapability of climate change-related risks to investments. It is thus important to have an orderly, managed transition that minimizes risks while seizing new job and investment opportunities that arise.
Contact: Office Mailing Address: Kings Place, 90 York Way London N1 9GU, United Kingdom.General Point of Contact: @guardianeco, Tel: 020 3353 2000