Genevieve Guenther

I appreciated your discussion with Bobby Magill on Minnesota Public Radio.   Mr. Magill seemed to be captured by the people that he covers in the gas and oil industry and unable to imagine what is coming at us.  Would he feel the same if he reported from a battlefield? Or would he be like the nature photographer who maintains a neutral stance until the lion heads toward the tent where his family is sleeping?  The difference here is mostly in the time course and proximity of the disaster.

I thought you both were parsing words that may be important to reporters and editors but lost on the readers.  If journalists are to find the missing pieces of a puzzle that describes public resistance in talking about climate issues, it will be important to “push” some of the public with something that goes beyond reporting.  I think it can be done starting with small groups, using debate teams and real competition.

I addressed some of this in the Youtube video “New Climate Dice and the Media” by josuter. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH3Gx_qjPOc) The last 7 minutes describes some of these games but only generally.  Games can help journalists find better models and metaphors that will engage people in thinking not only about the reality of a climate emergency, but about solutions also.

One might start a discussion question with a pot of water.  Maybe you are making pasta tonight.  Put a bit of oil on the surface of the water when it is still cool.   Watch it coalesce into clouds.  Then watch it while you turn up the flame and add energy to the system.  This is more than a metaphor.  It is a model of a system that is very much like our atmosphere.  Is this a parallel that could be understood by the average climate denier?  If not, then what image might clarify the risks for them?

I think the only way to find out is to do the game.  Otherwise you don’t know why people agree or disagree with you.  Realization of the magnitude of the climate crisis can be very depressing.   We all tend to be on our own path of that realization, but we cannot wait for that.  Games (or some kind of physical meeting) can bring people together to think and act in concert.

Create teams that compete for the best answer and ask another team (not you) to judge the best answer.  But then you, or some other moderator, can help craft the next Discussion Question. Step by step in an efficient process they may come to understand not only what is happening but what they can do about it.

How people receive the news and what they do with it should really be a part of the task of journalism. We cannot simply create stories and then blame readers for not reacting.  Mostly we don’t know what will make people sit up and say “we’ve got a job to do!”    It will be essential to engage the public if we are to make the changes smoothly.

Addendum: I had written to the airlines asking for a Flying Sabbath, a NoFlyWednesday during which all commercial airlines take a break and don’t fly.   The price of tickets will go up and the airline companies will save on fuel and labor costs, but it is a chance for them to take control of their future.  It is also a way to engage the flying public in thinking about climate issues.  I received a polite written response and even a phone call after my first letter, but I am going to write to the airlines once again while new heat records are being set every month.