Make The Climate Emergency Headline News EVERY Day

Look at the menu bar on any media website. You’ll see various categories of news, with the recent addition of ‘Covid-19’ or ‘Coronavirus.’ These are the subjects we are being told are the most important.

Likewise, choose the topics you want to follow or search for here on Vocal, or on Medium, News Break or other information sources.

Do you see, anywhere, the words ‘Climate Emergency’?

No, you don’t. In fact you often have to go down a rabbit hole of sub sections and sub menus through the openings of ‘Science’ or ‘World’ to reach any collection of stories related to the environment.

What’s wrong with this? Only that the climate emergency is the biggest (factual) story many of us will encounter in our lifetimes. A story that dwarfs the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of potential threat to life on earth.

So why aren’t we being told that this is a major story? Surely then, more people would take it seriously – just as they did when Coronavirus was added to menu bars.

We take direction from what we read in the media, far more than the media cares to admit. The media is our main source of education about what is going on in the world. The media therefore has a responsibility to steer us in the direction of the most important news.

Many bad examples, a few good ones

Let’s take a look at some of the world’s major news sources and see what they prioritise, giving credit for the words ‘Environment’ or ‘Climate’ in the top menus.

I’ll start with some of the most well-known global media platforms, then look at Vocal, Medium and News Break. Then I’ll show you the world leaders, the shining examples to follow.

The New York Times

The closest we get here is ‘Science’. It’s a start at least, and it lets people know that it’s a serious subject. Then within ‘Science’ we get ‘Climate’ and stories about how environment and politics might combine to affect life in the States.

Not a bad effort, but not a great one. Nothing obvious in the top menu and quite a narrow view further in. Though dig down further still - see ‘Climate Resolutions’ and ‘Electric Cars’ - and we can appreciate that The New York Times does at least class the environment as an important subject.

The Washington Post

Coronavirus gets its own top menu mention, and so it should. But where might Climate be? Head into ‘Sections’ on the left, and we can scroll down to two further titles, both of which contain some good, informative reads, to be fair:

CNN

Again, Covid-19 has earned its place at the top of the table. But where might climate emergency news be housed? Click into ‘World’ and scroll a fair way down to find it alongside ‘Style’ and ‘Travel’. Well, at least CNN acknowledges that the climate is “in crisis.”

You can read the latest stories related to the climate, but they were several months old when I had a look. In the CNN footer menu you'll find the subject 'Climate' under ‘Weather’. Which is what people small-talk about when they can't think of what to say to someone.

Fox News

Nah, nothing there… maybe we should select ‘More’….

You’ll find ‘Environment’ under ‘World’ — but the stories there are largely dismissive of any major crisis regarding the climate.

The Times

The United Kingdom’s most globally-revered newspaper has scant detail in its main menu. Select the extremely vague title ‘Society’ and you will stumble across more, with some very informative articles in the ‘Environment & Sustainability’ section. That’s a first use here of the ‘S’ word, too, which has to be commended.

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation not only recognises that Coronavirus is a hot topic, it makes a space in its main menu for Brexit. So why nothing on the climate emergency or the environment? If you select ‘Science’ you’ll open a section on ‘Science & Environment’ — but why not use the ‘E’ word at the top?

Sydney Morning Herald

The first thing to notice here is how well Australia has done to manage the pandemic. Beyond that, no mention of the environment, but there is a side menu which gives way to further categories. And there’s that word ‘Sustainability’ again to suggest knowledge of the subject.

What about Vocal, Medium and News Break?

Good question. All three platforms are of interest to writers like myself, but are now followed by millions of readers, too — taking many people away from traditional sources of information. So their influence is extremely important.

News Break

News Break fits the model of a traditional multimedia platform and includes ‘Coronavirus’ in its top menu. For any inkling of a climate emergency, however, you must select the three dots, open the full menu, then choose ‘Earth’ from the ‘Science’ menu. At the moment, that is not giving the signal that the climate emergency is anything to worry about.

Medium

Medium’s own publications include all those shown on the menu bar (which isn’t evident on personal home pages), plus Level and Heated. None of them are dedicated specifically to environmental issues. On the ‘Explore topics’ page when setting your reading preferences, scroll waaaaaaaay down to find ‘Science’ then ‘Climate Change’. Could do better, Medium. And do you curate many environmental stories? Hmmm?

Vocal

The very platform you are reading, Vocal has a number of ‘Communities’ — categories for reading and writing. The closest ones suitable for articles on the climate emergency are Futurism and Longevity — but neither is dedicated to environmental issues.

So come on Vocal, take the lead! I'd love to think that a new Community could very shortly rise, dedicated to environmental stories. Call it what you like! But let's put these issues front and centre, where they belong.

I'll show you a couple of examples to learn from...

And the winners are…

The Guardian

UK publication The Guardian puts most other media outlets to shame when it comes to informing the public about the climate emergency. ‘Environment’ has a permanent place on its top news menu, giving way to an educational and revealing selection of global stories — and investigations.

More than that, The Guardian made a ground-breaking promise back in 2019, currently described on its website thus:

We declared that the escalating climate crisis was the defining issue of our lifetime, and that quality, trustworthy reporting on the environment was an important tool to confront it.

We promised to provide journalism that shows leadership, urgency, authority and gives the climate emergency the sustained attention and prominence it demands.

We also vowed to practise what we preach, striving to green our operations as a global news organisation and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The Guardian’s stunning Environment Now page gives latest updates on stats concerning such vital markers as Global Temperature Change, Atmospheric CO2, Ice Mass and Sea Level.

Sky News

Credit also goes to Sky News. ‘Climate’ is there in its top menu, leading to a serious focus on the crisis, with many special features and exclusive reports giving the topic the attention it deserves.

Sky also teamed up with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to launch Sky Ocean Rescue in 2017, to make people aware of plastic pollution. Over five years, the project is investing £25 million in companies that can help us all give up the use of plastic.

Conclusion

You won’t see any of this as a problem if you don’t see the degradation of nature, our environment and the worsening climate emergency as a problem.

But it really is a major problem, and the people charged with informing the population about the important things in life, really need to step up and be honest about it.

Only then will more people start taking the matter seriously.

The important words — particularly ‘Environment’ or ‘Climate’ — need to be clear in the main menu, to navigate to the vitally important information.

I have worked as a journalist for 30 years, and I love newer, educational platforms such as Vocal, but I recognise that action has to be taken now, to better equip the world's population for what lies ahead.

We can't be as unprepared as we were for Covid-19.