A recent article published by Jacksonville news affiliate News4Jax suggested that children's television programs should promote more climate awareness and environmental content in order to “empower” them to take action on these issues. [emphasis, links added]
This simply promotes more radical content, of which there is already plenty. It doesn't help that young people are already fearful of the future.
The article, titled “Young Children and Television: Making Screen Time Matter for Children Concerned about Climate Change,” quickly introduces the idea that most children are scared for their future because of climate change.
News4Jax writes that a recent survey found “54% of children are worried about what climate change will mean for their future,” and went on to say Television programs “can be a powerful tool for cultivating environmental awareness.”
This article quotes an educational scientist from the University of Rhode Island who explains how Children's programming can serve as a vehicle for conveying specific messages and can even make children “feel like they can do something together to help our planet.” Or in other words, Encourage them to get involved in climate action.
However, if the goal is to allay children’s fears about the future, hitting them with more climate alarm propaganda won’t help.
climate realism Already introduced how The media is largely responsible for climate change anxiety and fear In posts like here , here , and here .
The media and educators are already telling children that the planet is facing an existential threat from climate change and that their future is uncertain unless massive global action is taken to stop it.
When this action doesn't happen, the child understandably becomes frustrated.
What makes this all so sinister is because In fact, the Earth is not in existential danger as a result of the mild warming of the past century or so. Nor is it in danger of becoming uninhabitable, as the media likes to claim.
Children are already bombarded with this alarmist language. The news their parents watch and the news feeds on social media are constantly filled with climate change-related content, linking every not-so-pleasant weather to climate change, as this website continuously reports and refutes.
in school, Climate alarmism can be preached in every class, even physical education or gym class, as is the case in some New Jersey schools.
This bombardment starts as early as primary school children, and the media appreciates it. Generations of children have grown up being told that their futures are doomed.
Additionally, a recent report on the risks released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found that Climate change does not fall into this category, explaining that activists and media pushers who make such claims are expressing a worldview, not science.
In fact, Climate-related deaths have fallen by 99% over the past hundred years, the world is experiencing less malnutrition, and the planet's plants are becoming lusher. Extreme weather isn't getting any worse, and wildfires aren't getting any worse.
Children don’t need another source of climate misinformation and alarm in their lives, They've been exposed to too much.
News4Jax should be more skeptical of this cheerleading for climate content, especially since as a media organization, they themselves are A major source of unreasonable anxiety about climate change in children and adults.
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