from climaterealism
Author: Linny Luken
A recent article published by Jacksonville news affiliate News4Jax suggested that children's television programming should promote more climate awareness and environmental content in order to “empower” them to take action on these issues. 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 Kids Concerned about Climate Change,” quickly introduces the idea that most children are worried about their future because of climate change. News4Jax writes that a recent survey found that “54 percent of children are worried about what climate change will mean for their future,” and went on to say that TV shows “can be a powerful tool for cultivating environmental awareness.” The article quotes an educational scientist from the University of Rhode Island, who explains how children's programming can be used as a vehicle for specific messages or even to make children “feel like they can collectively do something to help our planet,” Or in other words, encourage them to participate in climate activities.
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 How the media is largely to blame for the anxiety and fear surrounding climate change has been reported in posts such as 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 scenario so sinister is that the Earth is not actually in existential danger from 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 their social media feeds are constantly filled with climate change-related content, linking every not-so-pleasant weather event to climate change, as the site continually reports and refutes. In schools, climate alarmism can be preached in every class — even 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 existential risks from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found that climate change does not fall into this category, explaining that activists and media boosters who make such claims are expressing worldviews, 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’re exposed to too much already. News4Jax should be more skeptical of this cheerleading of climate content, especially since as media outlets they themselves are a major source of unreasonable anxiety about climate change among children and adults alike.
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