The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Kendall Kroesen
Climate change is the defining phenomenon of our age.
It will eventually affect everyone on the planet in one way or another and is already affecting many. Native Alaskan villages are sinking into melting permafrost. Increasing waviness of the jet stream is pushing polar vortexes deep into the North American continent. Many Colorado ski resorts are completely snowless except for what machines can make. They’re growing grapes in the south of ... England?
But that’s not where our minds are on a daily basis. There is a big disconnect between what we pay attention to and what we need to pay attention to in order to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to the now unavoidable changes to come.
This disconnect is reflected in the number of pages our newspaper dedicates to this important issue, versus other topics. The problem is best exemplified by the coverage of sports versus environmental issues. In the online edition of the Arizona Daily Star (which we get, in part, to reduce our paper use) there are regularly 12-15 pages of sports news, and occasionally well over 20. In contrast, bits of information about climate change crop up only occasionally, like in the EarthWeek section on Mondays (one-third of a page). Climate change is mentioned by Tony Davis and others as a driver of water scarcity in the Colorado River system, though most of their stories are about how state representatives are fighting over the little water that remains. Op/Ed submissions occasionally cover climate change and local efforts to adapt (and the federal efforts to ignore it).
This isn’t the newspaper’s fault. The Arizona Daily Star does a decent job of covering crucial local issues — better than what many towns have these days. We have retained some key investigative reporters.
I have nothing against sports. I’m just talking about balance. Just think of the awareness that would emerge if there were a 16-page climate change section.
Of course there needs to be a sports page, but a lot of the sports news is absurdly trivial. For example, on Monday this week we learned that “After wearing a gray ‘Guard U’ hoodie on Jan. 14 at McKale Center, ASU [coach] Bobby Hurley went all out Saturday with a coat and tie.” It’s a sartorial choice, I suppose. But what if you would rather read about the melting of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier, the size of Florida, and the more than 2 feet of sea level rise it could cause.
On Tuesday we learned that last year Justin Thomas won the “closest to the pin” contest on the sixteenth hole of the Phoenix Open. Well done, I say. But what if you would rather read about diverse community members banding together to plant trees to create more shade, and how you can join the effort?
On Wednesday there was a whole article about “Why riding, spinning backward are such valuable skills” for snowboarders. Sure. But I can’t really relate. I get dizzy if I spin backwards on solid ground. What if I want to know more about insect-vectored diseases and heat-related illnesses that are becoming more prevalent?
On Thursday we found out that “NASCAR this year welcomes 19-year-old Connor Zilisch to the top cup series after he won 10 races in the Xfinity Series last season.” Just what we need, more 19-year-olds driving fast. But what if we care more about the prospects for penguins and polar bears as their icy habitat melts?
Are we fiddling while Rome burns? Or better, are we throwing a long bomb as the bomb cyclone approaches!
Maybe newspapers shouldn’t only give us lots of what we want, but also some of what we need.
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