Photo of the Thomas Wildfire in California in 2017
Climate Change is what is happening.
But what we have now is a Climate Crisis.
Words matter and “Climate Change” does not communicate the critical importance or urgency of the situation we are in. The climate has changed enough that we are now dealing with a Climate Crisis or Emergency.
BPC Green Builders is not alone in thinking this way. Many people are.
According to an article published on Grist.org, and also in Salon, a growing group of media organizations agree. The reasoning, stated in the article, behind using the term “Climate Crisis” instead of “Climate Change” is that:
“Climate change and global warming are too neutral, too worn-out, and too nice-sounding to describe the crisis facing the planet. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have careened to 415 parts per million, higher than ever before in human history. We’re already living out the consequences — super-charged hurricanes, blazing wildfires, heavy downpours, and rising seas, and, oh yeah, an extinction crisis.”
Last month the Guardian announced it would replace Climate Change with Climate Emergency, Climate Breakdown, and Climate Crisis. The top Spanish language news provider in the US said it would be using Climate Emergency. The US House of Representatives even formed a new Climate Crisis Committee.
Public Citizen issued a letter to the major news networks that they should be increasing coverage of the climate crisis and use language that conveys the situation as it is, an emergency, a crisis.
The Columbia Journalism Review published an article on April 22, 2019, titled The media are complacent while the world burns which is a sad commentary and call to arms.
“Instead of sleepwalking us toward disaster, the US news media need to remember their Paul Revere responsibilities—to awaken, inform, and rouse the people to action.”
