Do Global Warming Stories Go Too Far?

Is news about global warming doing more harm than good? The news media loves nothing better than a story with fear factor, and global warming contains many of the objects necessary to make a good horror story. There is a vague unspecified danger, that could result in floods, freak weather, death, destruction and annihilation. The trouble is though, that with the models that are used to show what might happen with say, a sea-level rise of x feet, quite often the rationalist is not on hand to say, ' but we don't actually know that we will see a rise in sea-levels of x feet.'

Al Gore, who does some great work on climate change, has shown how a sea-level rise of 20 feet would flood Florida, New York, Holland, Bangladesh, and Shanghai, even though there is no real hard evidence that such rises would occur. However, the end result is increased anxiety, apathy and nihilism among young people. Many very young children, and teenagers are actually frightened that they are going to die, or lose their friends and family, as a result of assimilating so-called 'facts' like these.

54% of American voters believe the news media exaggerate claims about global warming. Many now believe – incorrectly – that global warming is not even caused by humans. In the United Kingdom, 40% believe that global warming is exaggerated and 60% doubt that it is man-made.

Psychologists are seeing more anxiety in people concerned about climate change. An article in the Washington Post cited nine-year-old Alyssa, who cried when her mother bought a t-shirt showing a tree-frog, saying 'extinction is forever."

"I don't like global warming because it kills animals, and I like animals. I worry about it because I don't want to die."

Another nine-year old showed the Washington Post his drawing of a global warming timeline. "That's the Earth now. And then it's just starting to fade away. In 20 years, there's no oxygen." Then, to underline his point, he collapses to the floor.

Another survey of 500 American pre-teens found that one in three children believe that they don't have a future because of global warming stories, while in the United Kingdom another survey,of 1,150 youngsters (carried out by Somerfield) showed that half of young children aged between seven and 11 are anxious about the effects of global warming.

It's time to step back - yes, let's focus on recycling, and do our best for the environment, but without the threat of extinction hanging over our heads if we fail to separate out our plastics from our glass. And, don't forget that if you do have a lot of rubbish to throw out, order a skip from www.skipsforyou.co.uk or www.acornwaste.co.uk if you want something commercial, and a lot of this worry is taken off your hands. Paul Cairns, the business owner, ensures that as much is recycled as possible. So you can concentate on sorting out the science from the speculation while skipsfoyou sorts your waste.