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Media & Climate Change. March 6th 2007 Hadi Dowlatabadi The University of British Columbia University Fellow, Resources For the Future Adjunct Faculty, Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University. What do media cover?. 2 billion do not have potable water.
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Media&Climate Change March 6th 2007 Hadi Dowlatabadi The University of British Columbia University Fellow, Resources For the Future Adjunct Faculty, Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
What do media cover? • 2 billion do not have potable water. • >1 billion women do not have control over their reproduction. • 1 billion cannot access electricity. • 780 million suffer from chronic hunger. • 200 million have severe malaria. • ~ 40 million are living with HIV/AIDS • Biodiversity loss is at least 1000 times faster than ever before. 2 06.03.07
What do media cover? • 2 billion do not have potable water. • >1 billion women do not have control over their reproduction. • 1 billion cannot access electricity. • 780 million suffer from chronic hunger. • 200 million have severe malaria. • ~ 40 million are living with HIV/AIDS • Biodiversity loss is at least 1000 times faster than ever before. Brittany Spears shaved her hair. 3 06.03.07
A contrast • Media: • Address injustice • Promote free speech • Sell more advertising • Science: • Address ignorance • Promote a formal examination of evidence • Get more research funding 4 06.03.07
A contrast • Media: • Address injustice • Promote free speech • Sell more advertising • Science: • Address ignorance • Promote a formal examination of evidence • Get more research funding Different views of objectivity. Each is self serving Both have abused one another 5 06.03.07
Studies of media’s coverage of science show • Failure to reflect qualifications • Obfuscation of source information • Amplification of effects • More factual errors 6 06.03.07
Reported cases of Dengue 1980-96:Does climate change abruptly at the border? 7 06.03.07 Source: US National Assessment
Summary • * is a business. Greater success comes from greater sensationalism. Caveat Lector! 8 06.03.07
Life expectancy is a political mapnot a climatic one 9 06.03.07
Annual Per Capita Emissions(tCO2 eq) 10 06.03.07