Thread by @SaraSchurmann

Dear colleagues, we need to talk about how we report on the #climatecrisis.

This crisis is far more severe than many of us journalists seem to realize. Here is my Open Letter to debate how we’ve ended up here and how to move on:

medium.com/@mail_30953/jo…

I’ve been reading articles on global warming for around three years on a daily basis. However it has taken me up until a couple of weeks ago to realize, how deeply this crisis will affect my life in 10, 20 and 30 years to come.

And I don’t seem to be the only one. We know that the situation is somewhat serious, but we live like the truly damaging consequences are still far away. And like we believe that everything will somehow work out just fine.

I though about, where this paradox might come from. Thought about, why I didn’t get the severity of the situation for so long. So I ended up writing this Open Letter to my colleagues, with more than 50 initial signatories.

medium.com/@mail_30953/jo…

Special thanks also to some international colleagues who already signed: @KetanJ0, @KarolineCQKan and @patrick_barkham. And to @MichaelEMann, Distinguished Professor at the Penn State University and member of the National Academy of Sciences, who also supports the letter.

Let's discuss: How can we inform readers about the short- + medium-term consequences of the climate crisis in a more tangible and emphatic way?

How do we manage to reflect the complex reality more accurately?

And also: How can we report constructively about possible solutions?

Don’t get me wrong:There is excellent climate reporting out there, many colleagues have been warning about this crisis for years. However, in the overall picture global warming often appears to be just one issue out of many, something you may take interest in or choose to ignore.

Many people still don’t seem to have realized that the climate crisis has very real impacts on their lives and that this impact will increasingly grow. As journalists we must and can report this reality better to our readers.

If you want to support this Open Letter, you can add your signature here:
forms.gle/ZuENHaSSp8SkSL…

The Open Letter has first been published in German by the online magazine @uebermedien:
uebermedien.de/52582/journali…

Special thanks to Ruby Morrigan for the translation.