Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t fretslider; According to The University of Exeter, having fun in Summer masks concern about “climate breakdown”, and impedes climate action.
‘Fun in the sun’ photos are a dangerous distraction from the reality of climate breakdown
Saffron O’Neill
Sat 14 May 2022 17.00 AESTThink of the images that defined our understanding of war or protest. Similar ones can tell the truth about this disaster
Open a British newspaper as a heatwave looms and you’ll likely see headlines about the unprecedented nature of the upcoming heat, the cost to lives and livelihoods, and even deaths caused by the extreme heat. But accompanying the same story you are also likely to see images of people having fun in the sun – kids splashing in city fountains, crowded beaches, blue seas, azure skies and holiday happiness.
How the media communicates about climate breakdown reflects and shapes how societies engage with the issue. Behind every picture that makes it into the news is a person mirroring and perpetuating how society thinks about climate breakdown. Images are a key part of any media communication: they are often vivid and colourful, drawing readers in and helping them to remember a story.
They also shape news production: compelling visuals help stories rise up the media agenda. Think about the image of the man blocking a line of tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, a young girl fleeing her village after being burned by napalm in the Vietnam war, smoke billowing from the twin towers. These images become part of our collective psyche – through them we remember the power of protest, the horror of war, and the moments everything changed. Images of the climate crisis can hold the same power, something the Guardian recognised in its sector-leading 2019 editorial decision to rethink the images accompanying climate stories.
Our new research, led by the University of Exeter, highlights a distinct problem with how the European media visually represents news of extreme heat. We examined media coverage from the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany during the summer of 2019. Importantly, we only included news stories that mentioned both the keywords “heatwave” and “climate change”, reasoning that if we were to see responsible and accurate reporting of heatwave risks, it would be in coverage that at least alluded to the increasing risk of heatwaves becoming longer, more frequent and more intense under climate breakdown.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/14/sun-photos-climate-breakdown
My first thought was someone should check for fungus growing in the University of Exeter water supply.
But seriously, imagine what a locked down medieval dystopia we would all endure if these killjoys were fully in charge. It would be like living in the Middle Ages, sackcloth and ashes, restrictions on dancing and partying, because having fun leads to more travel and elevated respiration, an unnecessary increase in CO2 emissions, a total mockery of our burden of climate sin.
Of course the climate elite would still enjoy all the perks of an industrial civilisation, like their private jets. Their holy climate mission would justify any imaginable carbon extravagance.
I lived in Britain for over a decade. Britain is a lovely place, but every year they get maybe a week, maybe two weeks if they are lucky, when the temperature touches the high 80s (30C+) and they can really enjoy their lakes and beaches. Yet they have one of the most fearful climate worrier populations on the planet.
Imagine the climate breakdown calamity if Brits who worry about climate change had to endure THREE weeks of Summer.
I subscribe to several British news sites, For them, 25C is a heat wave.
Bah ! Good winter temperature here 🙂
Oh, for goodness sakes, there is this thing called air conditioning. In widespread use in many parts of the world.
In the UK we open a window…..
I have the same when watching UK based youtubers. Can never work out if they are complaining about the heat or taking the piss.
40C is hot. Then you get a bit nervous. Anything in the 30s you just pace yourself a bit in. Don’t run around in the sun. Drink more water. No worries.
If it is still a problem a recommended solution is to put a teaspoon worth of cement in your morning cup of tea or coffee and HARDEN UP!
You seem to forget, we’re acclimatised to a fairly cool, damp, relatively stable maritime climate. The average summer temperature here is under 20°C, while the average winter is around 3°. To us 27° is hot, especially with the humidity that tends to come with it.
Look at it as your weather will be ever slightly less shitty.
Why is that an issue?
lmao… I love that solution.. have to remember that for the future
The Met Office sets different thresholds for what constitutes a heatwave in different counties(!). They range between 25C to 28C. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/temperature/heatwave.
The Met Office thresholds are not set (AFAIK) with respect to any observed harms. However the NHS is eager to give advice on how to cope with a heatwave. But the NHS doesn’t venture any assessment of probable harm either.
All we get is an ill-defined sense of threat. It is basically scary turtles all the way down.
That is not to say heatwaves don’t happen, but in the 25 years since I moved back to the UK there has been only one spell of properly uncomfortable heat I would judge worthy of the term “heatwave”. It was hot enough that I could believe a seriously ill person succumbing. But we don’t get anxious warnings about the chronic coolness that definitely kills many dozens every year.
To the MetO a couple of nice summer days is now a heatwave to justify their global warming propaganda. They have descended a long way from their time as a respected weather forecaster and a branch of the Ministry of Defence. Now they are part of the department for screwing up energy and industry headed by a liar called Kwasi Modo.
While visiting the UK a couple of decades ago temperatures rose into the 80s and rail travel was impeded because the railroad ties expanded, warping the lines. It appears nothing has changed, it even has the same Queen.
Case in point, In North America, how many people move north for the winter? How many move south to warm places, such as Florida ? We are a warm weather species after all. Makes for a hard sell that getting warmer is a bad thing. Just sayin ….
They’re calling for snow in Boulder this Friday. Not that unusual for May but the hard freeze is. A lot of plants are going to die.
Same one that will get us here in calgary
But we don’t plant out tender plants until June 1
Because it’s a goddam ice age and we only get 6-8 weeks of summer, the true climate emergency
I have noticed with amusement over quite a long time that heat-wave stories are almost invariably accompanied by images of people enjoying themselves. If that damages the scare campaign, then maybe they could instead use images of lush plant growth, people not dying of cold, or people saving on winter heating. Too difficult? Better stick to people enjoying themselves.
Mike, a big sub-text of the “climate change” mantra is to stop people enjoying themselves.
It’s the new variation on the old definition of a puritan: The fear that someone, somewhere is enjoying himself. Now it applies to the warmunists.
That is a feature of socialism, not a bug.
In the UK such weather events are traditionally associated with people going out and burning themselves to a crisp in the UV.
The French have an insult for such tourists: “les homards”. Cooked lobsters.
I plead guilty.
Since I live in Las Vegas, NV I take my tan with me when I go on vacation. Likewise, I try to dress the same as the locals. I am often mistaken for Hispanic in Mexico.
Damned! That is cultural appropriation; lock me in the woke reeducation camp.
So it’s true? Mad dogs & Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun?
The Brits hate hot sunny days. That’s why they so many head down to the Mediterranean for their summer holidays. Oh wait…
As a British expat now living in sunny California, I find the British obsession with climate change both amusing and alarming.
About the only Alarming thing about it
They’ll have to bath more often … scary thought for them 😉
The Brits don’t have an obsession with climate change; it is the media like the BBC, Channel 4 etc, the politicians and a load of environmental activists who have the obsession. Most Brits couldn’t care less about climate change and most don’t believe it is a problem.
It does seem to be highly concentrated within the M25 – the further you go from there, the less of a problem it is (with the obvious exception of the denizens of Holyrood).
No alarm here: The U.S. needs climate crash test dummies like the UK and Germany.
That is what The Guardian’ magic red filter is doing to the beach scene at the top of the article that claims to be ‘Sunbathers in Margate, Kent, in May 2021’.
It certainly looks scorching!
Figuring it is probably a weekend given the number of people enjoying the sunshine, I looked up the maximum temperatures recorded on Sundays in Margate UK in May 2021:
Sun May 2 – 9C, Sun May 9 – 13C, Sun May 16 – 12C, Sun May 23 – 11C, Sun May 30 – 13C. 🤣
IIRC, Exeter Uni used to have the most IPCC troughers of any university in the world.
Don’t know their current situation.
But their existence relies on maintaining the AGW scam.
I like the Barbara Hepworth sculpture there.
Isn’t the Met Office headquartered in Exeter?
Indeed it is
James Dyke is an Associate Professor in Earth System Science at Exeter Uni. He writes a fairly regular column in the UK i newspaper and recently published a book entitled ‘Fire, Storm and Flood: The Violence of Climate Change’ which his articles fully reflect.
The IPCC force is strong with them!
Down here in Australia we have a lot of poms who have escaped to enjoy the warmth.Not much happening the other way.
I knew a pom who migrated to Australia about 40 years ago. He spent the first summer walking over desert dunes in the inland heat, wearing shorts, a singlet, sandals, no hat and no sunscreen. He got so badly sunburnt he ended up in hospital. And, yes, he was warned.
Well, it is interesting that Brits and other northern Europeans did most of their colonizing in places much warmer than northern Europe, particularly in the cooler months of the year. Be it Africa, India, Australia, Burma, West Indies, the middle east, New Guinea, South Pacific islands, etc. About the only place where Brits escaped to that had temperatures somewhat like their native climate was North America, but of course the colder weather there only applied to Canada … even the New England colonies, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey got a lot hotter in summer than does the UK, not to mention the mid-Atlantic colonies all the way down south to Florida and the West Indies.
Yet somehow all those northern Europeans not only survived, but thrived and a lot of them got rich in the process.
Now we know why…
Noel Coward wrote about this in a song:
If you need it sung:
https://youtu.be/8tJjwBWBbX4
Don’t the English also have a hot cup of tea to cool off?
And the kids have a hot chocolate.
I always wondered where the phrase “Mad dogs and Englishmen” came from- now I know. Thanks!
Will the US Disinformation Department announce that red filters on beach photos are not allowed?
No, they’re the “Disinformation Department” so Red Filters will be required for ALL outdoor photos that and a special filter that will superimpose tiny CO2 micrograms all over the sky
I worked for several years with representatives of a number of countries on some guidelines and regulations.
My part in this assignment was to Information Technology support for another department.
Each participating country hosted the meetings in turn.
That other department’s boss intensely disliked some of the participants. He took great glee selecting hosting facilities and locations. Facilities were Ramada Inns in some dreadful places. e.g.; one winter the Ramada Inn was located in the center of Chicago’s trainyards.
Anyway, the group I was supporting were involved in a major meeting-presentation of their own and sloughed off the location responsibility to me.
European members on that commission begged for meeting in Florida. Yes, it was to be another winter meeting in the states.
We met in San Antonio in a hotel next to the Riverwalk early December. Short sleeves were the dress code, day or night.
The entire group, including the Canadians were thrilled. Quite a few brought their wives or girlfriends and stayed for days/weeks afterwards.
Unlike most of the other meeting places, we did not meet up at night, as everyone was already busy. A surprising number were quite sober in the mornings.
Whenever another country had trouble hosting a conference after that, everyone hoped that I would volunteer… Not without my boss’ approval.
How does one make the choice between wives or girlfriends?
Which-ever is available for that timeslot.
Be modern – take both.
Ask Wayne Rooney!
Be a bon vivant, take both.
Not my decision.
Several of the wives, I remembered having seen their pictures from guys talking about their families. The others, I just accepted they were who they stated.
The couple of guys who had stated they were single brought young ladies, that were never introduced…
Something about starting the meeting at 7AM. I didn’t meet any of the wives then either.
Unlike the married guys, most of whom I ran into around the Riverwalk at night, I didn’t meet either single guys or their girlfriends.
Talk about having an approved narrative to uphold, facts and reality be damned.
More evidence to heap on the pile that Leftists are fundamentally unhappy people. They’re not happy unless they’re miserable. Making others equally miserable seems to be their self-appointed life purpose.
Capitalism is unequal sharing of wealth. Socialism is equal sharing of shortages by the non-elites.
We went to England in May a couple of years ago B.P. The weather was really nice. Warm and clear. I think it hit 27° (81°F) a couple of times. the locals were dying and moaning about how hot it was. I kept telling them that where I come from (Ohio) this is a beautiful spring day a joy and a treasure, and that I would tell them when it was really hot.
I think their real problem is that they have no adaptation to warmth. There isn’t an ice cube in the whole bloddy country and a cold lager is no where to be found. Their beer being pond scum served at room temperature. And air conditioning? Ha.
This is not unique to the English. I worked a couple years in Bavaria, and our German colleagues would leave work if the temperature exceeded 80F. We’d roll up our cuffs, open the windows, and keep right on working. But our German colleagues loved taking holidays in desert lands. Go figure.
I don’t get it. We love Americans, why do you hate us back?
They’ve run out of tea
I can understand your question, based on some of these comments, but I assure you many (most) of us Yanks treasure our special relationship with Great Britain.
We don’t hate you. We love you. We just think your attitudes towards beautiful weather are childish and weird.
BTW, at least you can get good lager in Germany.
…
Ah Hobgoblin. ‘Nuff said!
Really. Go to Prague. The Czechs make wonderful beer. IMHO, the best in the world. It just that it tastes like barley malt and hops, not pond scum.
Czech Budweiser is readily available in the UK despite the best efforts of the US brand of the same name. Both are usually served in half pints to ladies, who like that sort of thing 😅
To be fair, I’ve been an occasional visitor to the USA since the late 70s, most recently to San Diego just before the COVID-19 panic. On my last visit there were encouraging signs that the USA was beginning to wean itself off that fizzy yellow stuff and brew some real ales. Some of the citrus hop IPAs are even making it back over to the UK 🙂
an Australian summer would be torture for these people
I visited the UK in late June. Being summer, I only wore a wool shirt and wool hat besides my typical long pants and long sleeve shirt. I really wished I’d taken a jacket too.
This is coming from someone who eschews thermals & jackets in Alaska in the -20F winter.
Climate Scientology panic porn useful idiots do not like reality based images that contradict the Marxist narrative…
Diasaster. Unprecedented. Extreme. Breakdown.
Oh and heatwaves in The Netherlands. My dad who lives there hasn’t seen them.
About the only thing they got right is the juxtaposition of ‘climate stories’.
Wondering if there will be an editorial staff and/or leadership change at Guardian when their CCP masters discover that they’ve referred to the Tiananmen Square protest and associated it with war and terrorism. Looking for information on whether that piece or the offending paragraph appears in Hong Kong in print or digitally.
Kowtow!
The Alarmists are losing the scientific argument, so they’re concentrating on messaging. It doesn’t matter if the warmth is good or bad, normal or extreme. It ALWAYS must be portrayed by photographs of cracked, dried lake beds and the skeletons of animals that died from exposure. No bathing suits allowed. Then throw in a photo of a smokestack or two so people get the connection.
BTW, Saffron O’Neill is very expensive and only sold by the fraction of an ounce.
If “climate breakdown” is really happening, there would be no shortage of photos of people running in terror from sunny beaches.
You mean like the beaches of Ukraine?
Okay, so which came first the overly opinionated and cynical Brit or the overly opinionated and cynical British media? Whichever the case, it’s proving to be generally unhealthy for the lot.
Is ‘climate breakdown’ when the seasons happen in random order, or just when Mother Nature has a panic attack?
No, it’s when every season gets a solo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakdown_(music)
“Open a British newspaper as a heatwave looms…”
They don’t loom very often. I can assure you of that.
So now it’s ‘climate breakdown ‘ . .