Quite amazing how the climate beat is allowed to forget what journalism is about. Why bother with holding your government and companies accountable when you can just write about all the supposedly great renewable energy development and electric vehicles. Praising your country is *NOT* journalism - ThreadSky

rishpardikar.bsky.social • 50 days ago

Quite amazing how the climate beat is allowed to forget what journalism is about. Why bother with holding your government and companies accountable when you can just write about all the supposedly great renewable energy development and electric vehicles.

Praising your country is *NOT* journalism

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aarnegranlund.bsky.social•50 days ago

It’s not expert analysis either if it doesn’t provide context. Finland is doing well in some sectors but very badly on others, and our consumption-side emissions remain high.

rishpardikar.bsky.social•50 days ago

Worst form this takes is when rich countries bound to always fall short of equitable demands are praised. I mean, if it's a poor country taking on ambitious action then maybe there is something to report about. Like the challenges. But praising powerful rich countries is the opposite of journalism

aarnegranlund.bsky.social•50 days ago

The equity perspective is a must! It's not just the Global North-South dimension, it's about stopping nature loss and young people's right to a livable planet also in the North - just building new renewables and selling electric SUVs isn't enough. It's not even enough for our weak climate targets.

aarnegranlund.bsky.social•50 days ago

The typical 'growth and tech solves everything' approach is when people quote the Norwegian new EV sales figures—there has been no change in oil consumption in that country in the statistics and forecast through 2025.

RE adds to the grid mix gradually. GHG emissions must decline now in all sectors.

luemas91.bsky.social•50 days ago

Yeah the EV adoption problem is too slow to address the actual existing ice fleets. There's like. A billion cars, and unless we do something more drastic than aiming for 100% EV sales, we're not going to meet transportation goals

aarnegranlund.bsky.social•50 days ago

”Two- and three-wheeled EVs account for about 60% of the oil demand avoided in 2023 due to their rapid adoption and large fleet, particularly in China, Southeast Asia and India.”

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/09/1-8-million-barrels-of-oil-a-day-avoided-from-electric-vehicles/

rishpardikar.bsky.social•50 days ago

Holding power to account is what journalism is. But in climate, praising the powerful is journalism now?

hencarnell.bsky.social•50 days ago

I think about this all the time. RE and EV are often just companies that often put profit over planet and people. It serves no one to report on them uncritically!!

clairerichards.bsky.social•50 days ago

What happened?

rishpardikar.bsky.social•50 days ago

Nothing new, TBH. It's a trend in climate reporting to not bother with accountability and just praise every RE development and EV sale without asking questions about high consumption societies, what an equitable burden of climate action means for rich countries or even displacement of fossil fuels

clairerichards.bsky.social•50 days ago

Yes, 100%. We swim in neoliberalism, capitalism, and technocratism. Actual transformation requires creativity and courage. And our positionality in all this is key. It can be reassuring for some not to actually change anything.

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