Media's Power and Responsibility in the Eco-Crisis is Significant
Originally published in Finnish by finance publication Talouselämä. Written by Veikko Sajaniemi & Merja Turpeinen
The severity of ecological crises still needs to be argued today. The 1.5-degree limit of global warming was exceeded in January over the previous 12-month period, and the sixth mass extinction, this time caused by humans, is underway and accelerating.
Sustainability cuts through the whole of society. Why doesn't it cut through all journalism?
One news story might cover an environmental disaster, and the next will discuss the performance of the stock market's top companies. It feels like the news stories are from two separate worlds: one dealing with a multi-crisis threatening humanity, and the other immersed in the utopia of continuous growth. It is not acknowledged that profit-making depends on a habitable planet, whose habitability is continuously weakened by economic growth.
Climate crisis, biodiversity loss, overconsumption, pollution, and microplastics are absent from most news. "Climate change" is a commonly used and media-promoted gentle term for the ongoing climate crisis.
At the current rate, climate models predict that global warming will exceed three degrees by the end of the century. When the two-degree threshold is crossed, climate models will no longer be accurate (1, 2). By then, we will have almost certainly surpassed several tipping points, leading to irreversible changes that further accelerate climate change.
The issues are treated as separate phenomena, though none exist in isolation
Oil companies sponsor winter sports, and one sponsorship euro can produce up to 100kg of snow-melting carbon dioxide. News about cars doesn’t mention that the largest source of microplastics in the oceans is from car tires.
According to a recent study by Etla, a significant portion of the corporate subsidies granted by Finland directly support fossil fuels or activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions.
The world has committed to abandoning the fossil fuel energy system. Net zero, the balance of emissions and their removal, is targeted for 2050, but this goal must be achieved much faster if we are to prevent runaway warming. Despite the Paris Agreement, emissions have not decreased, and the available carbon budget is running out. If the oil industry were scaled down faster, two-thirds of the impacts would affect the richest ten percent of the world, and half would affect the top one percent. Yet, the issue has been turned into a monster threatening everyone’s retirement savings.
Incorporating sustainability perspectives into all journalism would create pressure on companies to act responsibly
At the heart of news reporting is economic growth, which is not questioned in the media. It is still suggested that the economy can grow indefinitely on a finite planet, even though as the economy grows, so do emissions, deforestation, and human rights violations. Within the scientific community, there is a strong consensus about the impossibility of continuous growth.
Over the past 20 years, the material carbon footprint has grown even faster than the gross domestic product. This year, Finland's Earth Overshoot Day was on April 12. We are already in ecological debt.
The role of the media in sharing information is significant. Therefore, it is extremely important that news stories are consistent and that sustainability perspectives are considered in all articles and editorials. The editor-in-chief sets the editorial guidelines, and sustainability starts with the commitment of leadership.
Journalists should be educated and encouraged to cover these topics so that environmental and human rights perspectives are embedded in all journalism. Editorial teams could make more use of university sustainability experts in covering these themes, and fact-checkers could ensure that sustainability cuts across all topics.
The current narrative of a good life enabled by economic growth and materialism requires changing. It would be great to see the media measure success through actions that enhance environmental and societal well-being rather than just financial performance.
The media has the power to influence how success and good life are perceived.