The Media Really Does Matter

The Media Does Matter:

The media, that is, the way you get information about our environment and who you get it from really does matter. We are living in Exceptional Times, where anthropogenic (man-made) changes to the wholesale environment may jeopardize our children’s ability to survive in it.

Just think a moment about the news reporting on the frantic and irresponsible reporting on the buildup to the Iraq War ( Bill Moyers Journal . Buying the War . Additional Interviews PBS) and then look around you. Would our country be in the dire straits we are in the Middle East if our media had been responsible, free, unfettered, and doing their job properly?

So, is it with environmental matters, the media is not doing their job in informing us in an unbiased, intelligent, responsible way. Find out from Media Matters the problems surrounding the most salient (as there are many large environmental problems we are facing) and imminent environmental problem— Media Matters - Global Warming: Misinformation Action Center Get a sense of the way this critical issue is being manipulated by a biased press only concerned with making profits for their constituents.

Foremost, before we can even attempt to change how our society addresses the plethora of environmental issues facing us, we must educate ourselves about the facts, who to trust on getting those facts and who to trust on keeping us informed of the impacts or footprints of man on our environment. Enough politicking the environment, enough dodging the issues about our environment because you don’t think it’s important. If you don’t believe that Global Warming or pollution, the loss of biodiversity are important enough issues to you to pay attention to then We Don’t Get It!

And a good reason why we don’t get it is because we are not listening to the correct media, those who are doing their job independently of corporate influence and policies, and actually competently gathering the fact, connecting the dots, and reporting to the public.

The Endangered Endangered Species Act

Craven and Reckless - The exposure of the changes that may be occurring to the Endangered Species Act 0f 1973 must chill the heart of anyone who cares about a sustainable environment. Check Inside the secretive plan to gut the Endangered Species Act – “Proposed regulatory changes, obtained by Salon.com, would destroy the "safety net for animals and plants on the brink of extinction," say environmentalists. By Rebecca Clarren.

Clearly any changes made to the Endangered Species Act must lean towards more the protection of those species we are driving to oblivion from our way of life. I believe this position hints of saving endangered species lay at the heart of a deep environmental ethic that suggests that the biological diversity around us is integral to the underpinnings of the environment we need to survive. Scientifically, there is no more proof to this position than there is against it, though any responsible governmental body must hold to the Precautionary Principle: where is it better to be safe than sorry when tinkering with a system as complex and vital as our environment. We will be sorry when we foolishly (for short-term gain) extinct a species we might well have needed to keep our environment together.

Forget about trying to convince others by showing them cuddly warm creatures, or preserving a wonderful forestry canopy, and think about three billions years of evolution that built the structure of our environment. We don’t have the scintilla of information we would need to allow a plant or animal (or bacteria for that matter) to go extinct.

To help, go to Take Action: Tell Your Senator to Save the Endangered Species Act! --from http://www.savetheendangeredspeciesact.org/

Save our Environment, Save the Net

Act now to continue to get complete and unbiased environmental information - If you don't know about this developing issue on the Internet, Net Neutrality, it might seem at first like some obscure plea for your hard earned dollars. It's not. It's not about a donation and it's not about an obscure issue that will have little effect on your life. It's about your freedom to use the Internet as you wish: to start a business, communicate to whomever and however you want, to say and be heard by whatever audience you can make yourself heard. Those who took away the ordinary individual’s ability to send over the radio and television are now trying to take charge over those who can freely use the Internet.

This concern is especially important as the Internet becomes the medium of choice for entrepreneurs and how the public receives information for future—and as most of the other media mediums blend into the Internet with the fantastic bandwidth of fiber optics. If you are truly concerned about your fundamental right to chose who you communicate to and from, learn about Net Neutrality and connect with those hoping to preserve the freedom of the net.

As environmental issues pile up in these extraordinary times, it is more important than every that you have the opportunity to listen to as many voices as possible on the environmental issues we face and possible solutions to those problems. Not a corporate giant who interests might, in their opinion, be in jeopardy. In my opinion, the only way you’ve been able to get continual and comprehensive information on the state of our environment in the past several years is through the Internet because only environmental groups and small dedicated informational services have had the insight and tenacity and freedom to pursue the information we need most: that which accurately and continually informs us on the state of our environment.

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