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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat the Weather Channel Knows—and John Boehner Doesn't
What the Weather Channel Knowsand John Boehner Doesn't
BY JONATHAN COHN
The best television coverage of President Obamas climate speech Tuesday wasnt on Fox, CNN, or even MSNBC. It was on the Weather Channel, the only network to carry the address live and to treat it as the major development that it was. Before Obama spoke, the network carried a special, The Science Behind Climate Change. After the speech, the network ran more analysis, including a discussion of ways to reduce carbon emissions.
Apparently this is typical. Im not a Weather Channel aficionado, but my 13-year-old son loves it. He tells me theyve been talking about climate change for some time. And while that could be a sign the networks management has a secret liberal bias, it could also be a sign that shows about disasters get strong ratings. When bad things happenor, in this case, when bad things might happen in the futurepeople care about it. And that tells us something important about whats really at stake in this fight.
As soon as the White House began leaking stories about Obamas plans to refocus on climate change, Republicans and their allies pounced. And although the usual yahoos had the usual loopy things to say, for the most part critics used the occasion to suggest that climate change was a distraction from more important issuesand that Obama, by focusing on the environment, had lost touch with the American people. I think this is absolutely crazy, House Speaker John Boehner said. "Why would you want to increase the cost of energy and kill more American jobs at a time when American people are asking, 'Where are the jobs.' " Writing in the New York Times, Ross Douthat suggested Obamas concern was evidence of Acela Corridor ideology
places where Obama-era liberalism overlaps with the views of Davos-goersalthough, to be fair, it wasnt clear whether Douthat agreed with that perception or was merely describing it.
Conservatives make these arguments because, historically, they have worked. And they may still work today. Plenty of Americans are prepared to believe that environmentalism necessarily pits the good of the planet against the good of its human inhabitants. But, as a substantive matter, our interests are not really in such conflict. The effects of climate change include higher rates of diseases like asthma (because the air is harder to breathe) and malaria (because mosquitoes have more places, and more time, to breed). As the planet warms, weather patterns change, and most scientists believe that will lead to more frequent and more severe storms. Some of the most devastating effects could come from rising sea levels, enough to threaten coastal cities around the worldhome to many millions of people and many billions of dollars worth of wealth. Drought, famine, floodsspotted owls arent the only ones who would feel the effects.
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http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113679/weather-channel-south-florida-climate-change-and-obama#
sheshe2
(83,751 posts)Whitehouse web site. I was shocked afterwards to find out the only live coverage had been the Weather Channel.
The corporate owned biased media chose to ignore this. Surprise! As for Boehner and the other idiots, they are spouting outrage and sheer ignorance of the facts. They are so in bed with their greedy masters that nothing is more important than profits.
They are to busy buying up the world. I truly believe they are blinded by their lust for power and incessant need to have it all to see the danger
They live in this world, Mother Nature is not partisan, they too will suffer die as painfully as the rest of us. Their money will not save them then.
Thanks for bring this here babylonsister~
malaise
(268,967 posts)MSGreedia feasts on disasters - they are great for ratings.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)And all, I'm sure, are concerned about climate change, whatever their individual political leanings might otherwise be. And they have a whole network on which to talk about it.