Time to end ‘debate’ on climate change
The call from Extinction Rebellion for the BBC to make global warming its top editorial priority should be welcomed ( Letters , 17 December). The BBC is journalistically objective when reporting global warming. If a scientist or activist talks on air about the human causes of climate change then someone else, often from one of the denial groups funded by the fossil fuel lobby, is usually invited to provide a counterargument (for example, that recent warming is caused by natural factors). This leaves many viewers with the erroneous impression that a genuine scientific is debate taking place and weakens social support for strong measures to address climate change, which is precisely what the organised denial lobby wants. It is time for the BBC to abandon this illusion of impartiality. Global warming demands a new ethos of public service broadcasting. Scientific evidence has made it unambiguously clear that contemporary climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions. There is no scientific equivalence, and certainly no moral equivalence, between what climate scientists have concluded and what the deniers assert. The only scientific debate left is on the scale and pace of change. How bad will it be; and how soon? And how should we respond? The BBC should commit itself to upscaling its coverage of global warming and working with other media to ensure that the public is accurately and fully informed on the most pressing public welfare challenge of this century. David Humphreys Professor of environmental policy, The Open University Join the debate email guardian.letters@theguardian.com Read more Guardian letters click here to visit gu.com/letters Do you have a photo youd like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and well publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition