Scientific American has agreed with major news outlets worldwide to start using the term “climate emergency” in its coverage of climate change. An official statement about this decision, and the impact it hopes it can have throughout the media landscape, is below.
This idea is not a journalistic fancy. We are on solid scientific ground. In January Scientific American published an article about a study entitled “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency.”
At the time, more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries had signed a report to signify their agreement that the world is facing a climate emergency that requires bold action. As of April 9 another 2,100 had signed on. As Scientific American‘s article said, ‘the adverse effects of climate change are much more severe than expected and now threaten both the biosphere and humanity…. Every effort must be made to reduce emissions and increase removal of atmospheric carbon in order to restore the melting Arctic and end the deadly cycle of damage that the current climate is delivering’. The article also noted that as of January, ‘1,859 jurisdictions in 33 countries have issued climate emergency declarations covering more than 820 million people’.
Journalism should reflect what science says: the climate emergency is here. The statement it has issued was coordinated by Covering Climate Now, a global journalism initiative with more than 400 media partners.
You can read the full article on the Scientific American website.