Earth Day is April 22nd… so we can enjoy a month (some are now referring to April as Earth Month) of better than usual coverage of things related to our environment. Great. Let’s see if the coverage is wider and deeper than in years past. Tonight, NBC is airing a Climate Change special report by Ann Curry at 7pm Eastern Time. Tomorrow, a nine episode series begins called Years of Living Dangerously, complete with a line up of Hollywood types. It will air on cable TV but it is also available on YouTube for free.
In spite of the fact that scientists often cringe when the media oversimplifies and misreports subtleties, the gist of what programs like these present are essential to getting “people out there” to tune in to important issues. The days of coddling the population with limited information because, “people get depressed and feel hopeless” when they hear environmentalist doom and gloom are over—well it’s about time. It is past the time for all of us to face the need to move past fossil fuel use. It is time to toughen up and get busy.
Here is a trailer for the nine part series: http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com