Media | Climate Concerned Am

Press the Media for More Coverage of the Climate Crisis and Solutions

What's at stake is nothing less than the health of the planet and everything on it, but neither the media nor much of the public treat climate change as the defining issue we believe it to be.

As a 2023 article in The Guardian put it, "the climate crisis remains a niche concern for most mainstream news outlets," adding, "In every newsroom in every community, climate crisis needs to be thought of not as a beat, but as a through-line involving everything we do."

Action we can take

We need media outlets to play a much stronger role in informing the public about the problems and solutions. Write, call, or meet with the media and your own local media outlets, encouraging them to do more, especially in reporting on climate solutions.

We will send members of our group occasional emails with suggestions for letters or emails they might send to impress the importance of climate change coverage on specific publishers or editors.

Here is one sample message you can modify and direct to your own preferred local or national media outlet.

Dear (Editor/Publisher/Producer),

Climate change, and what political candidates have done or say they will do about it, are critically important to me. And I am not alone. Many of my fellow alumni from Amherst College have joined in a public call for faster, bolder action to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change.

Your coverage on climate events and science has been (adequate/commendable). But as we look for ways to support a movement away from carbon emission pollution and the ongoing buildup of greenhouse gases, we want to know what local, state, and national officials have done, the positions they've taken, and what they say they will do to reduce carbon emissions, decrease reliance on fossil fuels, and mitigate against climate disasters such as large-scale flooding and devastating fires. There are stark differences in how seriously our various elected representatives want to deal with climate change; how is that not a story to be covered at this time?

Thanks you for your attention. I look forward to (reading/seeing/listening) to your coverage of all important issues in the fall elections, with climate change at the top, not the bottom, of the list.

Warm regards,