Two COP conferences, a peak in coverage and the following climate fatigue
In November and December 2022, climate news was abundant, and here's what you should know.
December 20, 2022
🌏 This newsletter is 813 words long, a 6.3-minute read.
With two COP summits, one in Egypt about the climate and one in Montreal about biodiversity, environmental news most certainly found their ways to you in the past few weeks. To avoid boring you or looking repetitive, we propose a different formula this month. Instead of sharing the biggest news, we picked some excellent stories that might have gone unnoticed. Our proposition also takes root in your comments: Sometimes, climate news makes you anxious, and we get that. That’s why we try to share as many solutions and long-form stories as we can.
Also, excuse this late edition: with the end of the term and the upcoming break, we thought it wise to combine the November and December editions.
As the graph shows, our monthly surveillance of the tweets from 39 Canadian media outlets certainly shows the impact of COP27 on climate news, with a summit for November. But did the media suffer from environmental fatigue next? That’s what the data tends to show for December, despite the international COP15 conference about biodiversity happening in Canada. This is something we will dig into in the following months!
I wish you all a very peaceful holiday. We’ll be back around the first week of February to share our overview for January!
Amélie
Indigenous Solution
Arctic shift to clean energy
Inukjuak, 1,500 kilometers north of Montreal, is shifting from diesel to a cleaner, hydroelectric energy source. Learn about the story of the local leaders making it happen with this collaboration between CTV News Montreal, Concordia University, Indigenous Clean Energy, and Journalists for Human Rights. Our amazing Journalism colleague Aphrodite Salas and her team and collaborators launched their collaborative news interactive on energy leadership in Nunavik. Click here to explore the interactive project, which was screened at the COP15 in Montreal last week.
News
A look back at COP27
November saw the wrap of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. While one of the biggest stories of the conference was the creation of an international fund for developing countries affected by climate change, Canada was in the hot seat for embarrassing reasons. Many journalists reported on Canada’s shortcomings in reducing emissions and its reliance on the oil and gas sector. These stories by La Presse, CBC News and Le Devoir do an excellent job of explaining the impacts of Canada’s pollution; we also wanted to highlight their use of experts in these stories! If you are a visual learner or someone who likes graphics, The National Observer wrote a great piece that breaks down, visually, Canada’s pollution caused by the oil and gas industry.
Credit Matthew TenBruggencate/Unsplash
Profile
Climate journalists in the spotlight
There is an overflow of information, science is often complex, and climate change impacts all spheres of society. Covering climate change at a time when our endangered environment is at the heart of international discussions represents a challenge for the journalists who are assigned to the task. Fortunately, we can count on the talent of our Canadian climate journalists to make sense of it all. In this story, Radio-Canada highlights the work of its environmental team, which works hard to produce quality content that engages citizens. You will find the testimonies of journalists Elisa P. Serret and Étienne Leblanc, whose stories have been featured in our newsletter on a few occasions.
Long-form
The story of a young climate refugee, melting glaciers in Europe, and what pollution in the St. Lawrence River says about our relationship to nature
With the bombardment of climate crisis-related stories over the past weeks because of both COP27 and COP15, we wanted to focus on some incredible long-form pieces that demonstrate great reporting, feature beautiful pictures, and share different voices.
The first story we want to bring to you is the first-person account of Rubaiyat Karim, who tells her story of being forced to leave her home due to climate change. This article provides insight into the ongoing mental battle of being a climate refugee now living in a top-polluting country. Karim is a great storyteller, and the images she chose for her story are super impactful. Kudos to the CBC for providing an outlet where people can share their stories, especially important since “climate refugee” is not yet a recognized term.
The second and third stories we wanted to highlight are both multimedia pieces that look at the ongoing impacts of climate change on our glaciers and fresh water. Raphaël Bouvier-Auclair’s story for Radio-Canada examines the effects of climate change on melting glaciers which includes beautiful photography and an explanation of the importance the Swiss Alps has on the entirety of Europe. Verity Stevenson and Stephany Hildebran teamed up for the CBC to create a great story on the importance of the St. Lawrence River. They followed a team of scientists who analyzed the contents of the water as they made their way from Cornwall to Quebec City.
The Climate and the Media in Canada newsletter is a monthly publication brought to you by Concordia Journalism assistant professor Amélie Daoust-Boisvert and her team . It’s made possible because of support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Questions, feedback? Reach out at cmrconcordia@gmail.com
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This week, the newsletter is signed by Amélie Daoust-Boisvert, Brianna Losinger-Ross and Mélanie Lussier. Editor-in-chief and editor Amélie Daoust-Boisvert