I have never, ever picked up a copy of Rolling Stone magazine or visited its website. After today, I just might have to keep my eye on this world famous media outlet. My friend and former colleague sent me a link to what his longtime girlfriend just had published to the online version of Rolling Stone. It covers some of the environmental disasters that have not enjoyed a great deal of coverage from the rest of mainstream media.
Now, if you are plugged into the environmental world, you may have heard these stories. I am familiar with 4 of the 5 stories the online article highlights. However, with perhaps the exception of the West, Texas chemical plant explosion, I think much of America has not really heard of these incidents. Worse yet, they don't get the opportunity to understand the significance of these pollution events because the 24 hour news cycle deems the story to be less important than it really is. The harsh reality is there are many environmental incidents that either don't get past the local news, or get scant coverage on the national/international news shows.
For example, how many Americans know of the oil spill that occurred in a Salt Lake City creek the same year that the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill became America's worst oil spill ever? Or how about this Bohai Sea oil spill that occurred off the coast of China the following year? The fact of the matter is a lot of these incidents barely get mentioned in most news outlets. If you do hear about it, the research is usually left up to the individual to carry out if there is a desire to learn about the scope and scale of the incident.
Those of us who care about the environment must push back at the news outlets and demand they treat these incidents as real - and significant - stories. At a time when humans have never impacted the environment in a bigger way, we must hold the corporations that exploit the environment accountable. This is done by keeping the average citizen aware of what is going on and educating them on why a particular incident is such a bad thing. Unless we demand it, the corporations win the PR game, and we sadly find these news vignettes in Rolling Stone.
Now, if you are plugged into the environmental world, you may have heard these stories. I am familiar with 4 of the 5 stories the online article highlights. However, with perhaps the exception of the West, Texas chemical plant explosion, I think much of America has not really heard of these incidents. Worse yet, they don't get the opportunity to understand the significance of these pollution events because the 24 hour news cycle deems the story to be less important than it really is. The harsh reality is there are many environmental incidents that either don't get past the local news, or get scant coverage on the national/international news shows.
For example, how many Americans know of the oil spill that occurred in a Salt Lake City creek the same year that the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill became America's worst oil spill ever? Or how about this Bohai Sea oil spill that occurred off the coast of China the following year? The fact of the matter is a lot of these incidents barely get mentioned in most news outlets. If you do hear about it, the research is usually left up to the individual to carry out if there is a desire to learn about the scope and scale of the incident.
Those of us who care about the environment must push back at the news outlets and demand they treat these incidents as real - and significant - stories. At a time when humans have never impacted the environment in a bigger way, we must hold the corporations that exploit the environment accountable. This is done by keeping the average citizen aware of what is going on and educating them on why a particular incident is such a bad thing. Unless we demand it, the corporations win the PR game, and we sadly find these news vignettes in Rolling Stone.
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