Page 181 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

14 JOURNALISM, CLIMATE COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA ALTERNATIVES 175

political aspects, but rarely mentions climate change. On the other hand,
news about climate change ‘is always about a new scientific study or the
negotiations happening somewhere else, and they never connect the dots
between that and fossil fuel exports in B.C.’. Instead, Washbrook argued:

Every time you talk about how urgent it is to take action to reduce emissions
and avoid the two degree ceiling, they need to say, ‘And these fossil fuel
export projects will play a direct role in increasing emissions’. There is a
fundamental connection between what we do here in B.C. and this global,
abstract concept …. We need to stop talking about [energy and climate] as
two separate things. The Kinder Morgan [pipeline] protests and the energy
economy of Canada need to be seen as connected and having direct appli-
cation for climate.

Making these linkages not only helps people better understand the causes
of climate change, but more importantly alerts us to our potential (col-
lective, political) agency: as Washbrook put it, ‘we are on the front lines of
the battle to avoid dangerous climate change … [and that] creates an
opportunity, but it also creates an obligation, because we actually can do
something here in Metro Vancouver’.
For some, this inability and/or refusal to pursue these linkages vigor-
ously—especially between climate change and the fossil fuel industry—
reflects the political economy of commercial media in Canada, particularly
British Columbia. Jamie Biggar, former executive director of Leadnow.ca
—a progressive political advocacy organization which runs national,
issue-based campaigns—explained that a key ‘disciplining factor’ among
news media is ‘not wanting to challenge the fossil fuel companies’.Asa
whole, he argued:

traditional media … are very much a part of the governing class and there is a
broad consensus in the governing class about the necessity of the oil sands in
particular, and fossil fuel development …. And I think you… worry that you
sound like you are not a serious person if you challenge that …. [And] the
fossil fuel companies exercise a fairly significant lever over most traditional
media now, as they have become enormous media buyers, enormous ad
buyers.

Paraphrasing the sentiments of Rafe Mair (a long time B.C. politician,
radio host and environmental activist), Damien Gillis—a documentary
filmmaker and co-founder (with Mair) of the alternative news site