Newspapers are commonly known for not being the most reliable tool for information, however they are not the least either i.e. the dreaded wikipedia! There main purpose is to sell there work to the largest audience as possible. Due to this demand there publications on issues such as climate change can occasionally be unreliable or misleading especially with regards to the headline as this is what first catches people’s attention.

There are two different types of newspaper, these are broadsheet and tabloid. They differ in their physical size, catchment group and content. Research shows that broadsheets are considered to be more reliable and hold accurate more informative articles, whereas tabloids are generally simplified and have the potential to be exaggerated in order to emphasise a subject.

Climate change articles are not necessarily unreliable but negative articles are more likely to be produced as these attract more attention. The fact that all articles on climate change are negative gives an inaccurate view of the subject which is then where the unreliability factor comes in. However you can never tell if an article on a topic such as global warming is reliable as even ‘the top dogs’ in climate change research disagree with others opinions of such a vast and complex subject.

A study by Maxwell Boykoff of climate change in the tabloids shows that it’s the tabloids that have a higher circulation of almost 10 times that of broadsheets, proving that dramatised, over exaggerated ‘bad news’ is a bigger seller than the reliable news.

Climate change articles are often linked to sustainable development as when negative climate change and global warming articles are published they tend to lead people to suggest ‘sustainable’ ways in which to reduce impacts on the environment.

Further reading

The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids – Maxwell. T. Boykoff

Over the years the car industry has come on leaps and bounds from the horse and cart era. Although these were very energy and fuel efficient they are not the most practical in modern society!

Personally I don’t drive…yet! Unlike most people when I turned 17 I didn’t want to start driving as where I lived had very reliable public transport and I had the good old parentals to fall back on if I needed a car. However in the future this is bound to change as cars have lots of benefits such as; giving you independence, they are generally reliable (especially compared to some areas public transport) and are practical, especially when you have a family.

There are lots of options of transport other than a car, for example; walking, cycling, bus, taxi and train. As well as this there is also the increasing opportunity of participating in things like car sharing or joining the car company. This operates in many cities and allows up to 10 people to sign up for a car, this is kept in a central point and all you have to do is ring prior to wanting the car to see if it’s available. This is very good as everyone shares the insurance, tax, congestion chares and petrol costs. You can keep it for up to a week meaning you can go away for a few days or you can just do some shopping. These aren’t immensely known about or popular now, but as the price of having your own car continues to rise people may reconsider their options.

Between 1990 and 2006 the C02 emissions from private cars increased by 4% and in the same period the volume of road traffic (total number of km’s travelled by cars) increased by 20%. These statistics show that there haven’t been substantial improvements in the amount of CO2 emissions released from private cars in the UK. This I think is mainly due to people liking the independence, assurance and freedom that your own car offers. However in the immediate future I feel that this could increase slightly or level out before decreasing in a few years. This prediction is based on the fact that at the moment energy efficient cars such as hybrids, electric, and bio fuels are very expensive to purchase, discouraging people to give up their cheaper CO2 emitting cars for greener alternatives. Hopefully this will change and with high fluctuating petrol prices people’s opinions will change too. However these sorts of changes don’t just happen over night! I also predict that they could fall due to schools recently increasing their promotion of “walk to school” and teaching children about CO2 emissions in such a way as to make them think more about how people’s actions affect the world. Therefore potentially in a couple of generations we could be a more respectful and greener society.