I find it interesting to look at how much global warming has been incorporated into pop culture. The whole “green revolution” is really taking off. If you think about it, most of the “green” products are not any different than our everyday “non green” products. The “green” vintage t-shirts at Target are not any different than any of the other t-shirts made for Target. I also saw water being sold at Caribou Coffee that was advertising that is was environmentally friendly but it is just like another plastic water bottle that is going to end up in the land fill after the water has been drank.
I started reading the main text of the novel before reading these quotes at the beginning of the book and I thought that this book resembled the Da Vinci code a lot. They take very popular topics and real facts and turn them into a thrilling novel. It is hard to tell what true and what is fiction. The Wall Street Journal writes “The Da Vinci Code with real facts, violent storms, and a different kind of faith altogether…Every bit as informative as it is entertaining. And it is very entertaining.”
On page 114 of State of Fear, Jennifer Haynes from the Vanutu Team states that “Newspapers and television are susceptible to carefully orchestrated media campaigns. Law-suits are not” when talking about getting reliable information. It is so true. Because the global warming campaign has been so embedded in our popular culture, it is hard to know what to believe. Even when it comes to interpreting statistics and graphs, it is hard to know what to believe. Any statistic can be twisted to fit just about any stance.
There is very much a hybrid of information here with the global warming campaign. Two of the main categories of global warming, to me, are the scientific aspect and the popular culture aspect. Scientists need the mainstream media in order to get their research out to the general, unscientific public. In order to do this, much of their research is presented in general terms in a “lets fight back” tone. The “dumbed-down” media is trying to gain support which results in more research funding. It is a circle of events. Research is done, “green” campaigns emerge, support is gained, gifts are made, and more research is done… one big cycle of scientific research and popular culture intertwined.
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I completely agree with you that there are two different aspects of global warming. However, i think that they depend on each other. Who knows if global warming would get so much publicity and notice if it werent for pop culture. And if it werent for global warming, we wouldnt be worried about the media and culture twisting the facts on us. Even if pop culture does exaggerate the facts and twist statistics it produces a greater reaction from the population that can make a difference. If we make it seem like global warming is "Kind of happening" then people wont be as enthusiastic about buying green bags and similar items.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder how well these "green" campaigns and efforts to go green actually help. I mean they obviously help otherwise they would have been stopped by now. Are they cost effective? Are they actually making an impact worldwide? I would like some information to come from the scientists that says its making a difference, not just companies saying things like "buy this bag and help save the planet".