Last week, respected political tech blogger Micah Sifry pointed out on techPresident that the Oil Spill is a metaphor for our times, in which actionable information gushes around the internet with no meaningful filter that will encourage people to actually do something with the bad news they receive. Describing the disturbing streaming video in the Gulf Coast, he wrote:
But it is also a quintessentially 21st century spectacle, and the way we are experiencing it is yet another warning of something that is deeply broken about how we use information today: we consume shocking images almost entirely without taking meaningful action in response.
He’s right, a lot of people consuming shocking images without doing anything, but perhaps a better question is why doesn’t the media acknowledge all the people who ARE doing something?
There is inspiring action being taken, we just aren’t hearing about it. Why is the media devoting so much time to the oil video when, through the Energy Action Coalition alone, there were 45 actions across the country two weeks ago calling for this to be our Crude Awakening?
Instead of the video of the ocean floor, we could be seeing shot after shot from a rainy day march to the White House with a banner covered in messages from people who live in the Gulf, thanks to our friends at 350.org. The media could be showcasing the public support for a clean energy revolution in this country, and lifting up the voices of people whose health and livelihoods are disappearing before their eyes.
The bigger problem is when journalists and bloggers treat real devastation like a news event. The production value is high, but the substance doesn’t back it up.
It’s time that the media start considering the energy revolution to be real news, not just a vertical on a web site, or a hashtag or a headline spurred only in times of disaster. A movement has been growing for decades and has only become bigger, stronger, and more united. We have built on the visions of our parents and are working for our children and our children’s children – we are the lucky few who are alive at the moment that this sweeping change will take place.
It’s sad to have to consider that maybe this is the scale of disaster we needed to bring this about. I was talking to someone yesterday who said that this disaster could be the best thing for the environmental movement in decades – and it’s undeniable that action has resulted from this. But we’re not a movement based on disaster. We’re a movement based on inspiration, hope, and a vision for our future.
If the oil spill is a metaphor for our times, let us focus on the action already being taken in response and the change we need to make – let it be an alarm bell sounding to wake the media out of questioning ‘facts’ and debating whether people believe in climate change and toward spreading the message that is already being shouted from the rooftops: Our future is on the line, and this is our country’s crude awakening.
