Pirate's Cove

I like Sir David Attendborough’s documentaries: they are very well done. His Blue Planet series was a triumph. Of course, he’s taken lots and lots of fossil fueled trips to make them, even after becoming a card carrying member of the Cult of Climastrology

Climate Crisis ‘Swept Off The Front Pages’ Due To Coronavirus Pandemic, David Attenborough Warns

Veteran presenter Sir David Attenborough has warned the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has caused the climate crisis to be ‘swept off the front pages’ of the news.

The 94-year-old broadcaster, who often uses his platform to shed light on environmental issues, made the comments during his recent appearance on the So Hot Right Now podcast.

According to The Independent, Attenborough said: “The trouble is that right now the climate issue is also seen as being rather in the distant future because we’ve got the virus to think about.

“And so what are the papers full of? The virus. Quite right, that’s what I want to know about, too. But we have to make sure that this issue, which was coming to the boil with the next COP meeting in Glasgow, has suddenly been swept off the front pages.”

In a Bat Soup Virus world, should there really be 10,000+ taking long, fossil fueled trips to gather in Glasglow? Sure, that’s months away, but, the beginning of December, when the weather is turning chilly, is not the best time to keep people from getting viruses, right, and the concern is that Fall will bring a resurgence of COVID-19.

Attenborough does have a point, though. ‘Climate change’ coverage is way, way down. I’ve mentioned before that it has been difficult on some days to find articles of interest. My normal is to write a post on something else, then do a climate post. When I do my search I usually save multiple climate articles to Pocket for use later in day. I often end up deleting articles from Pocket a few days later because I never used them. These days, I sometimes have trouble finding just one. This morning, this was the only article of interest despite 20 pages of a Google news search. Nor is there anything for “climate crisis”. It just goes to show, concern about ‘climate change’ is really more theoretical, rather than a real world concern.

Attenborough isn’t the only environmentalist to warn how the pandemic is affecting our attention on the climate crisis. TV presenter and vegan advocate Chris Packham says the virus ‘could set back’ climate change efforts.

Speaking to the BBC, Packham said: If this turns out to be an enforced break in dealing with these issues and we lose the impetus we have gained, that could set us back years. Climate change isn’t going away.

Coronavirus is real: people feel it. They see it. Even though many nations around the world aren’t having the same hysterical articles in the papers and broadcasts on the TV (read some outlets in Australia and the UK, among others), people are concerned. They have the same issues with closures, restrictions, economic devastation, social distancing, etc and so on. This is real world. The so-called climate crisis is a 1st World issue that people profess to care about when they have nothing better to worry about.