I was ill and not present in class on Tuesday when we
discussed climate change so my post will based on my own observations on
the subject. Our side of the room was assigned to discuss how social media
might provide solutions to the situation. The day I found out about this assignment
this post appeared on my Face book newsfeed.
“Former
Vice President Al Gore on Friday called on SXSW attendees to punish climate-change
deniers, saying politicians should pay a price for rejecting ‘accepted
science.'” The Chicago Tribune reported that Gore told the audience “we need to
put a price on denial in politics.” “I want to ask you, what kind of country
and what kind of world do you want to live in? What does the First Amendment
really even mean? Do you have a right to free speech? Do you have a right to
freedom of thought? Do you have a right to exist if your thoughts are spoken
out loud and they happen to disagree with others?” Glenn said on radio.
I think
many social media users have the misconception that by informing others about a
problem they have somehow participated in the solution. Although, I do think
that we need to inform each other about problems so that we can all become more
educated and aware, education does not equal solution. Solutions take
organization and action. Unfortunately, most social media users are hoping that
someone else will take care of that part of the solution. The whole idea of
going green or what was called environmentalism back in the day has always been
quite interesting to me. I find that people claim be concerned about climate
change, but pick and choose where they are willing to sacrifice. For example, when
you see the activist drive up to a protest in his big SUV, but for some reason
he can’t figure out why you don’t take him seriously.
While
researching this on the internet I came across an article title “Why social
media is important in the #climatewars. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/02/why-social-media-is-important-in-the-climatewars/ This article claims that social networking is
the glue for the cause. It literally spells out a prescription of how people
that do not believe in climate change can use social media to disrupt the efforts
of those calling for change through social media. It goes as far as to tell
them who to follow on Facebook and twitter, the biggest climate mouthpieces,
and instructs them to post or tweet a counter to any climate alarmism they see.
They refer to themselves as the #armyofdavids.
This is a
good example of organization done through social networking. This article does
not just pass on information, but gives instructions on how to take action.
Obviously, this kind of action will not really give a solution to anyone, but
just fuels the argument. What if you used the same kind of organization to give
people instruction on how they can become part of the solution by taking action?
Give people some guidance on how to
become part of the solution. I know I don’t really know how I could make a
difference in many arenas, if I just had a little bit of guidance on the simple
things I could do, I would most likely do them. It would be much more helpful
for people to post ideas or even selfies of what they are personally doing to
make a difference in their effort to save the planet, then to post some article
about the war the politicians are currently having about it. Show me what you
are doing and what I can do. That is taking action and becoming part of the
solution. Passing along information simply informs people.
Social
media is a great tool for organizing. The trick is passing along instructions
on how to take action, not simply passing along information and hoping someone
else will take action.
