A story from NBC warns that “Florida's manatees are dying off at unusually high rates” and could be facing a record die-off. As for the experts who say, they “are warning that the sustained loss of a key food source is severely threatening the iconic marine mammals.” So what’s the threat? Well, “the main issue is worsening water quality in Florida's waterways from wastewater contamination and nutrient runoff that trigger toxic red tides and overgrowths of algae, known as algal blooms. These recurrent problems are killing off seagrass, seaweed-like plants that grow underwater and are a main food source for manatees.” And you know what’s coming, right? Wrong. The story contains exactly no references to climate change. And it matters, because if everyone is focused on the supposedly toxic CO2 molecule it diverts energy, time and money away from fixing stuff that really is pollution and really does threaten species small, obscure and ugly or big, famous and cute.
Interestingly, the byline on this piece says the journalist “is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.” Which pretty much tells you they know what the story is before they start. At least usually. They’re paid to. But this one doesn’t even throw it in as a reflexive genuflection, and it matters.
It matters partly for the relief it provides. Contrast this story with, for instance, another NBC item about a law student at Stanford who nearly didn’t get his law degree because he circulated a parody email impersonating the local branch of the Federalist Society supposedly making a case for political violence. When the Federalist Society filed a complaint the university put the granting of the degree on hold, but eventually ruled that the email was protected speech and the degree would be granted. Relieved, the student said “Whether we are demanding accountability from the people who supported the insurrection, challenging the ongoing deluge of voter suppression laws in state legislatures, reminding SLS administration that White Supremacy Lives Here Too, or brainstorming ways to decarbonize our society, it is vital that we keep the dialogue going.”
Wait a minute. How did decarbonization get in there? Easy. It’s everywhere. It’s all one, man, in a giant confluence of cosmic awareness. Which is why it’s such a relief to encounter a news story that doesn’t reflexively blame it or at least drag it in.
Whether we can save manatees by satirizing the Federalist Society has not yet been argued by Stanford law students. But give it time. Meanwhile we can save them by looking at the specific causes of their problems instead of pivoting on all issues to denounce a colourless, odorless trace gas essential to life on Earth and throwing all our money at it while real toxins pour into our water. And NBC did look at the specific causes. So we applaud them.
I saw another article about the "worlds biggest ice berg " breaking of Antarctica. Apparently that was natural occurrence. Maybe it was too big to comprehend. And the ice was in the water already, so no sea water rise.