Stell Dir vor es ist Klimawandel, und keiner geht hin... Was für eine Intro zum Workshop "Writing for Change" an der LMU! Danke für die Einladung @haztravrcc

Follow this THREAD for insights into our discussion about environmental journalism then and now 🌿🌎👇#writingforchange

Following in the footsteps of Rachel Carson #writingforchange

How can we stop #climatechange? Can journalism help? What made past media campaigns successful? How many reports can readers take before becoming indifferent? What is the right mixture of emotional & rational appeal?

@mrneuzil traces back the history of environmental journalism all the way to the Bible: "The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws..." (Isaiah 24:5)

🙄 #bibleprophecy #plasticplanet #writingforchange

The roots of environmentalism in #Argentina are in poetry: The journal "Eco Contemporáneo" published poems and created a counter-culture to mainstream media in the 1960s, when topics of pollution were never on the front page, says @AyeDic (National University of Quilmes).

Before the novels and the Nobel Prize, #Hemingway was a journalist. He was given exact orders how to write @KCStar:

"Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative. Eliminate every superfluous word."
👉#writingforchange

When #writingforchange, forget about the solitary polar bear! Good environmental writers use #storytelling techniques to make climate change tangible: Think about old myths like the great flood, think global stories locally, find a hero to accompany on his quest!

Interesting: Early environmentalism was pro-nuclear-power. A whole generation mesmerized by the technological fix. Only later, environmental journalism shifted focus, as the writings of #BarbroSoller or #JosefVelek show.

#writingforchange

Climate change is real. But what if politics won't listen?
This is what environmental humanities scholars discuss today and tomorrow @CarsonCenter: carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_se…
✍️🍃👆🌿
#writingforchange

Can environmental awareness only arise through journalistic reporting? What responsibility do politics have to inform society about environmental issues? This is a problem in Serbia with the rise of #FakeNews - Germany witnessed different dynamics in 2018:
edition.cnn.com/2018/09/13/eur…

How dangerous is #writingforchange? In Russia, you might go to prison for reporting about Gazprom oil drilling in the arctic or the ecological damage caused by the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, sais Anna Mazanik (@ceuhungary), cf. this report by @RSF_inter: rsf.org/sites/default/…

@NatureNews has 3 mio. readers. Journalist @alison_c_abbott says: "We are aware of different audiences: Those who just want the WOW, those who want the science behind the news. We don't campaign, but we do have an opinion: The environment needs to be protected." #writingforchange

Is it a burden to write for a powerful publication like Nature, @alison_c_abbott?

"The responsibility was never just me dancing through Europe with a bright spark of ideas. My articles had to fit into a bigger picture designed by many others." #writingforchange

@alison_c_abbott, do environmental journalists need a scientific degree?"

Training in any scientific method is good for every journalist: It's how you learn to read studies. But in general, it's more important to know the tools of reporting." #writingforchange

@alison_c_abbott, has journalism become pointless in times of FakeNews?

"Quite the contrary, there is a real need for quality journalism. This is why more and more good publishers will install fact checking departments like we have them." #writingforchange #Relotius