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by Ben Zeisloft
October 26, 2021
from
ClimateChangeDispatch Website
Getty
Images
The
Great Barrier Reef is experiencing incredible growth - and the
media are silent.
The Australian government's most recent official report
(Long-Term
Monitoring Program - Annual Summary Report of Coral Reef Condition
2020/2021) on reef recovery
indicates that coral cover at the Northern Great Barrier Reef,
"continued to increase to 27% from the most recent low point in
2017."
Meanwhile, the Central Great Barrier Reef
saw hard coral cover increased from 14% in recent years to 26%.
Indeed, the study stated that over thirty-five years of monitoring,
the
Great Barrier Reef has consistently,
"shown an ability to recover
after disturbances."
Nevertheless, coverage of the Great Barrier Reef from
mainstream media outlets portrays a
starkly different narrative.
The New York Times,
for instance, reported in April 2018 that,
"an underwater
heatwave that damaged huge sections of Australia's Great Barrier
Reef two years ago spurred a die-off of coral so severe that
scientists say the natural wonder will never look the same
again."
The article pushed
governments to honor the Paris Climate Agreement...
The
author argued that by complying with the treaty, Australia will,
"still have the
Great Barrier Reef in 50 years" - although it "would still look
very different from today"...
As recently as
October 2020,
The Washington Post ran an article called,
"Warming has
killed half the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, study finds. It
might never recover"...
The piece argued
that technological advancements meant to aid reef recovery,
"might not be
enough for a country that continues to lead the world in
exporting coal, a fossil fuel that contributes to warming, which
hastens the decline of coral."
Indeed,
Center for
Industrial Progress Founder and President Alex Epstein
noted that the mainstream media has been quick to cover the Great
Barrier Reef's decline - but
not its rapid rebound...
"The climate
media's evasion of the Great Barrier Reef improvement confirms
that they have no interest in the truth about what's happening
with the climate and why," he said on Twitter.
"They are
interested in attacking fossil fuels, attacking capitalism, and
justifying vast expansions of government power."
"Any science
editor that covered the decline of the Great Barrier Reef but
not its improvement", including those at,
-
The New York Times
-
The Washington Post
-
CNN
-
The Guardian
-
USA Today
-
National
Geographic,
..."should commit to correcting their failures or be
pressured into resigning."
He also noted that
'celebrities' such as Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio
- who have publicly "catastrophized" about the Great Barrier Reef
- should,
"celebrate,
share the good news, and walk back their climate catastrophism."
"Why does it
matter so much that the climate media only cover negative
stories and ignore positive ones?" asked Epstein.
"Because it
contributes to deadly energy policy by catastrophizing the
side-effects of the fossil fuels that modern life depends on,
while ignoring their massive benefits."
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