Heat records or heat shame, how should the media report on the new weather situations?
With temperatures rising to Sahara-like proportions in recent weeks, we saw cucumber journalism at its best: splashing toddlers, beach photos, twenty-somethings in bikinis. And it was exciting too, because there were fifty KNMI weather stations in the race to break the heat record. Exactly what we want to see and read during our summer holidays, right?
We have been preparing for higher temperatures for some time now by comparing the new summers with 'Parisian summers' and 'temperatures as we are used to in Spain'. Gerrit Hiemstra sat at Jinek's table to express his concerns about the warm weather, but had to do this in front of an ice cream seller and someone who earned his living by spraying dry plants green. That summer was wonderful, but when the thermometer showed 40 degrees, it seemed like another boiling point had been reached.
Another voice started buzzing around on Twitter: “stop using words like 'heat record'!” in times where we know that this has to do with a changing climate and the influence that we as humans have on this. This was followed in the newspapers: Ewoud Sanders listed all descriptions again in the NRC. 'Heat records', 'who would win', 'being in the race', 'leading' were used frequently. Incomprehensible as far as he is concerned.
The nail has hit the head, because it feels as if the images and words we are used to describing the weather no longer correspond to the times in which we live. With so much knowledge about our influence on the climate and the negative consequences that higher temperatures have on our living environment, a new tone is needed.
We are critical of vegetarians who fly, there is criticism because 'wind turbines ruin the view' and we are skeptical about the usefulness of electric cars, 'because you know what it takes to develop and produce this'. Sometimes there is something to be said for that, but does it help the thermometer drop even half a degree?
To be fair, in recent days I have also read a lot about the forest fires in the North Pole, heat islands in cities and a heat plan for animals including images from pig stables. It was not just hosanna and images like this make it clear what challenge we face together.
Therefore, a proposal for everyone to contribute: journalists, please apply that critical tone to overenthusiastic meteorologists who talk about records. Media only shows those swimming pool images at a temperature of up to 36 (?) degrees, praise the companies that give their employees extra vacation days if they want to travel by train, put that promising climate start-up on the front page and please don't pretend that we have a winning a match in 40 degrees.
And let's all tone down with all those heat record-related social media posts. No selfies of feet in water, no polar bears in zoos licking ice blocks and no photos of gardens being watered. So that hopefully in a few years we won't all have to live in heat shame.
