When it comes to raising awareness on the climate crisis, the media has a fundamental role to play.

Billions of people across the world rely on journalists and writers to keep them informed on how the climate crisis is unfolding, and their opinions and feelings on the issues can be greatly influenced by what they read and hear. When it comes to a multifaceted, complex issue like the climate crisis, which stories are the ones that get told, and why? What should the role of the media be when it comes to engaging with the climate crisis?

Join our panel of experts to explore how climate change stories are told in the media, how they might influence and shape readers’ thoughts and feelings, and how powerful storytelling in the media could be a galvanising force for action.

This talk may contain adult themes - we recommend audience members are 16+. Any children must be accompanied by an adult.

Meet the Speakers:

Natalie Cooper (@nhcooper123) is an ecologist and Senior Researcher at the Natural History Museum. Her work involves using different techniques to understand broad-scale patterns of biodiversity. She has held academic positions at Yale, Harvard and Trinity College Dublin before joining the Museum.

Disha Ravi (@disharavii) is a youth climate and environmental activist based in Bangalore, India, and co-founder of the India branch of Fridays For Future. She became an activist after seeing her family directly impacted by the water crisis, and is passionate about ensuring that voices from MAPA - Most Affected People and Areas - are represented in climate conversations. She is an author of multiple articles for international youth climate activists, and featured in a September 2020 British Vogue magazine profile of four activists of colour tackling environmental racism.

Justin Rowlatt(@BBCJustinR) is a journalist, news reporter and television presenter, and is the BBC’s first ever Climate Editor. He has travelled all over the world reporting from the frontlines of climate change, covering both how it is impacting our lives, and what we can do about it.

Amy Westervelt (@amywestervelt) is an award-winning climate and investigative journalist and executive producer of the podcast production company, Critical Frequency. She is the host of Drilled, a true crime podcast about climate change, and co-hosts Hot Take with climate justice writer, Mary Annaïse Heglar, which explores all the ways media and society are talking—and not talking—about the climate crisis.

The Role of the Media in the Climate Crisis