What's new in climate change debate?
I was alarmed to see this year's UTV contribution on climate change, with two 30-minute documentaries by Jamie Delargy last week, and Monday night's debate.
In a year which has seen food prices rocket, oil prices rocket and fall and the ongoing plunge of the global economy inflated by greed and corruption, UTV chose to repeat itself in a poorly informed debate on climate change.
Brian Black said last year: "We are in denial".
Obviously, we still must be. We continue to deplete our limited resources at an alarming rate. We need policies to preserve these resources until we have the appropriate renewable energy in place.
What we need on TV is action. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of actions for the environment going on in Northern Ireland; some large, some small, local and global.
These can be the basis for brilliant, inspiring and fun television. UTV missed this opportunity.
A few months ago, I failed to convince Michael Wilson, UTV's Head of Television, that we've done the talking heads to death, that we already know about the melting polar ice caps, flood chaos, and mountains of rubbish; what we need is a bit – no, a lot, of action. Interactive TV is perfect for this.
In the words of viewer George Lyttle, environmental education officer at Bryson Charitable Group: "If we want to make a programme on the environment for Northern Ireland it must have a local focus!"
Shirley Lewis
(Aka Bag Lady)
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Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 15 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South west
