7 News Belize

Climate Change Lessons For Journalists
posted (April 26, 2017)

Walk instead of drive to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, reduce industrial activities like factory operations, recycle, properly dispose of chemical waste and the list goes on: many of us have heard of these environmental tips but not a lot of us actually take it seriously. But our disregard for the well-being of the environment has come to back to haunt us â€" in the form of Climate Change. Those two Big ‘C’s’ is the center of ongoing discussions in the Caribbean and around the world and it continued today among Caribbean media and communications professionals. This campaign under the theme “Feel the Changeâ€￾ was held at Princess Hotel and it is part of what’s called the Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership. Courtney Weatherburne has a bit more on the urgency of this regional dialogue.

Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, people all over the world have had first-hand experience with these natural disasters.

And many see these storms just as that â€" natural, inevitable. These storms take lives and destroy communities, but all people can do is endure the hit, keep on and try to prepare for the next one.

But many don’t consider that we have a lot to do with these increased storm activities â€" really, it’s the environment’s reaction to extreme stress brought on by human activity.

And today at a Regional Climate Change workshop, these experts hope to engage media personnel in this discussion, so, in turn the public can be more aware of the severity of Climate Change and how we can do to decrease the strain on the environment.

Karen Bernard - Deputy Resident Rep. UNDP Belize
"The purpose of this training is that the media experts will have a better sense of how to get these messages across, how to engage people, how to communicate which is quite vital because the scientist know all about climate change, they know about it and it's keeping them awake at night. But sometimes your person on the street doesn't really know enough about it or doesn't understand it. So the media play an especially key role in that, so the purpose of this training is to give them the skills and go through some exercise so that everybody can go back to their countries and get people interested in climate change and get people going something to address climate change in their countries."

Keith Nichols - Senior Project Development Specialist, CCCCC
"Climate change is everything, its tourism, its agriculture, its food security, its disease factor, it's life styles, it's every single thing; but when you think of the impact of extreme weather events on our lives, our daily lives, the economies of all counties for instance. You think of lots of life, the impact of productivity, the impact economies, on revenue generation and everything else. People are affected, it's all about people, and we are affected."

"We are borrowing the environment from our future generations so yes we have a moral obligation to ensure that we do things right. We are the problem, yes climate change exacerbates that but we are the problem that is what we need to deal with."

The training continues tomorrow.

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