Wednesday, 29 October 2008

The media: Should it be trusted?

The question "how realiable is the media" leads to an ongoing discussion. Newspapers round up figures and over exaggerate headlines because “bad news sells papers”. There are two main types of newspaper: Broadsheet (such as The Guardian) or Tabloid (such as The Sun).

Tabloids and Broadsheets used to be easily distinguishable, but recently broadsheets have become much more like tabloids (the most obvious difference being colour photos). Even though there is a cloud around the media at the moment some surveys show that the public trust what they here in the news more than they trust their own government!

Another difference between tabloids and broadsheets is how they present news. Whereas a broadsheet would take a subject like climate change seriously with giving us data, figures and information, a tabloid paper links into celebs and gossip (in this case a well known supermarket).This is because (generally) readers of tabloids like to be told about subjects close to there lives whereas broadsheet readers like to learn bits of new information. When talking about the environment in general, The Guardian Online has a very large section devoted to the it, whereas The Sun only has major stories relating to the environment.

Broadsheets have even started reporting about how tabloids report things such as climate change with "only 1.8% of tabloid coverage written by specialist correspondents".

Recently though with news such as the credit crunch and subjects that effect our lives in the short term have taken over the newspapers, both in the broadsheet and tabloid.

The decrease of related stories could be due to one of two reasons:

1) The total number of stories has increased, with the same number, or more, related to climate change or,

2) Simply the number has decreased

Could this mean that the media is losing interest in the subject and concentrating on present topics, or could this mean that the public is losing interest in the subject and the media is just trying to satisfy the publics needs?

The irony with newspapers is that no matter how much they report, discuss or try to teach people about climate change or sustainability, all the major newspapers are printed on unsustainable, unrecycled paper. That's why all of the major newspaper companies, and the majority of the smaller companies, now publish online articles (but surely they can't be called newsPAPERs anymore!?). Which leads to a problem: where does the electricity to power the computers come from? would it be more sustainable to print newspapers and turn off computers, or stop printing newspapers and use the computers?

Further Reading:

C4 accused of falsifying data in documentary on climate change

Media attacked for 'climate porn'

Climate change hits Mars

Alex Lockwood

Encyclopedia of Sustainable Development

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

The Uncertain Future Of Cars

Since petrol prices reached an all time high, the media and the government have taken it upon themselves to give hints and tips on how to save money during the recession by advising people to drive less, get a small car rather than a Chelsea tractor, or use public transport.

But realistically, this is not going to happen until decent, reliable public transport that goes where you want, when you want, is available. It is also unlikely that people will drive less because they want, like, and even need, to drive based on any number of factors. Based on my personal experience, living nowhere near a town and with only one bus a day, I need a car to do everything. People are now also choosing their cars to beat the taxes now being enforced. A car that emits less CO2 gets taxed less than one that produces more, and therefore is cheaper to run. As a result of this it lands on the car companies to do something, in order to become more profitable.

It is now almost a competition to get the highest MPG (miles per gallon) from a larger engine. For a normal engine, cars average around 40MPG, but some can reach 130MPG. As an aside, the world record for the highest MPG was recently broken when a team reached an incredible 12,666MPG!

But there is only so much you can get from a petrol or diesel engine, which explains the recent world record - the engine used ran on hydrogen, and wasn’t a road car. Therefore alternative fuels are being increasingly used.

Each car manufacturer has its own vision for the future of cars, be it hybrid, bio-diesel, hydrogen, bio-ethanol, electric or even water.

Bio-ethanol is a relatively new fuel, comprising of 85% ethanol alcohol and 15% petrol. It gives excellent results from the engine, with some sports cars using it already. The Lotus Exige 265E is able to run on anything from 100% petrol to the 15% petrol Bio-ethanol and still have the same amazing performance.

Several other major breakthroughs have recently happened regarding alternate fuels, including the new Honda FCX, which has an electric motor that throws out no emissions, except water.
And finally the Genepax, a car that runs on nothing but Water, "river rain or sea… even tea works"! Just one litre of water will keep the car running at 80kmh (just under 50mph) for more than one hour.


So, the possibilities are endless, it seems. I just wonder, when will a car be designed that runs on nothing but oxygen?

Further Reading:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2312521.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/cookingoil.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/oct/09/martinwainwright

http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/episodes/series10episode9.shtml

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dpf3C2EReVo

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0801/csmimg/p12b_popup.gif