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Our Daily Planet: Millennial Week Continues, Climate Education and Don't Miss Koala Bears at the End!
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By: Monica Medina and Miro Korenha

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Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

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 Millennials 

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Millennials Want More Environmental Reporting 


Here are some interesting data points from our exclusive Environmental Anxiety Index revealing some notable trends from Millennials. Turns out they aren't shying away from acknowledging the state of our environment and climate change. In fact, 58.7% of Millennials believe the media doesn't cover environmental and conservation issues enough (only 1 in 5 said just the right amount). The disconnect between the media and Millennials can be explained by the differences in how they consume news compared to Gen X-ers. Our index showed that this generation is getting their news on their phones via social media and news websites (71.9%) in real-time. To them, climate and environment aren't just a forgotten section of a print newspaper but rather some of the issues they care about most. A good example of a reporter meeting millennials where they are is TNR staff writer, Emily Atkin who's exposing the often troubling state of our environment while using her witty Twitter presence to amplify her stories. Keep reading for our exclusive interview with her today! 
 
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 Climate Change

“Should schools teach our children about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to global warming?” Graphic: Yale Center on Climate Change Communication 

Americans Ask For More Climate Change Education

As our poll above showed, Millennials want the media to cover environmental issues more than they currently do but ultimately young people begin to develop their understanding of these issues in the classroom. Unfortunately, the state of climate change and environmental education in American schools is seriously lacking. As Think Progress reported, less than 4 percent of the pages in the most popular introductory physics, biology, and chemistry books published from 2013-15 were devoted to discussing climate change. Teachers also often lack an understanding of climate change: only 30% of middle school and 45% of high school science teachers understand the extent of the scientific consensus. Of those who do teach climate change, many suggest the cause is uncertain with 30% actually incorrectly teaching that global warming is naturally caused.

Americans overwhelmingly want children to be taught climate change in schools, as the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication discovered, and legal battles have erupted to ensure state science standards are rigorous enough. 

In Idaho, several legislators argued that students shouldn't be taught that humans cause climate change but instead be given opposing arguments and allowed to decide for themselves. In response, teachers and citizens argued that failing to teach children the scientific facts about climate change would rob them of important information crucial not only to their scientific education but also their future. After several years of debate, the state legislature finally approved science standards that include anthropogenic climate change. 

Why This Matters To Millennials: To younger generations, climate change and the environment aren't politically charged topics the way they are for older generations. Millennials and Gen Z see how climate change is affecting the world around them and they want reporting to reflect the threat it poses. They're not going to stand for the suppression of facts to fit political narratives and will continue to turn to news sources that provide them the information they need. 

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 Land

Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana  Photo: National Park Service
Polls Agree: Americans Strongly Support Public Lands

In our exclusive ODP Environmental Anxiety Poll conducted just before Earth Day, we found that among likely voters of both parties, the Trump Administration's plans to sell public lands for mining and development and the Trump Administration's decision to shrink National Monuments were incredibly unpopular.  Overall 69.3% of voters opposed oil and gas lease sales on public lands, and a whopping 75.8% opposed shrinking national monuments like Bears Ears.  Among Independent voters, the percentages were extremely high -- 72.1% opposed oil and gas leases on federal lands and 77% opposed shrinking national monuments.  Importantly, 75.2% of millennials oppose oil and gas leasing on federal lands and 80.5% oppose shrinking national monuments -- the strongest of any age group.  

Yesterday, results of a recent poll of Montanans showed even stronger results for conserving federal lands and monuments, including several new monuments under consideration in Montana.  According to E&E News, 87% of Montana voters said "clean water, clean air, open spaces and public lands" are important to them, with 48% calling these issues "a primary factor in deciding whether to support an elected public official."  In the Montana poll, Rick Graetz, director of the University of Montana's Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative, which commissioned the poll, said  "[s]upport for policies on public lands protection is intensifying; it's going up, not down."  

Why This Matters To Millennials: Millennials place a high value on quality of life and on experiences so it is not surprising that preserving our natural wonders and places where they can enjoy the outdoors matters so much to them.  But unless they make conservation a top priority issue and communicate that to their elected representatives and candidates for elected office at every level, they will continue to be frustrated by the policies of the Trump Administration.
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 Energy

Power Plant "Supporters" Attending Hearing Last Fall  Photo: Michael Stein, The Lens
"Astroturfing" in NOLA Leads to Power Plant Approval

According to an investigation by The Lens, someone paid actors to attend a public hearing held last October and vocally support energy company Entergy’s proposal to build a $210 million gas-fired power plant in eastern New Orleans.  The actors (pictured above) wore t-shirts that read, “Clean Energy. Good Jobs. Reliable Power” and were paid to "sit through the meeting and clap every time someone said something against wind and solar power,” said Keith Keough, one of the actors. 

Some actors were paid more for a “speaking role,” which required them to deliver a pre-written speech, according to interviews with the actors and screenshots of Facebook messages provided to The Lens.  In addition, the actors had to sign non-disclosure agreements and were instructed not to speak to the media or tell anyone they were being paid.  The New Orleans City Council approved the power plant by a vote of 6-1 in March.  Councilwoman Susan Guidry, the only member of the Utility Committee to vote against the plant, called it “morally reprehensible,” saying, “I think it had a phenomenal impact on public opinion.”  Entergy denies involvement and is conducting an investigation to determine if anyone at the company was involved. 

Why This Matters:  The overwhelming show of public support at the hearing was impactful -- many legitimately interested members of the public who were opposed to the plant were not allowed into the meeting due to space considerations.  Apparently, while it may be "reprehensible" it is not illegal in Louisiana to pay people to create the illusion of grassroots support -- a practice known as astroturfing.  Louisiana’s lobbying laws only cover money spent directly on public officials. The practice is likely shielded by the First Amendment.  So now, in addition to fake campaign rallies, we will have to contend with "fake" public meetings as well.  And we will never look at astroturf the same way again. 

To Go Deeper: Read the full story in The Lens here.  
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 People

ODP Exclusive Interview with Emily Atkin, Staff Writer Covering Science and Environment at The New Republic 

ODP: Social media has become a very impactful instrument for audiences to connect with journalists’ reporting, how have you seen it impact the reach of your stories?


EA: I actually got my first internship at a national publication by bothering an editor on Twitter until he decided to hire me. So I think it’s safe to say Twitter has done more to spread my reporting than any other platform has. I’ve been extremely lucky to be part of an impressively engaged Twitter community in the five years I’ve been an environmental reporter. I call it a community because I feel as if I know many of the people in who routinely interact with my stories; an ideologically broad spectrum of readers as well as other journalists, many of whom are so cool that I feel like they followed me by accident. That community drives a substantial portion of my traffic but they also give me very smart and insightful feedback—not to mention story ideas. Needless to say, I am very grateful for Twitter dot com.

ODP: We have a president and administration that’s openly hostile to the media as a whole and is taking very drastic actions impacting the subject you cover. How has your experience as a journalist changed in the past year and a half?

EA: You’d think that because Trump is doing so much in the environmental space, my stories would be getting more attention from the public than ever. False. I have to work much harder now than I did two years ago to get people to pay attention to climate stories. I think that’s partially because there is so much insane news in every other issue space, and partially because people are tired about hearing about how awful everything is.

I have noticed, however, that the Trump era seems to have inspired environmental reporters to band together more than ever before. I constantly see us promoting each other’s work, and explaining the importance of that work. In this frustrating time, when the EPA won’t respond tobasic public records request and when basic accountability questions remain unanswered, we’ve started to recognize that journalism isn’t a zero-sum game. When The New York Times breaks a big story or Mother Jones makes an interesting point, we all benefit.

ODP: A lot of people tune out when they read about environmental challenges and climate change because they seem insurmountable, is there a way to avoid this beat beingperpetually “doom and gloom”?

EA: The only way to avoid “doom and gloom” on the climate beat would be to lie to people. I’m not gonna do that, and I think it does the public a disservice to try and hold their hand through the fire, which is real and currently burning. That being said, it would also be lying to say there’s no hope. Climate change is a difficult problem, but an inherently solvable one. Lead in drinking water is an incredibly solvable problem. There are also good news environmental stories out there, which I honestly need to write more of, for my own sake. But listen; there is definitely a lot of bad environmental news out there. Unfortunately, I can’t control how people decide to react to it. Nor do I want to, because controlling the public’s reaction sounds super propaganda-y. I want to relay the facts and analyze them to the best of my ability. I hope people don’t tune out.

ODP: You have a hilarious Twitter account, how do you keep your humor
in times that can feel so serious?

EA: Thank you! I believe it was Mark Twain who
said “Humor is tragedy plus time.” In my case, I believe “Humor is tragedy plus time-is-running-out-holy-shit-please-pay-attention-to-this-before-miami-is-gone!!!”

In all seriousness, I think all of us who devote our daily lives to communicating the dangers of climate change recognize that we are privileged to do so. A large chunk of the population must spend their days grappling with more immediate threats to their lives: hate crimes, deportation, police brutality, rising costs for healthcare and public education. They have no choice. I’m not about to use my middle-class straight white woman platform to chastise those people for failing to pay attention to a longer-term crisis. But humor is an effective way to communicate the high stakes of climate change without chastising the reader. Like, when I say I have a cookbook idea where I go to countries that are sinking into the ocean to get all their recipes before they’re gone forever. You might laugh at first, but then you’ll be like “Wait, we actually might have to do that?” Humor connects people. It gets them paying attention. And I think ultimately it’ll help solve the whole shebang.

ODP: What’s your favorite millennial stereotype that you defy and what’s one that totally applies to you?

EA: Apparently, millennials don’t eat cereal, but I am cuckoo for cocoa puffs. I also love bar soap. French-milled, baby!  But I am totally the coddled millennial. When I was growing up, my parents told me I could be anything I wanted to be. Unfortunately I wanted to be the female version of Air Bud, so that didn’t work. But luckily I think I ended up like most of my millennial peers: Hard-working, tech-savvy, a multi-tasking proponent of work-life balance who believes that everyone, regardless of social construct, should have the opportunity to be anything they want to be in life.

Also, I like drinking rosé on rooftops.

(do yourself a favor and follow @emorwee asap!) 
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 Animals   

You Know You've Made It When... Part 2

Yesterday we told you about newly discovered animal species being named after Hollywood stars.  Today, we have something even better. The late-night comedian, John Oliver, had a special clinic for ill koala bears at the Australia Zoo wildlife hospital named after him, thanks to a generous gift from the Australian actor, Russell Crowe.  And yes, not to worry, Oliver will be back!  Plus, we learned yesterday he will be the voice of Zazu in the remake of the Lion King.  In the meantime, the video below is a must see!  LOL!  

John Oliver Gets A Fitting Tribute From Russell Crowe
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