International Expo "Water and Sustainable Development"
Water tribune
Luis Ángel Fernández: “The media are a weapon of mass destruction”
Three experts in scientific communication were present in the Agora to debate the uncertainties of climate change and its connection to other planetary problems
“Climate change: sceptics vs. believers” was the title of the Saturday session in the Agora. One question and then other matters immediately came to light. The three experts agreed that the problem was not just environmental, but also a question of riches.
Luis Ángel Fernández Hermana, a consultant and environmental journalist, reviewed the history of the studies on climate change and wondered if it might be a problem that leads to the extinction of the species or if it might be a man-made problem for which solutions might (or might not) be found. Manuel Toharia, director of the Science Park in Valencia, acknowledged the environmental problem but also laid on the table the uncertainties of climate research. This expert said that in the inquiries very precise data from recent times are being mixed with imprecise data from previous centuries, which, additionally, are not well registered. This scientific proponent explained that carbon dioxide was not the only greenhouse gas, but that there are also others such as methane or water vapour and he argued that, in particular, water vapour could have far more importance than it might seem in the temperature increase. However, he acknowledged that the studies on this gas have not been effectively developed. In the words of the science journalist Lluís Reales: “What is clear is that it is happening and that it is happening at high speed”. He argued that the planet’s true problem is not so much climate change as the inequality between countries.
One of the areas of greatest debate was the way to spread information about climate change. Luís Ángel Fernández was emphatic: “The media are a weapon of mass destruction”, although he also demythologised the power that society attributes to them. For his part, Lluís Reales stated that journalists tend to convert scientific information into a lucky dip of happenings with headlines that, occasionally, come close to being alarmist.
The remainder of the session in the Agora focused on a debate about the contrasts between richer countries and those with fewer resources. All of the speakers consider it essential to change the relationship between the two worlds so as to improve the planet.
