Discussion > BBC Climate nudge-vert within the Commonwealth Games
Friday's BBC2 Commonwealth Games Climate nudge-vert was at about 3:47pm
A carefully crafted BBC NewsPR Nudgevert,
complete with video montages, drone shots and plinky plonk brainwashing background music.
It started just before the 1h50min mark Iplayer
The studio anchor was the occasional Scots sports presenter Hazel Irvine who does have previous form
Feb 19 : discussion on climate change and sustainability
with @Tim_Warwood and Hazel Irvine on the BBC Winter Olympic's coverage.
Sep 16, 2021 The UK media carbon reduction campaign @WeAreALBERT quoted her
"It's clear that many sports commentators, figures and stars are now using their platform to inspire audiences and move things forward when it comes to fighting climate change"
4 people tweeted against the nudgevert, 2 were in favour.
Part 1 : Hazel Irvine anchoring in the studio
"Now we move on and from the outset you know, when Birmingham was awarded these games with only 4 year lead time, the organisers were very clear about their mission : Not only two stage a brilliant games, but to stage the first carbon-neutral games !
There is only one new build venue at these games and that's the aquatic centre.
And among the many measures that have been taken to offset emissions one has been the planting of 72 mini forests around the Midlands area.
One for every commonwealth team that's come to the city.
Now temperature spikes HERE this summer have been yet another reminder that climate change is happening.
And as Qasa Alom has been finding out games organisers have been very vocal about playing their part in both protecting the Planet, and the sporting events, that we love."
Part 2 main crafted nudge-vert with: Qasa Alom ( BBC Asian Network)
Intro featuring black javelin thrower of course, and then lots of other black athletes
"The Commonwealth Games's rich sporting history, has seen legends discovered, icons crowned,
(background montage) 'Hussain Bolt takes the title',
' Ian Thorpe is getting a standing ovation'
and gripped us all, as the thrill of competition, reaches its climax.."
.. "These Unforgettable moments could soon be hard to come by !
As temperatures all around the world go up and our environment begins to change as a result, sport and how we watch it may soon have to adapt !
BBC presenter montage starting with a black female
"it's 38 degrees out here',
'it's a test of stamina today',
'it's the hottest on record !"
scenes of black runners of course
"the organisers here in Birmingham have pledged to make this THE most sustainable games EVER !
And I've come to see how they're going to live up to that promise"
Unnamed chubby female manager
"we are reusing and repurposing 95% of our venues
there's not much infrastructure from that side of things
.. So Alexander stadium has had a refurb ready for the games
And Sand Wilcross aquatic centre (Sandwell Aquatics Centre), which has very much been built for legacy and has been brought forward for the Games.
Energy is a big part of our carbon footprint and we very much worked at reducing that when we can.
So we have reduced that reliance on generators, then when we have had to use temporary energy we have used green technology such as as the batteries are hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is a lower carbon fuel, or solar panels as well"
Qasa "athletes are coming from all over the world as well which is also a huge issue"
Chubby "you can't have a Commonwealth Games without athletes, they are very much the star of The Show.
but I guess what we are doing, is looking for to reduce those emissions that we can control such as transport, energy, reducing those wastes where we can. So very much within our control."
Part 3 the pre-record continues with some other female Games carbon manager
Qasa "It all starts with how you get about. Public transport included with the cost of your ticket.
And if you are feeling particularly inspired by the athletes, there's even bike rides on offer
(him putting on a helmet at the electric bike rack
him behaving like a kid squealing as he rides )
there's even a planner to tell you what what impact your journey is having on the environment, that's pretty cool !
"A major part of the sustainability pledge involves offsetting the carbon produced at these games.
And the way that they are doing that, is planting trees .. 2022 acres of them."
Unnamed young female
"we are expected to offset the majority of our footprints.
So we'll have to wait until we have done the final carbon footprint posts games obviously, to see how it matches up.
It's a long-term strategy, that is why we refer it to it as a long-term legacy. It won't be carbon neutral at the end point of the games cos of the of time that the trees will take to sequester the carbon. We've done everything we can to, within the times constraints and the resources that we have have to try and reduce our impact as much as we possibly can.
And for sure if we are going to meet the targets that we more broadly as a society in the future, future events need to to use this as a springboard to go even further"
Qasa "The ethos here is that nobody here is perfect when it comes to protecting the planet, but lots of people doing more will lead to big changes.
The ultimate aim is to inspire the Next generation, not just to win gold, but a green metal too !"
... FFS I'm about to puke
Back to the studio 1:53:47 mark
"It won't be carbon neutral at the end point of the games cos of the of time that the trees will take to sequester the carbon."
Yup. Some of them almost (almost) get it. Even the 'solutions' mean cranking out more CO2 emissions for many decades before the returns come in. A bit like China.
It doesn't chime well with the idea that we've only got a few years left to save the planet. Meanwhile, I look out of my window and see the local trees providing ever increasing profits for tree-surgeons and the goddamn grass seems to forever need cutting. Dontcha just hate a thriving biosphere?
Aside: I never did get to hear from the BBC which overly white female players the winning football team should fire in order to return us to the same accomplishment levels as the men.
Part 4 back in the studio with Hazel Irvine
"A Green Medal Indeed !
An certainly deserving of a green medal our 2 guests here in the studio
@TilkaPaljkOly from Zambia
: and Cheyenne Rova from Fiji
both swimmers, both delighted to see you in our studio.
first of all can you tell us how your games experience has been ?"
They answer.. blah blah blah
...
Hazel "Now Cheyenne you are wearing something very special it's a temporary tattoo on your right wrist.
What is it about? why are you wearing it? and how strongly do you feel about these issues like climate change? "
Cheyenne "It's an Athletes of The World tattoo. one of the co-founders of that is Mel, she used to row for Great Britain.
So she heads this and it's all about advocating and raising awareness of climate change.
And something I'm really passionate about because, Fiji is on the frontline of this crisis !"
Hazel "It is ! rising sea levels in particular.
I know that, I've done a fair bit of research for the opening ceremony.
I'm always fascinated by the Pacific Nations, but clearly the STRUGGLE that you are facing right now now on the frontline, level changes er er.
In day to day everyday terms Cheyenne how does that affect the way you train ?, affect the tournaments and the championships that you can get to ?"
Cheyenne "yeah right it's not just the rise in sea levels, but the rising temperatures as well, and the extreme weather conditions that we face with the tropical cyclones
.. We did have a lot of competitions that were cancelled, one in particular the Olympic trials, so they were cancelled twice, and one of them had to be postponed because of flooding so that changes a lot for our training schedule and getting to the pools so it does affect the sports a lot and in Fiji we don't have outdoor pools (she means indoor pools) so a lot of the training is done outside with the temperatures like 32 degrees it becomes really tough !
(hang on it's cooler at night.. I was OK when I was in Fiji)
Hazel "too difficult exactly, so that's the front line in your part of the world the Pacific"
Part 5
.. Hazel "Now @TilkaPaljkOly from an African standpoint what is is Zambia facing and what are you facing at athletes there?"
@TilkaPaljkOly "you know in Zambia we are big into farming and mining and because we are a developing country it's very difficult to educate the people
and help them understand how how you can't see emissions, but they're there.
And educate them and say you can't mine this much, cause this is what's happening to the environment.
It's a bit difficult for them to understand, as well as farming you know.
We are a big farming nation, but we are facing the problems that the firms are getting into to the wildlife the nature reserves and it's making the animal habitats smaller (that's nothing to do with climate)
And also with that obviously people need to eat, it's a difficult one"
Hazel "I know you were a part of 50 high-profile athletes created in May to send to the leaders at cop26 last year, what impact do you think that made ?
what impact do you hope it's made ?"
@TilkaPaljkOly "You you know I hope the leaders sit back and think about that
you know it's the first time athletes have really spoken about this
for athletes to do that you know it's a problem !
It's a serious problem that really needs to be addressed.
I really hope the leaders do something, or at least try.
It all starts from education really you know no.
I think what is really important is education in schools, we are both teachers
I work with younger children so you know between 18 months and 6 years.
We have programs you know everyday helping a child understand how small things recycling how that affects the planet"
( she uses "you know" all the time, so I stopped writing it in)
those things when the child has that at the back of their mind and it's in bedded they take that home with them and that child could change their parents for you on climate change recycling turning off the lights small things like that."
Hazel "Small things they do add up !"
(Doh that is a fallacy a lot of small things often make little difference, and are often counterproductive)
Part 6 The wrap up
Hazel "incremental changes are great, but I think there's a lot of people that say we need a lot of very fast action, VERY QUICKLY
that temperature rises are clearly going up
and in terms of personal responsibility I know everyone's got their own thing, that we have to to to do.
What would would your message be ?
and what would you hope that one could do at a higher level, a governmental level, perhaps big business what would you say Cheyenne ?"
Cheyenne "I think it starts with us. We as athletes, sports people are role models to our students
and if everybody sees us take the first step and makes the change then it can create a bigger voice
and hopefully the leaders take action"
Hazel "@Tilka 1,2,3 things WE WE WE can do right now !"
@Tilka "Right now : Walk, public transport, bicycles .. recycle, get fit"
Hazel "These are the messages that we will take away
It's fantastic to see you as athletes and as ADVOCATES speaking out about this
And I really hope that we can continue as a global community to come together at big events like this
but do so sustainably obviously .... enjoy the rest
safe travels back home
.. Yes travels not on bicycles but multiple planes !
BBC/Guardian bubbleworld people automatically spout sermons as they evangelise for their worldview.
Most news is NewPR pushing pet agendas whilst OMITTING to cover others.
But sometimes they go further and create carefully crafted adverts that push agendas.
That's SOCIAL ENGINEERING, it's as if the BBC has had a meeting with the government or Labour Nudge Unit.
- Last week the Lionesses football coverage featured a BBC nudge-vert
"Look no black players in the England team"
A documentary repackaged into a 15 minute long agenda pushing advert shown at half time.
- Last Saturday Radio4 FooC ended with a 10 minute nudge-vert : a climate sermon from Harrabin
- Friday's BBC2 coverage of the Commonwealth Games suddenly had a 13 minute Climate nudge-vert at about 3:47pm