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  Yahoo News 3 Aug 06
British 'climate porn' yields passive response to problem: study

LONDON (AFP) - Alarmism about global warming in Britain is tantamount to "climate porn" as it arouses people without encouraging them to take action, a leading think tank claimed.

The media, government and environmental groups have caused public inertia by presenting the problem in a confusing, contradictory and chaotic way, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) study said.

The IPPR based its conclusions on over 600 articles from the British press as well as 90 television, radio and press advertisements.

It criticised the alarmist approach of depicting climate change as awesome and irremediable, prompting a "we are all going to die" response. But it also attacked the "small actions" approach.

Whereas the first leads to abdication of responsibility, the second assumes that small, habitual contributions, such as switching off lights or turning down the thermostat, can have a radical impact, the report said.

"We suspect that one reason why we spend so much time dwelling on the problem is because it is secretly thrilling, like watching porn or a large car crash," Simon Retallack, IPPR head of climate change, told AFP. "It is horrible but terribly exciting at the same time. It's almost cinematic," he said.

The report recommends the creation of a climate change brand to streamline the discourse. The IPPR hopes to gather principal stakeholders including the media, the government and green groups to run a campaign based on Britons' sense of "ordinary heroism" -- a spirit exemplified in mass mobilisations such as the "Make Poverty History" campaign launched last year.

The think tank hopes the branding exercise will put a stop to climate change voyeurism and spur people to take "big action" on climate change such as switching to a hybrid car or fitting a wind turbine.

The report claims to be the first to study the effect of media coverage and communication on climate change in Britain.
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