Saturday, March 1, 2014

Fukushima disinformation campaign alive and well

Bob McDonald has a science program on CBC that I often listen to. I generally find his show informative and he does a great job of making science accessible.

However, I don't think he's doing the public any favours with this story which seriously downplays the Fukushima disaster.

He's essentially saying that Fukushima is a nasty bit of business, but it's not nearly as serious a threat as climate change.

Even if that eventually turns out to be true, Fukushima is the most catastrophic nuclear accident in history and we are a long way from seeing how much damage will be done by the time it has run its course.

Meanwhile, the public suffers from severe climate-change-global-warming oversaturation. Most people no longer have strong reactions to yet another climate change story. By telling the public that Fukushima is nothing compared to the story they are more than tired of hearing, the public will respond by shrugging it off.

I'd like to think that's not what Mr. McDonald had in mind.

Bad call, Bob.

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