A Special Message from Columnist Chris Hatch

If you were making a list of the biggest obstacles to climate action over the past couple decades, you’d have to mark the media somewhere near the top.

Scientists have been issuing warnings for decades. But the mainstream media insisted on “both-sidesing” climate change — platforming climate deniers in every story and sowing doubt in the public’s mind about whether climate breakdown was even a thing.

Thanks to citizens like you and outlets like Canada’s National Observer, we’ve catalyzed real change and the debate is moving forward. But we still have a lot of work to do: it’s still common to see Canada’s biggest newspaper chain publishing denial screeds.

In the last few days, its pages wondered aloud if Canada shouldn’t be receiving climate reparations from poor countries.

Even as most big outlets come around and acknowledge the scientific consensus, they’re still generating confusion — about what’s causing the climate crisis and how to tackle it. Thirty years after the Earth Summit in Rio, most Canadians don’t hear nearly enough about the fundamental need to phase out fossil fuels. We hear way too much about snazzy sci-fi technologies and way too little about the essential task of cleaning up the electricity grid and electrifying all the furnaces and vehicles and factories.

That’s why I’m so grateful for your support of Canada’s National Observer. Together we’ve been able to expose corporate control of our economy and the insidious power of Big Oil in our politics. Your support funds coverage of the problem and showcases the problem-solvers. But, even more importantly, you’re driving the public conversation and the media ecosystem forward.

I really wish you could meet all of the team here in person. Canada’s National Observer is brimming with talented reporters who understand the crisis and editors keen to assign the important stories.

I’ve lived my whole adult life in a media environment that blocked sane public debate on the most important issue of our times. I can’t adequately express how invigorating it is to work with this dynamic team.

Thank you for all your support in driving the climate debate forward in Canada. And please consider a donation today to accelerate climate reporting in 2023.

Chris Hatch

Zero Carbon Columnist