Why the Media is Wrong About Green Policies and Workers’ Interests When you think about who’s for and against green policies, who do you typically think of? Most people think of the idealist hippy or the well-meaning liberal elite or the hard hat worker or the coal baron against. If you’re reading this article it’s safe to assume that you know enough to know this paradigm isn’t the whole story. Far too often we see these tropes pushed by the mainstream media. The idealist hippies versus the hard hat working man narrative is a trope that's been pushed by the mainstream media since the anti-war protests of the ’60s. These days it's not so much about war and peace, but instead about climate action vs inaction. This narrative infects the way we talk about climate justice everywhere. It's fairly easy to see how the media describes climate justice as a boutique issue that only rich liberal elites care about and something that the real “salt of the earth” workers don’t care about. Whether its the Hill’s 2018 headline “ Environmentalists need to reconnect with blue-collar America ” or Fox New’s 2019 headline “ AOC's Green New Deal could have Dems facing a blue-collar backlash at polls, some say ”, we can see this narrative being pushed virtually everywhere in both mainstream and conservative media. Not only does this narrative undermine the important work of environmentalists and conservationists, but it also largely has no base in reality. Earlier this year, a poll by the ultra-conservative US Chamber of Commerce found that 73% of voters want cleaner energy and want to eliminate CO2 emissions in 10 years. However, when the same poll asked if voters supported the “Green New Deal”, they found that only 21% of voters supported the plan. These findings show voters’ misconceptions of the Green New Deal. Much like the Affordable Care Act, the GND suffers in polling because of its name rather than its substance. Low polling numbers can be directed towards inaccurate media coverage. The GND is often covered as job-killing legislation proposed by crazy socialists. But the fact of the matter is that it was introduced as a jobs program. In the actual legislation, there is an explicit direction to create thousands of union jobs. These are union jobs that could actually help those salt of the earth laborers in middle America. But if you were to watch Fox News or CNN, you would think its all about cow farts. If the media were honest in its coverage of the Green New Deal they would talk about the numerous good-paying jobs it would produce. They would talk about it’s potential to both save our earth from the climate crisis and revitalize these midwest towns they claim to care about. Even negative coverage could be more honest. Instead of talking about ridiculous Republican talking points such as banning beef, we could have a serious discussion about how we’re going to pay for it. However, coverage of the GND isn’t the most concerning aspect of the media narrative surrounding saving the earth and labor. When the media talks about labor and environmental concerns, they are mostly referring to a very specific form of labor: coal miners or steel mill workers. These are obviously huge industries but they are amplified and overrepresented when the media talks about “the working man”. Coal miners only make up .12% of the American workforce but you would never know that watching the environmental debate held by the mainstream media. You constantly hear about coal miners when people talk about the American worker. But no one brings up the farmer in Nebraska whose farm was destroyed by flooding. No one ever talks about the mechanic who’s auto shop was washed away in a massive hurricane. These people are workers too and they should be treated as such by the media. The way these narratives can manifest themselves can be incredibly problematic too. I went to college at Chico State University, about 30 miles away from Paradise, CA. Paradise was the town completely destroyed by the Camp Fires. The campfires were the most destructive and deadly fires in California state history. You would think the Congressperson for the area would want to create change to protect his community from climate change right? That’s not the case for CA-1 Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who believes that “ there’s a lot of bad science behind what people are calling global warming. ”. The sad part is this quote was in response to the Carr fire. A fire that happened in his district 3 months before the Camp Fires. If Doug LaMalfa had acted like a responsible congressman, he would have sponsored legislation that protected the area from forest fires. While Doug LaMalfa obviously let his district down, he acted as any Republican politician would. As mentioned before, the mainstream and conservative media cover these issues in a way that leads voters to believe any green policy positions are anti-working class. His district is made up of a lot of working-class people who think the same way so naturally, he is going to come out with an anti-green policy stance. His public ignorance is a symptom of a larger issue. The larger issues being the media’s obsession with the coal miner and steel mill workers who may lose their job due to green policies and the media’s complete lack of regard for the other 99% of workers who are negatively affected by green policies. The climate crisis isn’t just another political game for the media to cover like its a sporting event. It is an existential crisis and if we do not address we will cease to exist. While I understand the concerns of the coal miner and the steel mill worker, I also stand with the other 99% of workers. The media needs to prioritize covering the climate crisis as an extremely urgent emergency. There won’t be any coal mining jobs on a boiling, flooded earth and it isn’t too much to ask the media to start acting like it.