Alaskan Villages At The Front Line Of Climate Consider Relocation As A Last-Minute Solution

Hi Christoph! Thanks a lot for your comment. I agree with you in principle: It would be more accurate to call it "the front line of climate change". However, I think that, if we agree to use metaphores such as "front line", then we should also explore other literary forms that, if less accurate, can add "punch" to the expressions - at least in the headline. I don't see how "climate science" or "climate refugee" are different.

I find expressions such as "climate refugee" much more dangerous, and not for the lack of "change", but for throwing in very different people in the "refugee" bag. I wrote about this during my MA, if you want to check it out: https://analyticaljour...

As for the use of "climate deniers"... guilty as charged, I'm afraid... :)

@Santiago Saez Moreno i see the point, santi, that journalists need a punch, no question. and i'm all for "explor[ing] other literary forms". and for creating novel punch-y words. here's how: since all journalists will face for the next decades the problem of writing about 'climate change' in combination with deniers/refugees/etcetera. far too long, not only for twitter. you, santi, could start a movement among journalists to popularize CC as abbreviation for 'climate change', in capitals of course. for decades, CC was – and still is – the official plate to mark a 'corps consulaire' car. in the public perception, however, CC is today more broadly known to indicate 'creative commons' content on the web. and there are definitively more people on the web than on the watch for 'corps consulaire' cars in city traffic. 'climate change' will effect even more people than 'creative commons' issues. so kind of re-purposing the CC abbreviation could actually work. it would also work for the reading experience of westerners, typographically, as the double C is visually eye-catching. thinks of the chanel logo, for example. and the only chemical formula that most people memorize is CO2, not H2O...

@User deleted Hi there! Sorry for the late reply. How would you go about starting such a movement?

@Santiago Saez Moreno hi! your reply is all but late, it's weekend after all : )
i would start among your piqd.com/piqd.de colleagues, asking whether they could find it interesting to explain + use "CC" themselves in order to avoid falling into the 'climate denier' trap ever again and spread it thereafter (make use of the arguments i collected above). *IF* you get a negative response from this test group: forget about it. *IF* they're positive you can ask them to participate in creating a movement among journalists worldwide. the us-journalists in particular love abbreviations (and the us-americans are champions in finding cute ones!). at this stage, it would probably be good to include a deadline: "do not use CC before june 12th so we can all use it the first time together to give it a punch" (and a chance to let it go viral on twitter). this deadline would give those journalists who love to break the rules just for being the first one to report a good chance in doing exactly that. if everybody else then follows suite, the question who was first will become irrelevant, but the seed got planted : )