Many people ask if climate change is a poll issue in India. The first phase of the Lok Sabha polls was held on April 19; the second phase is on April 26. More than a few have expressed doubts that climate change is dictating voters’ choices.
Journalists want to improve awareness of climate change. It is clear to us that both the policy and the behavioural changes required for people to adapt to its effects in future must begin right away, and that these changes need the government’s support. My labours as a journalist often come down to persuading someone somewhere to change their mind. This is a laborious task with a high failure rate, and I day-dream how easy some parts of climate journalism would be if people at large woke up one day and voted along climate lines.
Climate change is a complex collection of phenomena with many moving parts. Having its fullest measure means taking a broad view of events evolving across space and time. Then again, news journalists are tracking this evolution and its effects on the world around us in relatively small increments: one place, one day. This is like trying to understand everything about a carrot by slicing it into really thin slivers and examining them one at a time. But between the demands of the rituals of journalism (reporting, editing, etc.) and the messy shapes climate change takes on the ground, it is impossible to capture all stories all the time. Climate change alters people’s access to water, clean air, land, nutrients, etc., while also interacting with gender, caste, class, and geographic overtones in ways that distort its appearance beyond recognition. We often miss many stories and play catch up. In this chaos, it’s easy to lose sight of climate change the actor.
