Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Katharine Gammon

‘This is part of our world now’: can TV shows adequately reflect the climate crisis?

‘Eventually it’s going to be an intentional creative choice to not include mentions of climate change’
‘Eventually it’s going to be an intentional creative choice to not include mentions of climate change’ Photograph: Matias Basualdo/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

From hurricanes bearing down on Florida to megafires burning in the west, the climate crisis seems to be everywhere, all at once. But in TV shows and movies, mentions of climate are far rarer.

A study by the University of Southern California’s Media Impact lab examined more than 37,000 film and TV scripts that aired in the US between 2016 and 2020. It found that only 2.8% even mentioned climate-adjacent words like solar panels, fracking, sea level rise or renewable energy.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.