Hat tip to Deegee in the comments for drawing attention to the BBC slide show about an “Oxfam exhibition of photographs taken in Peru by model Helena Christensen to document climate change”.
Yesterday I noted that the BBC’s World Have Your Say blog was expressing despair over its failure to inspire interest in the topic of climate change. The WHYS team might consider that one reason so many people are turned off by the BBC’s approach to this subject is its readiness to promote the vacuous bullshit observations of hypocritical flyby celebrity eco-activists.
The Christensen photos highlighted by the BBC are mediocre at best (which is particularly disappointing given the huge potential of the subject matter) and furthermore, as Deegee points out, the captions seem to contradict the pictures. One reads, “These mountains were covered with snow years ago and they’re not anymore [sic]”, and yet we see snow-covered mountains in shot. Another says, “Obviously, the waterfalls are less frequent and the rivers are drying out because of the disappearing glaciers”, but there in front of us is an impressive looking river.
The caption for the final picture quotes Christensen as saying:
“The most important thing is to stop the huge emissions of carbon dioxide into the world.”
Well, that’s pretty rich to say the least. Last month she told the Times that she “divides her time between Copenhagen and New York, but has a soft spot for Essex” because her agent’s charming home is there:
The house is near Stansted airport, which is extremely convenient — you step off the flight and feel you can almost touch the house — but thankfully you can’t hear the planes because the landing strip goes the opposite way.
With those convenient carbon-spewing planes out of earshot it’s so much easier to keep the plight of those poor Peruvians out of mind.
(Follow the Times link for Helena’s amusing tale about a swimming rodent she once saw. The long winter evenings must just fly by.)
The message is clear – if your charity tin says “climate change” and has a picture of a celebrity on it, the BBC will help with your PR without a second thought.