The Humanities Center, in coordination with the Department of Media, Journalism and Film welcomed former ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore to Miami University Monday to speak on "The Many Psychologies of Global Warming."
After an introduction by Vice President for Academic Affairs Matthew Gordon, Blakemore gave a lecture in which he demonstrated the multi-faceted response to the phenomenon of global warming.
Blakemore began his career with ABC News in 1970, where he covered several major conflicts including the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Appointed Rome Bureau Chief in 1978, Blakemore covered the pontificate of Pope John Paul II until his death in 2005 and was part of the ABC News team that won the DuPont-Columbia award for its live coverage of John Paul II funeral.
In late 2004, Blakemore began focusing on climate change and started hosting ABC's program on climate and environmental news, "Nature's Edge," in 2007.
During the lecture, Blakemore was adamant about the fact that he is a professional journalist, and therefore a persistent skeptic, not an activist.
In this talk, he identified many elements in the climate story that have a psychological dimension.
"I am not an activist, I'm not trying to slow down global warming one second or save a single species, but trying to report," Blakemore said. "The only thing I am an activist for is rigorous journalism and improving the quality of the conversation."
One of the angles from which Blakemore looked at global warming was the inter-generational perspective.
"My generation has left you young students with an ungodly mess, and we are sorry," Blakemore said. "I want to pass along as much [information] as I can."
"The Psychologies of Global Warming" is the first of a three-part lecture series given by Blakemore on global warming.
In the second of Blakemore's lectures, titled "Global Warming and Journalism: Great Story, Greatest Crisis," Blakemore will discuss how journalism covers global warming and why it has proved to be such a difficult topic to cover.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
In his talk on Monday night Blakemore previewed his second lecture by delving into the problem that global warming was providing for journalists. It is such a hard story to cover because there has never been one like it before, he said.
"This is a great story, but it is grossly under-covered," Blakemore said. "It couldn't be more consequential on what scientists have been telling us for a long time. [The world's climate scientists tell us that] It is extraordinarily dangerous and already happening."
Blakemore's third lecture, "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Great Art, and Global Warming," will provide an in-depth discussion on how art, particularly Kubrick's horror film The Shining, reflects on humanity's repeated tendency to produce atrocities while it carries on as if nothing has happened.
The next two lectures will take place from 4 p.m to 5:30 pm, in Benton 102, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.