Popular UK news outlet The BBC is receiving backlash for a list about climate change on their educational children's site, BBC Bitesize.
BBC Bitesize published the list on the children's site and included both "the positive and negative" aspects of climate change. Included in the "positive" impacts of climate change were topics such as tourism and increase in oil availability.
While the "positive" aspects of climate change included topics such as "flourishing" animal and plant life as well as climate change leading to "healthier outdoor lifestyles", many people felt climate change should not be taught in such a way to compare positive and negative effects.
The reasoning for this is because many feel what potential benefits climate change may yield greatly pale in comparison to the environmental and societal costs.
One such person is writer and environmentalist George Monbiot. Monbiot, upon seeing the published list of the "positive" impacts of climate change, took to Twitter to call out The BBC.
This is what @bbcbitesize is teaching our children about climate breakdown. I'm sorry, but it's an absolute disgrace. You could come away thinking: "on balance, it sounds pretty good". It could have been written by Exxon.
The BBC has a long and disgraceful history of both-sidesing the greatest threat to life on Earth. Every so often, it puts out a memo claiming it has got its act together. Then it fails again. People who make this content believe "neutrality" = impartiality. It's the opposite.
Monbiot also went on to criticize the supposed "positive" impacts listed.
Here is one of the "positive" aspects of the collapse of our life support systems it lists: "more resources, such as oil, becoming available in places such as Alaska and Siberia when the ice melts". Are they actually trying to misdirect and bamboozle GCSE students?
Monbiot's comment led other well-known individuals, such as journalist Henry Mance and Advantage Schools CEO Stuart Lock, to to also criticize The BBC's decision to try to make climate change palatable for children.
Mance pointed out the list portrayed the usage of oil, which leads to harmful emissions that damage the environment, in a positive light.
Meanwhile, Lock went so far as to call the list out as "flat wrong".
The BBC quickly responded to Monbiot's thread, stating they would look into his complaint.
After Monbiot's thread, many Twitter users also took to the forum to express their outrage over the list aimed at children.
Many users also echoed Monbiot's criticism of The BBC's attempt at "neutrality" over the issue.
Since Monbiot's original call-out, The BBC has taken the list of climate change "positives" off of the BBC Bitesize page and focused solely on the negative impacts of climate change.
While they have amended the page, The BBC has not yet issued any other comments about the list.
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