THE HOFSTRA
HEMPSTEAD, NY VOLUME 91 ISSUE 6
CHRONICLE
TUESDAY April 23, 2024
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935 OPINION
Young Americans should be protesting nuclear weapons
Jong Un issue frequent explicit nuclear threats, and the authoritarian regime in Iran could be mere months away from creating a fully functional nuclear bomb. James Vaughn/Flickr Even the United With increasing conflict around the world, States is in the midst nuclear threats are more serious than ever. of a $1.5 trillion By Evelyn Quail plan to modernize its SPEC IA L TO T H E C H R O N I CL E nuclear arsenal. I could go on, We are living in a time of but you get the point. unprecedented nuclear instabilIn January, the Bulletin of the ity. The nuclear-armed powers Atomic Scientists announced the of Israel and Russia are both Doomsday Clock is still set at engaged in devastating wars 90 seconds to midnight; this is, with no clear end in sight. World by their metrics, the closest the leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim world has ever been to destruc-
tion (midnight). Though the Doomsday Clock encompasses all types of danger – including AI and the climate crisis – the current threat assessment is in no small part due to nuclear weapons. As the devastating nuclear reactor accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl showed us, nuclear weapons are dangerous even in times of peace. And as Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed us, they are exponentially more so in times of conflict. Even though the current threat level is unprecedented, this is not the first time we have been
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photo courtesy of Alex Ferreira On Saturday, April 20, students from over 25 different clubs and organizations gathered to raise money for those affected by cancer at Hofstra’s Relay for Life.
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NEWS
Earth Day panel assesses the media coverage of climate activism the department of rhetoric. Dalton also serves as the director of the Center for Civic Engagement. Each of Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle the three panelists A Long Island resident protests peacefully in hopes of putting the Climate, Jobs & Justice package into effect. brought unique By Annie MacKeigan perspectives from their areas PHOTOG R A P H Y E D I TO R of expertise and tied their ideas On Wednesday, April 17, Hofstra geared up for Earth Day back to the mainstream media coverage of environmental by hosting a panel about the activism. portrayal of violent and non“What we’re doing in jourviolent climate activism in the nalism today isn’t really what media. The panelists included the world needs,” Brinton said. Professor Paul Fritz from the “One of the most important department of political science, Professor Scott Brinton from the ways [to promote climate stories] is at the local level.” department of journalism, mass The panelists spoke about the media and public relations, and influential role the media plays Professor Phillip Dalton from
in climate activism. Brinton himself has written 44 articles, accounting for over 60,000 words, about diesel exhaust pollution at Freeport Power Plant No. 2; his work contributed to the eventual shutdown and replacement of the plant. Hannah Ardiff, a senior labor studies and political science double major who organized the event, was inspired by Hofstra’s LEAF Club to put together the panel. Ardiff attended a climaterelated protest in Manhattan in the fall of 2023. “I started thinking about, well, what kind of protests are effective? Are these non-violent protests effective?” Ardiff said. Her questions were one of the motivations she had to create Wednesday afternoon’s event. “Peaceful, non-violent protesting movements have achieved much more when it comes to environmental advocacy than violent movements,” Fritz said. He continued by stat-
ing that no casualties have ever been recorded in association to violent climate-related protests in the United States. “I learned a lot about the media framing and its effectiveness and how the local media is so important,” Ardiff said following the event. Brinton suggested that much of the framing in the media coverage of climate events began during a time of “media mixedmessaging.” “There’s this thing we call ‘objectivity’ in journalism, where we have to get both sides,” Brinton said. He explained that a transition from pure environmental journalism to media mixed-messaging occurred during the emergence of pro-business environmental agencies. “That’s where confusion starts to come in,” Brinton said. “What we’ve seen is this idea that we have to get both sides, even though we know one side
is wrong.” “I learned a lot about the media’s involvement,” said Lauryn Priester, a sophomore film studies and production major. Priester’s interest in activism was what drew her to the event. She is also working on an environmental justice paper, so she found the event to be informative for her writing. Each of the three panelists emphasized the importance of the local angle for environmental news coverage. Long Island is no stranger to climate issues. The maintenance of clean drinking water, the threat of rising sea levels and the pollution caused by a majorly car-dependent road system are just a few issues residents are concerned with. Groups like NY Renews and the Long Island Progressive Coalition have coalesced in hopes of mitigating potential climate crises on Long Island.