Media and Climate Change Issues A Study Of Perceptions Of Post Graduate Degree Students In Agartala Tripura

Abstract

It is time Indians get concerned about climate change and global warming. Climate newlinechange is likely to change everything around us and have tremendously adverse newlineimpact on the socio-economic scenario of the country, as it has declared by the IPCC newlineas extremely vulnerable country to the worst types of climate change induced newlinecataclysm. Not all possible consequences of climate change have been fully newlineunderstood by the scientific community. It is now virtually universally accepted by newlinepeer-reviewed scientific publications in climate science that greenhouse gases, newlineespecially carbon dioxide, released during combustion of fossil fuels in vehicles and newlineindustry is the major cause of the recent, relatively rapid warming of the earth s newlineatmosphere and surface (Oreskes, 2004)1. If human society does not radically reduce newlinethe amount of these gasses it emits, the severity of the resultant disasters will increase newlineat great cost to humans as well as other species and the ecosystems (Hanson, 2009 2; newlineAdger, et al., 2005 3). newlineAs per scientific predictions the three main categories of impact on India newlinewould be firstly on agricultural sector and failure food production, secondly, sea level newlinerise would lead to massive submergence of coastal areas and mass scale human newlinedisplacement. Thirdly, increased frequency of extreme natural events like tsunamis newlineand hydrological disasters would derail the GDP of the country. newlineThis dissertation focuses on climate change which is widely recognized as one newlineof the most important issues of the present century. But awareness of climate change newlineissues has been less among Indians along with the fact that the country is one of the newlinemost carbon dioxide emitting countries in the world, which ranks only after China and newlineAmerica. Hence, this study attempts to assess the perceptions of climate change newlineamong the post-graduate students of Tripura and understand the role of mass media in combating climate change. Climate change communication and behaviour modification hold the key to newlinegreenhouse gas reductions. Socially conscious en