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Jeff Bezos got almost as much media coverage in one day as the climate crisis got in all of 2020, according to recent analysis by an American press watchdog.
Figures released by Media Matter showed Bezos’ trip into space received 212 minutes of coverage on 20 July.
By comparison, programmes dedicated only 267 minutes to climate change discussions throughout last year, indy100 has reported.
On Tuesday, Jeff Bezos went into space to reignite his rocket company’s ambitions. The Amazon founder billionaire took off in Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft.
After sending his thanks to Amazon employees and customers who “paid for all this”, the world’s richest man faced online criticism.
Robert Reich, former secretary of labour under President Bill Clinton and a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley. “Amazon workers don’t need Bezos to thank them. They need him to stop union busting — and pay them what they deserve,” Reich wrote.
But only a few days ago, more than 150 people have lost their lives during a tragic flooding in western Europe, which hit Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
And earlier this month, flooding in New York city has prompted a stark warning that “climate change is here”, after commuters battled deep subway floods and motorists were rescued from inundated cars.
The storm also hit Florida and Georgia and caused at least one death.
Andra Garner, environmental researcher at Rowan University, told The Guardian that flooding in New York City “has already become more frequent than in the past, and as long as we continue to warm the planet, we can expect more of this, not less”.
Her research predicts that the city could experience severe floods of more than 2.25 metres every five years by 2030, which is enough to inundate the first floor of a building.
By contrast, the same level of water damage was predicted once every 25 years in the 1970s.
Recent research has shown that there are also serious problems with the Amazon rainforest, which is now producing more carbon dioxide than it absorbs.
According to a study, the forest has been emitting more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
This means it is now causing faster climate change, whereas before it was tackling it by absorbing emissions, The Guardian has reported.
At the beginning of July, the Gulf of Mexico was on fire because of fossil fuels.
Footage of bright orange flames leaping out of the water, were dubbed an “eye of fire” on social media, with many expressing shock at the apocalyptic scenes.
John Kerry, the US envoy for climate change, has urged all big economies to bring plans to cut emissions before the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow in November.
Kerry said: “The climate crisis is the test of our own times and, while it may be unfolding in slow motion to some, this test is as acute and as existential as any previous one. Time is running out.”
Related: New York warned ‘climate change is here’ after subway is flooded
Amazon rainforest now produces more CO2 than it absorbs
Jeff Bezos thanks Amazon workers for paying for his space flight
