THE CARBON WAR

Give us moving pictures 157
We are crammed in a small soundproof bubble where meetings can presumably
be held without disturbing the long rows of people. I wonder how
much shouting BBC journalists and producers do at each other, under the stress
of their deadlines and storylines. I imagine it is not inconsiderable. Hence the
bubble, maybe.
Roger opens our meeting. I am very aware that there is an immense
economic upheaval underway in society, he says, a complete energy transition,
and that we are not covering it at all well. I read a lot of things about how clean
energy is exploding, and I get it about the crossover into storage and transport.
I accept that there is a major running story around the carbon bubble too, as
yet largely untold on television. But to tell these stories on the news, I need
moving pictures. It can’t be solar farms or solar lanterns. It can’t be rooms full
of investment bankers.
You seem to be saying that we are at a newsworthiness disadvantage,
I say, because we can’t do stuff like exploding oil rigs, burning oil trains, and
oil-caked pelicans.
I can sense Sarah wincing beside me. She is Solarcentury’s head of press.
But I have known Roger for a long time. We have a frank relationship.
And so we brainstorm, searching as hard as we can for things that will
look interesting as they move.
I was in this building yesterday, on a different floor, talking about the solar
revolution on radio, for a business programme on the BBC World Service. They
wanted to explore my idea that a solar revolution is inevitable. The interviewer
was sceptical to the point of hostility, which I always welcome: antipathy, fake
or otherwise, helps me get my points out.
With the recording complete, she showed me a different face. I hope
you’re right, she said.
So do I. But whatever, when it comes to the news, it looks worryingly as
though solar, with its lack of moving parts, will be confined to the radio.
London, 9 th March 2015
I forgot the Solar Impulse, sitting in its hanger in Abu Dhabi. Today it begins
its epic flight around the world. The event has captured the imagination of the
mainstream moving-picture media, on an international basis. It is easy to see
why, looking at the elegant plane taking off en route to Oman on the first leg
of its circumnavigation.