subject: Environmental News Is Not Just The Daily News [print this page] ## News as reassuring food for the brain ## News as reassuring food for the brain
News is like the food that you eat when you feel depressed to make you feel better. Whether it is global or local news, it does not matter. What matters is we need to have a dose of it from time to time, either by catching it on TV, reading it in the newspaper or from the Internet. It's kind of like a reality show, cautiously planned to fascinate us along with interspersed advertising moments.
News reports in some way contribute to passivity. We watch things happen, observe them from our couches, with no desire to actually participate. We see the talking heads with their manicured personas and are content to let all of the "facts" roll by us. Watching the news is so often a stupefying experience. We consume bits of scripted information and then simply go to work, or go to bed.
## News that challenges
There are some types of news that can sometimes challenge the receptor to action. News specifically related to important issues may actually call to us to get involved, change our own lives or be a part of a community of change. Environmental news is one such example of this.
Green news may not be taken seriously if they are being presented by the big networks. However if they are presented by a group of passionate environmentalists, it may just touch the deepest part of our hearts and inspire us to make a change in the way we think or live, whether it is a big or small change.
We are so used to going about our lives in our "traditional" or perhaps easy ways, that sometimes it takes an outside force to shake us from our everyday rut of thinking, to consider new things, new ways of going about life. Whether it's about how we use plastics or green alternative energy, environmental news can inform us but also may at times cause us to grow and change.
## Find for an appropriate news source
Do we all have to be fanatical? Absolutely not. How do we search for trustworthy, environmental news? As usual, we look around for it. Some green news will have its own set of political hidden agendas. Search for sources that attempt to highlight its issues with smart and sensible approaches. Stay away from sources that are too focused on their hidden political agendas and go for the ones that are free for discussion instead.
In this age of the open Internet, you may have to sift through a number of news sources until you find a few that you appreciate. Then you can challenge yourself to not just be a consumer but a living, active person.
