Heatwaves aren’t a cause for celebration. I was asked to go on @gmb to ‘debate’ whether the heatwave was a cause for celebration (slide 2). Why are we posing this as a debate? The climate crisis is already killing people and we dare give space to pose this as a two sided argument? I declined, in part because of this. But also because I didn’t want to be humiliated on public television and made to seem like an ‘eco freak’. Which television interviews have an apt way of doing. And if you decline, you run the risk of being made to feel as though it’s your fault that climate awareness isn’t being raised. The thought of having to ‘debate’ another person to see my humanity, and other people’s humanity really disgusts me. And would honestly make me so mentally unwell. As a disabled person, these conversations are violent. Let me get this straight. It is not your contributor’s responsibility to ‘balance’ this ‘argument’ out. This is your responsibility as a space for news and current affairs to tell the state of the planet it as it is, and to inform people about what heatwaves actually mean. The more news and media outlets continue to pose these as debates, the more they harm the disenfranchised and marginalised people in society. The more they propel us towards catastrophic climate denialism and delay. As someone whose body can’t cope with the heat (just this past week I have been so goddamn unwell it’s actually cost me jobs and my sanity), these interviews are part of the problem. And I urge all of us to hold the media and of course our governments accountable for perpetuating climate action delay. The climate crisis is harming disabled people and shows like Good Morning Britain are part of this problem. From a very overheated, tired and unwell Tori