Yes, Bob, I’m talking to you – Think Progress Green: America’s television meteorologists are the primary source of climate information for most Americans, and are second only to scientists — who have much less access to the general public — in the level of trust they are given. Yet more than half of TV weather reporters don’t believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme.
Forecast the Facts, a new campaign of 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and the new Citizen Engagement Lab, aims to turn the tide. The first call to action challenges the American Meteorological Society to vote next week for a strong climate change statement that rejects science denial:
It’s a big problem: weather reporters reach millions of people every night, and right now they’re not telling their viewers the full story. We can change that. Meteorologists are meeting this month at the annual conference of the American Meteorological Society, where the AMS Council will vote on a new official statement on climate change. Denier meteorologists don’t want the statement to pass, and are doing everything they can to derail the process. We can’t let that happen.
The primary barrier to national action on climate change is the intransigence of corporate polluters, and the amount of influence they wield over the political system. Climate zombies have overrun Congress, and every Republican candidate for president denies the reality of greenhouse pollution.
To overcome that will require the mobilization of the American public, and science-denying weathermen are standing in the way.
Forecast the Facts (on Twitter at @ForecastFacts) defines a denier as anyone who expressly refutes the overwhelming scientific consensus about climate change: that it is real, largely caused by humans, and already having profound impacts on our world. Forecast the Facts also includes meteorologists who have suggested that extreme cold spells or snowstorms disprove climate science. They track the views of meteorologists through their on-air statements, blog posts, social media activity, public appearances, interviews, and interactions with viewers. To add to their database, email tips@forecastthefacts.org.
