In Arizona, Amber Sullins, five-time Emmy Award WinningABC15chief meteorologist, builds her climate change stories and information with her key demographic in mind: women aged 25 to 54. He has also enlightened his viewers about the impacts on local vegetable prices due to the California drought and talked about how the increased heat South Carolina is seeing affects gardening.Įach broadcast meteorologist has to find a way to bring the story of climate change down to the local level and figure out what matters to their viewers, say Woods Placky and Gandy. “If we don’t start talking about climate change now, how are we going to explain to people what they are seeing?” says Gandy. This means that more people will be allergic to poison ivy and more people are expected to end up in the emergency room. And it will double again by the end of the century according to the study, according to Gandy. “Poison ivy toxicity has doubled since the 1950s,” Gandy says. To bring that message home, Gandy produced a segment for the nightly newscast based on a 2006 study showing that increased carbon dioxide helps poison ivy spread and, crucially, makes it more toxic. “We meteorologists need to show people global climate change and what it means to them,” says 42-year broadcast veteran Jim Gandy, chief meteorologist at News19 in Columbia, South Carolina, and a founding member of Climate Matters. It also offers weekly communication packages containing location-specific climate analyses and visuals as well as workshops offering a deeper dive into the science, impacts, and solutions to climate change. It provides data for individual markets, such as how viewers think about climate change. Today, Climate Matters supplies webinars to help meteorologists understand topics such as climate models, health impacts, and extreme precipitation events. “We are a resource to help meteorologists tell their local story,” says Woods Placky. By linking local impacts to larger changes, Climate Matters aims to empower people to prepare for impacts like heatwaves, flooding, elevated food prices, and health situations. “We need more people connecting the dots about how climate change is already affecting people and will continue to do so in the future,” says Bernadette Woods Placky, Climate Central chief meteorologist and director of Climate Matters. Two years later, Climate Central launched Climate Matters as a full-time, national program to help meteorologists talk about climate change in and with their communities. In 2010, several meteorologists joined Climate Central, George Mason and Yale universities, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the American Meteorological Society in a pilot project to explore how broadcast meteorologists could better communicate climate change. We have a responsibility to educate them on the facts.” People invite us into their living rooms. “We are as close to a scientist as most Americans will ever get. Here's Howīut that won’t do anymore, says Nelson. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |