want weather ratings? climate’s the new hot button
Who knew the weather channel could be so informative…and controversial.
Look what happened to Dr. Heidi Cullen, the Weather Channel‘s on-air climate expert who runs Climate Code, an in-depth website and blog on the science behind the headlines.
On-air, Cullen said that if a TV meteorologist can’t be bothered to get themselves educated about the science of global warming before spouting off about it from their position of authority, then they don’t deserve to carry the American Meteorological Society seal of approval (via prometheus).
Then, the Rush Limbaugh crowd jumped in. You guessed it: lots of smoke got blown about. Here’s Cullen’s follow-up blog post on that thoroughly unenlightening exchange.
Says Cullen:
“Meteorologists are among the few people trained in the sciences who are permitted regular access to our living rooms. And in that sense, they owe it to their audience to distinguish between solid, peer-reviewed science and junk political controversy. I agree with every meteorologist who says the topic of global warming has gotten too political. But that’s why talking about the science is so important!”
As Prometheus points out,
“These explosions of controversy emerge because the perceived stakes of climate change regulation are so high. Many fear that this isn’t really about climate change at all, but about controlling lifestyles.”
According to Prometheus, some folks see this issue in terms like ‘Envirohippies want to change our way of life, just like Islamic terrorists do. They both must be battled.’
So, climate scientists need to fully absorb the fact that many laypeople view the climate “debate” in precisely these terms.
I couldn’t agree more that it will be far more effective for our community to engage this fear head-on rather than to continue to engage, debate and highlight the remaining “skeptics” for being “skeptics.”
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.