Do we care about climate change?
August 2nd, 2012 at 1:15 pm by Jim Spencer under Weather
I received an email from a viewer this week (see below) who is concerned that we are not doing enough to alert our audience about the growing threat of global warming. She suggested that maybe we were afraid of push-back from some of our audience if we even mentioned the inexplicably politically charged term “global warming.”
I assured her, and want all of our viewers to know that we never hesitate to report important scientific information about climate change simply because it might offend some science-deniers.
I don’t use the term “science deniers” lightly either. It is appalling to meteorologists and climate scientists to hear some say global warming is a “hoax.” Only those who don’t believe in thermometers can deny our planet is warming. This is settled science. And, almost no respected climate scientist on the planet believes that humans are not playing some role in the climate change.
Now, are we as a local television station reporting as much as we should about the global temperature increase and its causes? Probably not. With only about three to four minutes per newscast to keep our viewers informed about our local weather (as opposed to climate), little time remains for frequent in-depth analysis of this complex issue.
Would I like a half hour show once a week to discuss, in great detail, climate change and other weather and science-related topics with you? You bet. But, until that happens, know that we will continue to report on the latest newsworthy research and other climate information during our weathercasts, even if briefly, and whether the topics are controversial or not.
As the Austin station committed to in-depth coverage, we will also continue to bring you occasional special reports that are more comprehensive about this topic, such as the one meteorologist David Yeomans is producing right now for a coming broadcast.
And, we will use this forum to share even more information with you, so be sure to check our blog posts frequently. We also recommend that you research this topic yourself, but avoid getting your “facts” from opinion programs–from the right or left. Most importantly, be skeptical of climate change skeptics–they’re usually not scientists.
I’ll allow the viewer who sent the email to share with you the links to the articles she thought we needed to see, regarding recent climate change news:
From: Diane Young
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 6:27 PM
To: Jim Spencer
Subject: nobody seems to care
Dear Mr. Spencer,
I am a regular viewer of your weather forecasts and I respect your wisdom and knowledge about meteorology. I hope you will find the following articles of interest (in case you haven’t seen them). I realize that if you were to use the term “global warming” on the air, you would get hate mail from some of your listeners. Weather and climate will have a tremendous effect on human (and natural) history but nobody (including reporters) seems to care.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
Cheers …. Diane Young
Tags: climate change, global warming, science
Global warming may be happening but it is not “Man Made”, that is a way to tax us somehow so people like Al Gore can get rich, follow the money! If we are warming it is from within as in our Geothermal core is getting warmer, think of the crust like a pan of water on a stove, is a Hair dryer going to cause the water to boil if blown down from above? No turn the burner on from underneath to boil the water. So we can do nothing to stop it.
Thank you for this post. Looking forward to more on the topic. It seems to keep getting swept under the rug on the public stage, which is unfortunate because it is and will affect us all.
Thank you, Jim Spencer! Plenty of us see that global warming is well underway and our Texas weather is certainly a part of it. There’s too much scientific evidence to deny global warming at this point. I don’t expect that “normal” average temps in central Texas will be going down anytime soon. I appreciate your note on global warming, thanks for writing about it.
Thanks for your note on global warming, Jim Spencer! At this point, the evidence for global warming is pretty convincing, I would say — and the daily evidence we’re experiencing now is alarming. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is just the most recent bad news. I don’t expect the average temps. for central Texas will be headed downward any time soon.
Thanks Jim for not shying away from both aspects of this discussion. I think a lot of people who once denied the entire issue have now accepted we are warming. As you say they would have to deny thermometers. I would go further and say that if you deny humans have some role in it, when you consider how much weve altered the planet and its interrelated systems, you might as well deny humans exist in the first place. Perhaps we are all robots, controlled by Al Gore from his home in Tennessee.
As a public school science teacher, I can only say thank you so very much Jim!
Several years ago I presented a workshop for teachers using an article from Natural History magazine titled ” In Science we trust”
Thank you for reinforcing that lesson.
Somewhat related I know that you were awake as I was at 1am watching Curiosity land successfully, probably with tears in your eyes, just as I did in July of 1969 with the moon landing and again this morning.
Oh, the positively magnificent things we can do in this great country when we dedicate ourselves to it!
Thank you as well for the science you provide for us everyday,
Mike
you know, you have this blog and youtube and some professional video folks, you could make a 30 minute show about global warming and post it there. Start the conversation that way and in a way that doesn’t require the station to take away airtime from something else (as much as i love my law and order reruns)