The Cold, Hard Facts of Climate Change Are Clear - by Amy Goodman

The corporate television newscasts spend more and more time covering the increasingly disruptive, costly and at times deadly weather.  But they consistently fail to make the link between extreme weather and climate change.

Millions of dollars are poured into flashy television “Weather Centers.”  Now these sets, with their polished presenters, are being upgraded to “Severe Weather Centers” or “Extreme Weather Centers.”  Why not make the link?

As they flash the words “Severe Weather,” why not also flash the words “Climate Change” or “Global Warming?”  Why not explain how global warming can actually lead to more snowfall or to, yes, colder weather?

The public depends on broadcasters for most of their news and information, even in this Internet age.  How could a drought in California be related to Niagara Falls freezing over thousands of miles away?  People aren’t stupid.  The daily deluge of sensational weather reporting must include explanations of the deeper changes occurring to our entire planet.
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The debate over climate change is over.  The U.N.’s Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report, written by 800 scientists from 80 countries, that summarized the findings of more than 30,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers and concluded:

“Human influence on the climate system is clear; the more we disrupt our climate, the more we risk severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts; and we have the means to limit climate change and build a more prosperous, sustainable future.”

Compare that with the handful of scientists who deny the reality of climate change.  One champion among them, Wei-Hock “Willie” Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, received $1.2 million from fossil fuel interests, including oil baron Charles Koch, according to an investigation conducted by Greenpeace and the Climate Investigations Center.  Soon is now being investigated by the Smithsonian for possible ethical violations.

Among those for whom the science is clear and the debate settled:  the Pentagon.  Under the Obama administration, as well as under President Bush before him, the Department of Defense has named climate change as a major threat to national security.

Just when the public needs increased reporting on these issues, some of the largest news organizations are scaling back their climate reporting.  The New York Times gutted its nine-person environmental desk in 2013.

No one weather event is proof of climate change, but the trends are clear.  Meteorologists, especially those on the television news programs, have a duty to state the cold, hard facts: climate change is real, it is a planetary threat, and there is plenty we can do about it.

Read more at The Cold, Hard Facts of Climate Change Are Clear