Willingly or not, meteorologists find themselves in the middle of the climate change storm. We sit at the crossroads of science and society. We are among the few who are experts in both science and communication. We are trusted messengers in our local communities. While some meteorologists may argue that confronting climate change head-on is not our responsibility, our unique combination of skills means we are often the best equipped to do so.
Should we use our platform and power to help educate our audiences and heighten awareness on this issue? Can this be a meteorologist’s moral mission? And in the age of weather apps, which often provide superficial information, can we find renewed purpose in providing expert context and perspective? To these questions, my answer is yes.
A year and a half ago I left my job as chief meteorologist at WPEC in West Palm Beach, FL to become a climate soldier. I knew it was risky to leave the security of a job I had worked twenty years to achieve. But I also understood climate change was not only changing the world we lived in, but was about to change our profession too. So, I took a chance, enrolled in graduate school at Columbia University and forged ahead on a mission to both convince mainstream broadcast media to cover climate change more vigorously and to find my place in the conversation. I’ve made significant progress on both.
In this presentation we’ll discuss my journey, the current state of climate change coverage in the media and how meteorologists can become more valuable members of their news teams and community by leading on this issue. For a meteorologist, climate change can be an ‘opportunity’ to advance your career, make a difference in the world and perhaps even discover a renewed purpose. It did for me.
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