The National Weather and Climate Education Program: A Proposal to NSF

In 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) called for proposals for their newly established Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program which sought “to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts.” Each CCEP was “required to be of a large enough scale that it will have catalytic or transformative impact.” Our team of broadcast meteorology, climate science, and communication research organizations proposed -- and was funded -- to plan a thematic project to increase public understanding of the relationships between climate, climate change, weather extremes and community vulnerability by engaging and empowing TV weathercasters as climate educators. TV weathercasters are among America's most trusted sources for climate change information, and they have unparalleled access to the American public: a large majority of Americans watch local TV news, especially local weather, and TV is cited by most adults as their #1 source of weather information. Moreover, weathercasts are both timely (when people are open to learning – e.g., when extreme weather events create “teachable moments”), and relevant for viewers (because they are focused on concrete local/regional climatic conditions, rather than distant ones). Furthermore, most weathercasters are already involved in community education through both media channels (TV, radio, newspapers, station websites, and personal blogs), and community presentations (e.g., at schools and community events). In this session, we will present key findings from the planning research that was conducted with TV weathercasters, state climatologists, undergraduate meteorology and atmospheric science program coordinators, and climate scientists to plan the program. We will also provide an overview of the proposed program – the National Weather & Climate Education Program – that is currently under review for 5 years of NSF funding.