<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/16/chris-gloninger-tv-weather-man-climate-crisis>
"It was a brave, if perhaps scientifically obvious, experiment – to convey
messages about the unfolding climate crisis via the regular local TV weather
forecasts seen by viewers in the conservative heartland of Iowa. It culminated
in the meteorologist involved receiving death threats and exiting the state.
Chris Gloninger, who is 38, has been obsessed with the weather since he was a
child, when Hurricane Bob crunched into his New York state home town, parlaying
this into an itinerant career as a TV meteorologist in cities such as Milwaukee
and Boston, where he pioneered at NBC 10 what he thinks was the US’s first
regular broadcast segment on climate change, in 2010.
Gloninger said he experienced “a holy shit moment” with climate change as he
was drenched while covering 2017’s Hurricane Harvey – in which the overheated
air and ocean helped dump 9tn gallons of rainwater upon Texas in little over a
day. He said he always required a thick skin, like many broadcasters, to deal
with casual ridicule over his appearance or voice.
But the experience at KCCI, a CBS affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, was more
extreme. Hired by the station two years ago to help weave the reality of global
heating into his forecasts, Gloninger flagged the science where appropriate,
reminding viewers during a flood event that a warming atmosphere holds more
moisture, or of the upward march of global temperature during a heatwave.
But this soon provoked angst from some viewers, who grumbled that he should
“stick to the weather”. Then, last July, he started getting a string of emails
that included threats against his life."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
