Thank you for attending the June 18-19 workshop which introduced you to the Climate Matters in the Newsroom program for journalists and TV meteorologists. The Climate Matters Media Library is your go-to source for local climate reporting resources. Below are additional resources. They are organized in the following categories, all under a general heading of Climate Change: Expert Sources, Science and Impacts, Southeast Regional Science, Health Impacts, Scientific Consensus, Public Opinion, Journalists’ Opinion, Language Issues, Myth Debunking, Exemplary Reporting, and Other Useful Links.
Expert Sources
- Selected experts in North Carolina
- Selected experts in South Carolina
- Selected experts in Georgia
- SciLine – This service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science provides journalists with connections to expert sources for reporting.
- Climate Science Rapid Response Team – Online service that provides journalists with connections to expert sources on climate science
- Climate Feedback – This website houses climate scientists’ reviews of published journalism, assessing its scientific credibility
Science and Impacts
- Climate Change Impacts in the United States, 2014, the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, the most recent complete assessment
- Climate Science Special Report, 2017, Volume 1 of the Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment. (Volume 2 of the fourth assessment will be published in late 2018)
- What We Know published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information – world’s largest repository of climate data
- NASA Climate Website includes well presented data, visualizations, and other resources
Southeast Regional Science
- Each state has a State Climate Office. Here are links to those in NC, SC, and GA:
NC: http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/
SC: http://dnr.sc.gov/climate/sco/
GA: https://epd.georgia.gov/office-state-climatologist - Southeast Regional Climate Center (SERCC) funded by NOAA, the service climatologist there, William Schmitz can be reached at wschmitz@email.unc.edu and you can sign up for their monthly and quarterly reports.
- Convergence of Climate-Health Vulnerabilities – the beta version of HERA, the decision-support tool designed to assist in planning and preparedness for extreme events, is found under the ‘Tools’ menu
- The Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CISA) helps integrate climate science and decision making in the Carolinas. There is also information on their Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference on September 17-19, 2018.
- Southeast Climate Science Center funded by the Department of Interior
- Georgia Climate Project’s site has useful resources for the state of Georgia
Health Impacts
- The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, 2016 published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program
- MEDICAL ALERT! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health published by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
Scientific Consensus
When applied to basic facts about climate change (that it is real and human caused), the journalistic norm of “balance” results in a biased representation of the facts. Original research was published in 2004 on this topic, Balance as Bias by Boykoff & Boykoff. Additional research showed that this improved somewhat from 2003 to 2006. An update on this question since 2006 is in progress. Recent surveys of journalists by our team at George Mason University show that false balance is still a problem, see the Journalists’ Opinion section below.
This is a problem because there is a clear scientific consensus: based on the evidence, 97% of climate scientists have concluded that human caused global warming is happening. All major scientific societies agree that climate change is real and human caused. This can be seen, for example, in statements from the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society.
A resource for understanding and communicating this consensus is The Consensus Handbook.
John Oliver showed how humor can be used to make this point on his HBO show “This Week Tonight”.
Public Opinion
- Climate Change in the American Mind: March 2018, National survey data from researchers at Yale and George Mason University
- Yale Climate Opinion Maps, U.S. 2016, Americans’ views on climate related questions, down-scaled to the county level
Journalists’ Opinion
See the Climate Matters in the Newsroom reports on surveys of:
- National Association of Black Journalists
- National Association of Hispanic Journalists
- Society of Environmental Journalists
- Radio Television Digital News Association
Language Issues
The Resources section of this website includes several relevant articles on this topic including:
- (Un)Natural Disasters: Communicating Linkages Between Extreme Events and Climate Change
- Communicating the Science of Climate Change
- Improving How Scientists Communicate About Climate Change
Myth Debunking
When debunking common climate myths, it is important to understand the psychology of doing this effectively to avoid reinforcing the myths. The website Skeptical Science explains and debunks common climate myths. They also offer a handbook on effective myth debunking. They even have smartphone apps.
Exemplary Reporting
- Tony Bartleme of the Charleston Post and Courier‘s series Every Other Breath: Hidden Stories of Climate Change
- Meera Subramanian’s series call Finding Middle Ground: Conversations across America
- Climate Matters videos: examples of video clips based on Climate Matters materials on the topics of hummingbirds, hurricanes, wildfires, solar energy, and pollen
- Robinson Meyer’s article in The Atlantic “The American South Will Bear the Worst of Climate Change’s Costs“
Fellowships
- Fund for Environmental Journalism, Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)
- Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, offers several grants
- Mongabay Special Reporting Initiatives
- The Nation Institute Investigative Fund, offers several grant and fellowship opportunities
- International Reporting Project
- Fulbright offers fellowships and awards in several categories for larger projects
- Alicia Patterson Foundation offers a fellowship for larger projects by print journalists
- Howard Foundation at Brown University, offers a limited number of fellowships to support larger projects of early and mid-career artists, scholars, and writers
- Climate Matters in the Newsroom Fellowship includes a one-year membership to SEJ and an expense paid trip to Flint, Michigan for their annual conference (October 3-7) and an all-day workshop on climate reporting on October 3, 2018
Other Useful Links
- The Resources section of this website has links to other useful websites on climate science and solutions
- Climate Stories NC has brief videos of North Carolinians whose lives have been affected by changes in climate including farmers, beekeepers, fishermen, hunters, and apple growers
- Doom and Gloom: The Role of the Media in Public Disengagement on Climate Change is an article that shows the importance of including solutions in climate reporting
