The role of television weathercasting amid the growing impact of climate change was the topic of a discussion with chief meteorologists and weather personalities at The Business of TV News. 

B+C senior content producer of programming Michael Malone moderated the panel, which focused on climate change and the severity of recent storms around the country. WCBS New York lead weather anchor Lonnie Quinn said the debate over the effects of climate change won’t interfere with how the day-to-day weather is reported.  

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“We have to cover it because it’s hitting our viewers right where they live,” Quinn said. “Yes, there is a debate out there, but the debate really is about whether man is responsible for it. You can have that debate if you want, however, you can’t argue that our globe is getting warmer.” 

Quinn pointed to the frequency of supposed thousand-year “superstorms” like Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York in 2012. “We have to change the vernacular because nine years later, we had the remnants of Ida that had cars floating down the Major Deegan highway and people crawling out of their windows and swimming,” he said. “That was also a once-in-a-thousand-year storm that’s now coming once or twice every 10 years.”

It’s impossible to talk about the severity of recent storms without including climate change, CNN senior climate editor Angela Fritz said, adding that it’s not too late to improve the situation. “You cannot tell the weather story without telling the climate story … but I am hopeful that we’re going to be able to fix this eventually,” she said. “The debate is not whether climate change is happening, it’s about what we’re going to do about it.” 

Fox Weather meteorologist Ian Oliver added that the discussion of climate change has to be delicately woven into overall weather reporting without wading into the divisive political waters of the issue. “I think that the science is more agreed upon than people realize,” he said. “You’re trying to be entertaining and informative, but you’ll lose some people … it’s the policy that’s political.” 

As for the future of on-air meteorologists, weather phone apps can provide most people with weather information, but Spectrum News chief meteorologist Bryan Karrick said that there’s still a need for on-air meteorologists to add nuance and detail to the simple weather forecast.

 “I don’t foresee an app taking over for us because when it comes down to it … they way you handle yourself in front of an audience of viewers during a severe weather event is really going to be key,” he said. “You have that connection, and you have that trust that you’ve earned with your audience.” 

Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an eco-entertainment organization founded by Cyle Zezo, former VP and head of alternative programming at The CW. It is partnering with the nonprofit Rare. Rare’s Entertainment Lab supports writers, producers and creators in telling stories that offer climate solutions.

The partnership’s first priority is assembling an advisory committee consisting of non-scripted production companies and creative professionals who will help establish a course of action for the industry. The initiative will compile climate and sustainability-focused research and analysis about industry trends, audience impact and relevant scientific studies.  

“Climate change is reality, and to shine a light on this global issue, we believe there is no entertainment sector better suited to showing climate solutions on screen than unscripted television. We want to answer the call of both the creative community and the audiences we serve who are looking for action to be taken, who want to become more engaged and are demanding more from their entertainment,” said Zezo.  “Partnering with our friends at Rare’s Entertainment Lab, we are looking to reflect our rapidly changing world by charting a new, more sustainable course for our industry and the planet.”

Zezo spent nine years at The CW before departing last year. He said 24 production companies have committed to the advisory committee venture. 

Ellis Watamanuk is senior director of Rare’s Entertainment Lab. 

“As the world grapples with a quickly, dangerously changing climate, and more Americans recognize that climate change is happening, it’s only natural to see these themes and solutions appearing in unscripted content,” Watamanuk said. “Over the past few years, we have seen climate and sustainability pop up in big and small ways on our screens — from cooking to home renovation, from fashion to dating. Rare is honored to partner with Reality of Change and the many great producers and creatives in our advisory cohort, and to learn from them as we work to build a collective path forward towards a safe, healthy and just climate future.”

NBC’s station in Chicago, WMAQ, plans to air a half-hour special showing how climate change is affecting people and businesses in the Windy City.

Global Climate, Local Impact will premiere November 24 at 4:30 p.m. 

Hosted by anchor-reporter Kate Chappell, the special looks at growing concerns about climate change using data-driven evidence to illustrate how Chicago is being affected.

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“From our health to our safety, to our local business community’s livelihood, we are seeing and feeling the impact of climate change in all aspects of our daily life,” said Sally Ramirez, senior VP of News, NBC Chicago/Telemundo Chicago. “Our upcoming Global Climate, Local Impact special will help Chicago and Illinois residents understand how climate change is affecting their lives, along with providing solutions on how to navigate this growing global concern.”

The special has segments showing how climate change affects allergies, winters, storms and agriculture.

A second edition of Global Climate, Local Impact, will look at how individual communities are addressing climate change. No air date was announced for the second special.

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Global Climate, Local Impact was photographed/edited by NBC 5 Chicago’s Michael McGovern.

In addition to broadcast, the special is available on the NBC Chicago News live streaming channel on Peacock, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Fire TV, Xumo Play, Freevee, TCLtv plus and Local Now.

CTIA-the wireless association said those networks could play a big role in the Biden Administration's goal of reducing the country's carbon footprint.

That is according to a new report, 5G Connectivity: A Key Enabling Technology to Meet America’s Climate Change Goals commissioned by the trade group.

Use cases tied to 5G connectivity could be the equivalent to taking 72 million cars, or about 25% of the total--off the road, the report predicts and account for a fifth--or about 330 million metric tons of carbon dioxide--of the Administration's carbon reduction target, according to the report from Accenture.

“This study confirms that U.S. 5G wireless networks will be instrumental in tackling the pressing challenge of climate change,” said CTIA president Meredith Attwell Baker. “America’s wireless industry is building a world-leading 5G platform that will spur the investment and innovation necessary to meet our country’s climate objectives.”

That vehicle carbon reduction comes from reduced congestion, shorter routes and more sustainable choices like public transportation.

On the manufacturing 5G means enhanced inventory management, asset monitoring in real time, predictive maintenance, improved process and avoidance of travel.

On the green buildings front, 5G can help with real-time monitoring, increased green energy use, fuel savings because of reduced transport thanks to remote operations, energy management systems, smart meters and grids, and renewable microgrids. The report says that could reduce CO2 emissions from 12 million homes.

Of course, all those technologies will need to be adopted for the advantages of 5G to come into play.

The report looked at 31 use cases where mobile 5G could be used to reduce carbon emissions, then calculated their emission avoidance. ■

Wireless internet service providers are working on a “Climate Resilience” certification program based on protecting broadband plant against extreme weather events.

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) said it has created a working group to develop climate-resilient best practices to protect "vulnerable internet and cloud access" in the public and private sectors from climate-related impacts.

“Industry must take a leadership role in developing proactive practices to take us from disaster recovery towards resilience,” WISPA president Claude Aiken said. He said that would be critical as climate-related events increase. “This will be a differentiator in the marketplace, equipping the industry with needed skills and know-how to meet mounting resiliency challenges that lie ahead.”

WISPA has tapped member David Theodore, chief technology officer of Climate Resilient Internet, to chair the working group.

According to the World Meteorological Association, the number of extreme weather disasters — drought, floods or hurricanes — has increased five-fold over the last 50 years, driven in part by climate change as well as improved reporting.

Fuse Media has teamed with politician/activist Stacey Abrams and advocacy group Climate Power 2020 to develop cross-platform interstitials revolving around the issue of climate change, the network said Wednesday.

Starting July 5, a series of 30-second vignettes featuring Abrams will air on the Fuse and FM (Fuse Music) linear channels, on Fuse.tv and across the Fuse Media social accounts, and will detail the impact of climate change on communities of color, said the network. The vignettes will also encourage people to vote for politicians that include environmental responsibility as part of their platform,.

Additional vignettes featuring Abrams are being produced to run in August and will focus on voter participation in November.

"Environmental justice is an issue that is incredibly important, especially for our young, multicultural audience - with climate change disproportionately affecting people of color. Climate Power 2020's mission aligns with our commitment to use Be Change campaigns to educate, inform and empower," said Fuse Media CEO Miguel (Mike) Roggero in a statement. "As we have since the company was formed, we will continue to use our platform to encourage our viewers to hold politicians accountable and drive real change."

Marking the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, NBC News says it is joining the Covering Climate Now global initiative.  MSNBC and Noticias Telemundo are also signing up. 

All told, says NBCU, that means "more than 400 TV, radio, digital and print news outlets with a combined audience approaching 2 billion people." toward an initiative whose goal is "more and better coverage of the defining story of our time."   

"Now more than ever it is important to cover one of the most pressing issues in our lifetimes,” said Today weatherman Al Roker, who made the announcement on the program Wednesday (April 22). Roker heads up NBC News' Climate Unit. 

NBC joins Covering Climate Now partners including CBS, Reuters, Bloomberg, and Huffpost. 

It costs nothing to join the climate coverage initiative and there is no prescribed "editorial line" to follow, the group says, save for "respect for climate science." 

Disney CEO Bob Iger has resigned from President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum over the president's decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change.

Iger tweeted Thursday that he was resigning in the wake of the Rose Garden announcement, which was covered live by Disney's ABC News.

As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017

The forum is an advisory council of business executives created during the Trump transition to provide their "individual views to the president—informed by their unique vantage points in the private sector — on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity...in a frank, non-bureaucratic and non-partisan manner," the Trump transition team said at the time.

Computer and other technology companies have said they believe the President's decision to back out of the global agreement agreement was a mistake.

"It is very discouraging that President Trump is pulling out of the Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions," said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation senior fellow David Hart. "The United States’s abdication of global leadership will diminish confidence in the pact and discourage other nations from staying the course, while also making it more difficult for the United States to forge robust alliances with other nations on other issues of joint concern."