Bob Lindmeier has been reporting the weather for the last 4 decades. You probably know him as the senior chief meteorologist at WKOW. About 7 years ago, he started talking about climate change on air. “It was not a comfortable subject for me initially,” he says. “For a lot of broadcast meteorologists,  it’s not an area in our expertise necessarily, we’re worried about the near term, the next seven days. Talking about climate science in the long term is a whole different animal,” he explains to host Sara Gabler. He joins A Public Affair alongside Sara’s second guest, Christopher Gloninger.

Chris was chief meteorologist at a station in Des Moines, where “the pushback because of the political divide was intense.” Chris left that job and wrote about the career change in an article titled, “I spoke about climate change as a TV meteorologist. Then came the death threat.” Bob and Chris join the program to talk about communicating climate science on broadcast television.

Resources mentioned during the program include: Climate Matters, Skeptical Science, and Climate Science.

 

Bob Lindmeier is the senior chief meteorologist at WKOW-TV where he has worked since 1989. Bob is a member of the American Meteorological Society Station Scientist Committee and has received the Wisconsin Silver Circle Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He is a member of Citizen’s Climate Lobby, a non-profit and non-partisan organization focused on national policies to address solutions to climate change.

Christopher Gloninger is an atmospheric scientist, communications professional, and Certified Consulting Meteorologist. Christopher has worked in newsrooms across the US including Albany, New York; Saginaw, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Boston, Massachusetts; and Des Moines, Iowa. Chris has earned three EMMYs, two NBC Gem awards, and two Wisconsin Broadcasters Association awards in recognition of his various news coverage throughout his career. Currently he serves as a Senior Scientist in Climate and Risk Communication at Woods Hole Group.

 

Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay

Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here