Earth Equity News

The Growing Spilt Between Climate Scientists and TV Weather Forecasters. By Leslie Kaufman, NYTimes, March 29, 2010. "Climatologists, who study weather patterns over time, almost universally endorse the view that the earth is warming and that humans have contributed to climate change. There is less of a consensus among meteorologists, who predict short-term weather patterns. Joe Bastardi, for example, a senior forecaster and meteorologist with AccuWeather, maintains that it is more likely that the planet is cooling, and he distrusts the data put forward by climate scientists as evidence for rising global temperatures. Such skepticism appears to be widespread among TV forecasters, about half of whom have a degree in meteorology. A Study [PDF, 24 pp] released on March 29 by researchers at George Mason University and the University of Texas at Austin found that only about half of the 571 television weathercasters surveyed believed that global warming was occurring and fewer than a third believed that climate change was 'caused mostly by human activities.' More than a quarter of the weathercasters in the survey agreed with the statement 'Global warming is a scam,' the researchers found. The split between climate scientists and meteorologists is gaining attention in political and academic circles because polls show that public skepticism about global warming is increasing, and weather forecasters -- especially those on television -- dominate communications channels to the public. A study released this year by researchers at Yale and George Mason found that 56% of Americans trusted weathercasters to tell them about global warming far more than they trusted other news media or public figures like former Vice President Al Gore or Sarah Palin."