Thread by @DoctorVive

This👇is the most important datapoint in climate change politics.

According to @YaleClimateComm, only 42% of Americans think climate change will affect them personally.

Before the Federal govt will act, this number must rise.

And it's 100% a communications issue.

THREAD

@YaleClimateComm Even when people are damaged by climate change, they don't always realize that climate change is hurting them.

That's becuz understanding your lived experience is a matter of interpretation, of framing your life in terms of tribal norms. Understanding happens in *language*.

2/

@YaleClimateComm Without clear and repeated communication from climate campaigners, the news media, schools and faith institutions, influencers, and "tribal elites," people will simply not understand that climate change is hurting them, even when it's hurting them.

3/

@YaleClimateComm Thus only 43% of people living in Monroe County Tx, the county of Houston, think that climate change will affect them.

Houston was subjected to record flooding due to the effects of climate breakdown on hurricanes.

And yet: 43%

4/

@YaleClimateComm And although 55% of people in Miami-Dade county understand that climate change threatens them personally, right next door, in Monroe county, home of the sinking Florida Keys, only 43% of folks think the same.

5/

@YaleClimateComm And lest we think this numbers are explained by red state / blue state politics, here is the number for Sonoma County, in the heart of bright blue California and the epicenter of the relentless wildfires that climate breakdown is fueling in the region:

46%

6/

@YaleClimateComm And here is San Francisco county: 53%

Over the half-way mark, to be sure, but far far too low for such a lefty town in which nearly everyone owns a smoke mask but still has been suffering from respiratory problems for months now.

7/n

@YaleClimateComm Everyone plays a role in communicating the truth about climate breakdown.

But by far the blame for this sorry state of affairs lies with the broadcast news media, which almost never mentions climate change in its reports about extreme weather.

8/n

@YaleClimateComm .@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

You must connect the dots to climate change in every single one of your reports on extreme weather.

9/n

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight .@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

You are failing to inform the American people about how climate change is already hurting them. You are putting their lives in danger.

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight .@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

You have been manipulated into seeing climate change as a far left issue. But YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THAT PERCEPTION.

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@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight .@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

Most importantly you have a journalistic obligation to report the truth. Your climate silence is a form of lying, like a cover up.

12/n

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight .@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

The @ClimateCentral "Extreme Weather Toolkits" distill the science conveying how climate change is connected to fires, floods, etc.

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@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight @ClimateCentral Here's the link, @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight, they've already done your work for you.

medialibrary.climatecentral.org/resources

14/n

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight @ClimateCentral And here is a page from @ClimateSignals, which also distills the science for all sorts of climate change effects.

@ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

climatesignals.org/climate-signals

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight @ClimateCentral @ClimateSignals And here is a group that will connect you to a scientist source for free: @RealSciLine

And here is a list, compiled by @KHayhoe, of scientists who do climate: twitter.com/KHayhoe/lists/…

There is no excuse for ignorance!

16/n

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight @ClimateCentral @ClimateSignals @RealSciLine @KHayhoe @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight

You don't have to do full segments. You don't even have explain all that much! 2 sentences: connect the dots to climate change, that's all.

@YaleClimateComm @ABC @ABCWorldNews @NBCNightlyNews @MSNBC @CBSNews @cnnbrk @CNN @CNNSitRoom @OutFrontCNN @AC360 @CuomoPrimeTime @CNNTonight @ClimateCentral @ClimateSignals @RealSciLine @KHayhoe You have a moral responsibility, and a professional obligation, to inform views about the events that shape their lives.

You are failing to do this with climate change.

You must do better. Our lives depend on it.

#EndClimateSilence

/fin