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As hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heat waves have intensified over the past decade, public concern about climate change has grown dramatically. Today, 65% of the U.S. public is worried about the issue, up from 52% a decade ago, according to nationally representative surveys conducted by scientists at Yale University and George Mason University.
U.S. residents also want more news coverage of the topic, the researchers found. Only 28% of adults regularly hear about climate change in the media, but 77% say they’re interested in news stories about the impacts of climate change in the U.S. And a similar percentage say they’re interested in coverage of community and government responses to the problem.
The desire for climate news is widespread across geographic locations. The researchers found that a majority of adults in every U.S. state, congressional district, city, and county are interested in news stories about climate change.
“There’s a huge demand for climate news that simply isn’t being met right now,” said Yale University scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, one of the study authors.
Leiserowitz himself is working to meet that demand. For the past 10 years, he has hosted Climate Connections, a daily 90-second radio program that airs on more than 750 frequencies nationwide, including flagship stations like WHYY in Philadelphia, LAist in southern California, and WABE in Atlanta, as well as small stations across rural America.
Climate Connections informs people about how climate change is affecting their lives and what diverse people and organizations are doing to solve it. The program helps listeners connect the dots between climate change and energy, extreme weather, public health, food and water, jobs and the economy, national security, the creative arts, and religious and moral values, among other themes. Since its launch, Climate Connections has broadcast more than 2,500 stories of people from every walk of life describing how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things they love — and how they are taking action.
For the stations that air the program, these stories help support their environmental coverage.
“We know that issues around the environment and climate change are important to Connecticut Public’s audience, locally and regionally,” said Catie Talarski, former senior director of storytelling and radio programming at Connecticut Public, a longtime affiliate. “Climate Connections interstitials,” she added, “are a great addition to our overall coverage.”
So as radio audiences’ concern about climate change rises, Climate Connections is helping stations provide listeners the stories they want. — Sara Peach, Editor-in-chief, Yale Climate Connections
About Climate Connections
How is global warming affecting our lives? And what can we do about it? We connect the dots from fossil fuels to extreme weather, clean energy to public health, and more. In 90-second segments broadcast five times a week, listeners join Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz of Yale University to learn about climate change and hear inspiring stories of everyday people taking action. Boost your environmental coverage by adding Climate Connections to your schedule. The program is available for free via Content Depot, PRX, Dropbox (weekly or in bulk), and Audioport. Contact Bridgett Ennis at [email protected].