Hi friends. If you're reading this, you're probably (hopefully) also reading a bunch of other climate publications. Do us a favor and go say something nice to them, please?
Not us, we're fine. (Thanks, though!) But maybe if you have a few bucks, go subscribe to your local newspaper if you haven't, then sign up for HEATED, and stick around to read the latest on Chris Gloninger, the Iowa meteorologist essentially hounded out of his job by deniers and bosses pressuring him to talk less about the changed climate in which all weather now takes shape.
But then something different happened after he announced he was quitting: "he received 262 emails" Atkin reported, "from viewers expressing positive feedback for his work."
Not from diehard bleeding-heart liberal activists but from "the average person at home who wanted to learn." According to Gloninger, these folks were appreciating his work, even though they hadn’t previously written in, "Because when you like something, typically you don't follow up with feedback, versus if you hate something, you're going to push back."
Atkin asked if he would have stayed on air had he known: "One million percent. One million percent."
Then he issued a "call to action for everyone who wants to see more climate coverage on local news: If you hear somebody talking about climate change, follow them. Call the station. Write in. Do what the 11 percent [of climate deniers] are really good at doing, because there are people doing it, and when you get that satisfaction and gratitude from people, more people would be encouraged to do it. Less people would be afraid to talk about it."
It's not a lot to send a thank you, but the chance that it could mean quite a lot to the recipient? One million percent.