This article by Susanne Götze was originally published on 27.06.17 on klimafakten.de
It all started with a WhatsApp group: Belgian weather presenter Jill Peeters invited some colleagues from around the world to share interesting articles, images and videos about climate change with each other. The small group quickly grew into a global network of weather presenters: "We've all had the same experience: many of our viewers want to know more precisely why the weather is changing," says Peeters, who works for Belgian TV channel VTM. "People asked me when the heatwave would finally end and why it was lasting so long — that's reason enough for me to look into the bigger picture."
Out of this digital exchange, the first global platform of committed weather presenters is now taking shape. Under the name "Climate without Borders", Peeters and now 140 TV meteorologists from around the world are launching a website this week, and this Tuesday they're presenting their campaign in Brussels. "In the Paris Agreement there's Article 12, which calls for raising awareness of climate change," says Jill Peeters. "We take that call very seriously, because we're trusted figures for many people when it comes to weather." Social science studies, including from the US, back up this view.
Weather presenters aim to shape climate coverage across the board
"Climate without Borders" sees itself as a bridge between the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), climate science, and media reporting on weather and climate. The initiative is supported by, among others, the European Commission, the European Climate Foundation* and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
The new organisation has wide-ranging plans: online courses are set to train weather journalists on the topic of climate change. "The idea is for them to become the climate experts within their media organisations and help shape the overall coverage," hopes Jill Peeters. While presenters may often not be able to fit the complex subject matter into short weather reports, they could suggest special programmes on extreme weather events or answer their viewers' questions on social media and in forums. Together with schools and artists, the energetic founder also wants to spark broader public interest in weather and climate.
"We need to learn to speak in better images"
The 140 founding members come from a total of 110 countries, including German weather presenters Özden Terli from ZDF and Silke Hansen from Hessischer Rundfunk (HR). "It was particularly tricky to find interested people in Germany, though," says platform founder Jill Peeters. Committed weather presenters like Thomas Ranft welcome the initiative: "I think the idea makes sense, because we weather journalists need to communicate the topic not just to our audience, but also within our editorial teams," says the ARD weather expert.
"It's up to us to advocate within broadcasters for special programmes on climate change or extreme weather events." To do that, colleagues don't necessarily need new specialist knowledge, but rather help with making the case and a chance to exchange ideas on how to communicate climate topics as clearly as possible: "We need to learn to speak in images," says Ranft, "and for that, metaphors or comparisons to everyday situations that our audience is familiar with work really well." Ranft is not yet a member of Climate without Borders — but he plans to change that soon.
