Homegrown nonprofit educates on climate change and sustainability efforts to protect Earth
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Earth Month is a chance for all of us to re-evaluate the roles we play in protecting our planet and right now, the biggest threat Earth faces is a rapidly changing climate.
More heat, more rain, more flash flooding. It's hard to miss the signs of climate change. From the higher tides and beach erosion to more mosquitos and pollen in your backyard, these are some of the big changes that a group of scientists at Climate Central, a nonprofit, non-policy, research and communication organization, are trying to slow.
According to Bernadette Woods-Placky, chief meteorologist and director of the Climate Matters program, educating the public is a priority.
"The three biggest things that we're focusing on is helping people understand the climate literacy of how climate change is affecting them and what they can do about it. And that there is a human causation to it," Woods-Placky said.
Since 2008 Climate Central has grown from a grassroots organization to an internationally respected source of information. Key to that success is Bernadette Woods-Placky. This Philly native and Penn State alum is also a former meteorologist and member of the CBS family.
And she knows firsthand the importance of clear communication to connect the dots between individuals and our changing climate. But making that connection hasn't always been easy.
"I have to say, going to one of my first TV weather conferences, there were people that walked out of the room when I went to present," she said. "So, it wasn't widely accepted. And there was some work needed to be done in the community to understand what was happening."
That "aha!" moment led to a new program known as Climate Matters, which Woods-Placky says provides local climate facts for TV meteorologists and journalists in over 100 countries.
"Four thousand people are on the list right now. So, it's about 1,000 local TV meteorologists, about 2,000 local journalists, plus a lot of other educators, NGOs, academia."
Climate Central places a priority on developing even more partnerships around the world which includes plenty of travel. Next is work with weathercasters in Germany followed by a trip to a United Nations conference in Azerbaijan.
On their website, you will find weather widgets and climate tools. The latest is the Climate Index based on attribution science. Tying specific weather events like heat, flooding and pollen directly to climate change. Climate Central Vice President of Science Andrew Pershing said all of this helps get the word out before a big weather event.
"A lot of that happens after the fact, after an event, and we really want to be ahead of things, we want to have an idea of what's coming, we want to be able to get materials out to people so they can understand upcoming weather events as part of the changing climate story," Pershing said.
Woods-Placky says the message from Climate Central is not one of blame but instead to educate and take action.
"We're not wrong for having electrified society and advanced humanity," she said. "However, we know a lot more now about where our emissions are coming from. We have amazing solutions going on right now. We're transforming our energy, we're transforming how we try, and we just need to accelerate them."
