Climate extremes: let's activate the media!

Hi folks,

As you are aware, this summer’s climate extremes, including deadly heat, wildfire smoke and dangerous precipitation, are continuing to generate national news coverage.  The silver lining to all this harrowing news is it helps us to raise awareness of climate extremes and the solutions we are advocating for. We have a timely opportunity to move quickly and offer a local angle to local media outlets and utilize other local media outreach. 

Normally, we advise sending a press release as the best way to suggest stories to reporters. But here, time is of the essence. Newspaper, TV, and radio reporters are expected to pitch daily story ideas in their news meetings and will be looking for local angles on these major national stories.

If you have some time to pursue media outreach, we recommend you send an email to local reporters providing a quick overview of the timely story and what you can offer. Scroll down for examples of wording you can adapt for your email, along with useful background resources to get familiar with the topic.

Some other quick actions you could take to generate media coverage:

1. Submit an LTE to your local newspaper: This quick three-minute tutorial covers the elements you should include in your letter to the editor. Aim to write 150-250 words and submit your finished letter directly to a local newspaper or through CCL’s online LTE tool.
    
2. Send that letter to your members of Congress, too: Adapt your LTE into an email to your member of Congress and send it via cclusa.org/write
    
3. Use Twitter to highlight these climate extremes on social media: Click here for Citizens' Climate's latest Twitter post on climate extremes. Please like the post, retweet, and tag your member of Congress in the comments so they see you are concerned about this summer’s unrelenting climate events. Encourage other folks in your chapter to interact with these posts and with your comment.
    

Extreme heat suggested email:

Dear [INSERT REPORTER’S NAME]

Right now, [PLACE] residents are experiencing dangerous heat — along with nearly a third of Americans (about 113 million people). 

Our region has already warmed [AMOUNT] since [YEAR], and unchecked climate change is causing more parts of the world to experience deadly heat.

[STATE RESIDENTS] suffer when our region is susceptible to climate impacts. Extreme heat affects our health (especially vulnerable populations such as the young, the old, and the infirm) and our economy when outdoor workers cannot do their jobs safely. The [STATE] heat hit as the world just experienced the hottest week ever recorded and more unprecedented heat is forecast to come.

We need to reduce carbon pollution and transition to cleaner energy sources to stall these inhospitable conditions.

To help you to cover this story, we can offer you interviews or quotes from knowledgeable local volunteers from Citizens’ Climate Lobby who can talk about:

• Why extreme heat is connected to an altered climate; the increased warming of our climate is caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which stay in our atmosphere and act like a heat-trapping blanket.
• This issue seems overwhelming, but the solutions for this problem are available and being implemented; we are excited about the opportunities we have to prevent extreme heat and reduce air pollution, lower our household bills with energy-efficient innovation, and keep our climate stable so we can safeguard the crops and livelihoods of our farmers. 
• Our volunteers are everyday folks who meet with their members of Congress to talk about common-sense climate solutions that help the health and pocketbooks of [STATE RESIDENTS].
  
  Please let me know if you would like to speak with any of our local volunteers for a story on this topic. You can reach me at [phone number].

 
Wildfire smoke suggested email:

Dear [INSERT REPORTER’S NAME].

Smoke from Canada’s worst wildfire season continues to cause air pollution, and we have seen air quality alerts in our state. 

To stop our region from being susceptible to these kinds of climate impacts — which come with repercussions for our health, especially to vulnerable populations such as the young, the old, and the infirm — we need to reduce carbon pollution and transition to cleaner energy sources.

To help you to cover this story, we can offer you interviews or quotes from knowledgeable local volunteers from Citizens’ Climate Lobby who can talk about:

• Why worsening wildfires and air pollution can be contributed to an altered climate; how this ongoing warming to our climate is caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which stay in our atmosphere and act like a heat-trapping blanket.
• This issue seems overwhelming, but the solutions for this problem are available and being implemented; we are excited about the opportunities we have to reduce air pollution, reduce our household bills with energy-efficient innovation, and keep our climate stable to safeguard the crops and livelihoods of our farmers. 

Our volunteers are everyday folks who meet with their members of Congress to talk about common-sense climate solutions that help the health and pocketbooks of [STATE RESIDENTS].

Please let me know if you would like to speak with any of our local volunteers for a story on this topic. You can reach me at [phone number].
 

Dangerous precipitation suggested email:

Dear [INSERT REPORTER’S NAME].

Our state is one of several in the U.S. experiencing life-threatening precipitation events, unleashing dangerous floods and landslides.

To stop our region from being susceptible to these kinds of climate impacts — which put vulnerable populations such as the homeless, the old, and the infirm most at risk — we need to reduce the carbon pollution turbocharging climate extremes and transition to cleaner energy sources.

To help you to cover this story, we can offer you interviews or quotes from knowledgeable local volunteers from Citizens’ Climate Lobby who can talk about:

• Why climate change is making floods and landslides more likely: a warmer atmosphere holds more water, eventually releasing it with increasing ferocity.
• This issue seems overwhelming, but the solutions for this problem are available and being implemented; we are excited about the opportunities we have to combat escalating climate extremes, reduce air pollution, reduce our household bills with energy-efficient innovation, and keep our climate stable to safeguard the crops and livelihoods of our farmers. 
• Our volunteers are everyday folks who meet with their members of Congress to talk about common-sense climate solutions that help the health and pocketbooks of [STATE RESIDENTS].
  
  Please let me know if you would like to speak with any of our local volunteers for a story on this topic. You can reach me at [phone number].

Facts and resources for interviews and LTEs

Extreme heat

• Warnings issued for more than 100 million across the U.S.
• Death Valley is close to reaching the hottest temperatures ever recorded
• Across the Atlantic, European countries are also sweltering with record heat as a new study links Europe's summer 2022 heat waves to 61,600 deaths — most of them women. 
• UNICEF warns that virtually every child will face frequent heat waves by 2050
• Dartmouth researchers have found extreme heat, exacerbated by climate change, has significantly impacted economic output in developing countries.
• Feeling the heat: Farmer health on the frontlines of climate change
   

Wildfire smoke

• Wildfires in western Canada are expected to create smoky conditions in the United States again this week.
• How to use the air quality index
• Canada's wildfires have burned nearly 25 million acres
• Millions face a relentless summer of smoke that won't end anytime soon; more intense wildfires can be attributed to a warming climate; while it’s difficult to attribute a lone fire season to climate change, Atlantic Canada has experienced a hotter climate than usual, and the region’s plight is part of a broader trend. 
• All around the globe, countries are experiencing worsening wildfires, exacerbated by carbon-emission-driven climate change. 
• More than a third of areas charred by wildfires in the Western US and Canada since 1986 can be traced back to carbon pollution from the world’s largest fossil fuel and cement companies. 

Life-threatening precipitation

• Deadly flooding in the Northeast killed at least five people in Pennsylvania
• Torrential downpours unleashed floods and landslides in New Jersey
• Vermont and Los Angeles are recovering from extreme precipitation events.
• A study warns climate change is making floods and landslides more likely. 
• Across the globe, at least eight children are among the 50 dead in Pakistan, where scientists say climate change is fueling more intense monsoons. 
• In South Korea torrential rain and flooding killed 40. Meanwhile, Japan just saw its heaviest rain ever and China, India, Canada and Russia are facing severe flooding and torrential rain.

Please comment below if you have any questions. Thanks for all you do!