Saturday, April 5, 2014

NBC News Climate Change Special Airs Sunday Night (UPDATED)

UPDATE 4/8/14: A few quick reactions to Ann Curry's "Our Year of Extremes":
  • Localizing impacts: Curry presented climate change as a current and concern for our communities. While it covered far-away melting glaciers, it spent much more time on the climate change-fueled wildfires, droughts, floods and superstorms threatening our homes, businesses and special places. 
  • Solutions: Curry covered carbon-cutting options, which instantly made her special superior to CNN's. 
  • Somber format: It told the story of climate change linearly, focusing on climate change impacts for most of the special, then closing with a segment on climate solutions. Starting with 50 minutes of constant crisis was a bit depressing - mixing impacts and solutions throughout might've made the mood more hopeful.
  • Contrarian co-host: It was bad enough when Curry allowed a political scientist, the discredited climate contrarian Roger Pielke, Jr., to attack climate scientists. But Curry then went back to Pielke a second time, giving him a stand-alone slot as her ONLY non-scientist voice on climate solutions. Why didn't we get to hear from a strong climate action voice like Bill McKibben or Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse? 
  • Ads suck: Watching documentaries on network TV is the worst. Just as you're starting to get into the flow of the program, everything comes to a screeching halt for a three-minute commercial break. But then again, it's good to see so many advertisers willing to support this kind of public service content.
UPDATE 4/7/14: You can watch the full special on Comcast on Demand or at NBCnews.com. Here's a clip:
  On Sunday at 7pm ET, NBC will air special by Ann Curry titled Our Year of Extremes - Did Climate Change just Hit Home?

One thing to watch for: A recent CNN special on climate change completely failed to mention the industrial carbon pollution that's causing climate change.

Considering that climate science deniers already have a bizarrely unhealthy hatred for Ann Curry, she might as well give America the whole story.

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