What are they waiting for?

A new site asks political talk show hosts to address climate change 3

In my introduction to Grist's presidential forum on climate, I mentioned a statistic that came to me from Gene Karpinski of the League of Conservation Voters: as of mid-November, Tim Russert of Meet the Press had interviewed presidential candidates 16 times, asking nearly 300 questions, and had not mentioned "climate change" or "global warming" a single time.

LCV has continued to pursue the issue, and today they're launching a new site: "What are they waiting for?" It broadens the critique from Russert to all the Sunday political chat show hosts, noting that they have asked a cumulative 2,275 questions this year, and only three mentioned global warming.

It's the single most important issue the next president will face, but the D.C. Village just can't be bothered about it. Instead, they prefer to ask about stuff like this:

If you're so inclined, you can sign the petition to ask the hosts to address the issue.

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. randino Posted 2:25 am
    20 Dec 2007

    TV weather people the worst of the lot.I'd like to know if anyone has ever witnessed a TV weather person addressing climate change in a serious way. Most of them are hard core deniers. Only the Weather Channel will touch the issue with a ten foot pole. I think climate activists should start to jack up these hair cuts. They are way too influential on how ordinary Americans see the issue.
    Randy Cunningham

    Randy Cunningham

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  2. MCollins Posted 3:57 am
    20 Dec 2007

    Call to action from the blogosphere...The last presidential race was perhaps the first one in history that could have been influenced by bloggers--certainly the community has been strong for some time, but it's only recently that it's really picked up momentum. It's good to see that the green portion of the blogosphere is not losing sight of its potential to influence politics; it's satisfyingly democratic. Let's just hope the media listens.

    Editor, http://www.getsolar.com

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  3. enki Posted 7:00 am
    20 Dec 2007

    A Problem of PerceptionThis story raises a good point. Why aren't more questions being asked of the candidates in regard to Climate Change? In my opinion the main reason is probably that most people still see Climate Change as a question of belief, i.e.: "Do you believe in Climate Change?". How many times can you ask someone that?
    The reality of the situation is that the issue has progressed way beyond the realm of belief or disbelief. The facts are that ice sheets that have been present for millennia are melting away. The products of the burning of petroleum fuels are building up in the environment (CO2 and H2O). At the same time the materials which are consumed in the combustion reaction(hydrocarbons and oxygen) are decreasing. This indicates at the very least that the environment can no longer "filter" the byproducts back into oxygen (which they release)and glucose as fast as we are consuming the oxygen.
    Those are facts and so the focus of public perception must advance beyond belief or disbelief and into a realm of what can be done. How to bring things back into balance before it gets any worse should be the topic of discussion. So this is the perspective from which candidates should be questioned; "how are YOU going to bring our world back into balance?"
    Mike Johnston

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