Friederike Otto is a leading practitioner of arguably the most important development in climate science in many years: attribution science. Specialists like Otto can now calculate how much responsibility man-made global heating has for a given extreme weather event. The brutal heat wave that scorched India and Pakistan in 2022, for example, was made 30 times more likely by global warming, Otto and her colleagues at the nonprofit World Weather Attribution group found.
Like police officers dusting a crime scene for fingerprints, attribution science reveals what role climate change played in a given weather disaster.
For journalists, such calculations are invaluable. Attribution science equips us with the data to connect the dots between climate change as a distant abstraction and climate change as a current reality — and to do so quickly, when our audiences are feeling those impacts. Which means journalists can dispense with the once standard line that climate change cannot be linked to any single event, only to long-term trends. Attribution science changes that.
Journalists will find Otto’s book, Climate Injustice, useful for its descriptions of how attribution science works — how do scientists know what they know? — as well as its limitations. Scientists can measure climate change’s influence on heat waves with precision, she explains. Much harder, at least with today’s tools, is to calculate its influence on droughts, floods, and other precipitation-related events.
Trained as a physicist, Otto ventures beyond physical science in this book to make a moral and practical argument grounded in economics, history, ethics, and public policy. She also offers sharp observations about how journalists report the climate story.
She has no patience for coverage that blames individuals, as with shame about air travel, but ignores far more destructive actions by ExxonMobil and other corporate polluters. She reports that nowhere are extreme heat events deadlier than in Africa, and accuses Global North media of ignoring such events because their customers are not among the victims.
The media needs “to create new narratives” for the climate story, Otto writes. Don’t illustrate heat wave coverage with photos of kids licking ice creams; tell the stories of outdoor workers suffering from heat exhaustion and highlight how tree-shaded streets and community cooling centers can save lives. Ground climate coverage in science but humanize and solutionize the storytelling.
Climate change is, of course, a physical phenomenon — the carbon dioxide released when oil, gas, or coal is burned traps heat in the atmosphere. But the way humans experience climate change, Otto argues, is a social phenomenon, shaped by differences in wealth, race, gender, and more. “The people who die are those with little money who can’t readily obtain all the help and information they need,” she writes.
A tone of controlled outrage animates Otto’s prose as she maintains that “that doesn’t have to be the case.” Humans have the know-how and money to protect nearly everyone; those in power simply have other priorities. The question, she believes is, “How many more human lives, how many more coral reefs, how many more insects will we allow ourselves to lose to the short-term continued use of comparatively cheap fossil fuels in the Global North?”
Covering Climate Now has long made similar suggestions about the framing of the climate story. With summer fast approaching in the Northern Hemisphere and climate-fueled disasters getting more frequent and destructive, newsrooms will have plenty of opportunities to do better in the weeks ahead.
From Us
Prep Your Climate Coverage: Summer Heat & Hurricanes. On Wednesday, May 21, CCNow and Climate Central will co-host the second of a new webinar series designed to prepare journalists to cover worsening extreme weather — this session we’ll focus on heat and hurricanes and share scientifically vetted language to help audiences make the climate change connection. Learn more and register.
Locally Sourced newsletter. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter for local journalists explores shoreline loss, including the different tactics to grapple with rising seas used by coastal communities worldwide. Check out the Locally Sourced archive and sign up to get it every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
Pakistan’s water crisis. Last week, as conflict sparked between India and Pakistan, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi vowed that water would no longer cross the countries’ borders. “India’s water will be used for India’s interests,” he said. But Pakistan is already in the grips of a major water crisis, due in large part to climate change–fueled heat, drought, and floods. By Simmone Shah for Time…
Israel’s water war. In southern Syria, water resources are increasingly scarce, due to climate change. Since the collapse of the Assad regime in December, Israel’s military has swept in, seeking to transform the balance of power in the region; they’ve seized key water resources, further imperiling locals and the agricultural economy on which they depend. By Natacha Danon for New Lines Magazine…
Green Pope? As the world gets to know Pope Leo XIV, environmentalists, both in and outside of Catholic circles, are optimistic he will prove an advocate on climate change. In 2024, at a Vatican conference on environmental crises, then-cardinal Robert Prevost said: “Dominion over nature — the task which God gave humanity — should not become ‘tyrannical.’ It must be a ‘relationship of reciprocity’ with the environment.” By Brian Roewe for National Catholic Reporter…
Hotter, earlier. Swaths of the central US, from the Dakotas to the southwest and southern Texas, are broiling this week, amid an early-season heat wave that experts warn could catch many Americans off-guard, boosting the risk of heat-related illness and death. By Denise Chow for NBC News…
States and locals stepping up. Despite the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to halt federal climate action, some state and local governments aim to pick up the slack — and in fact, if successful, they’re in a position to “reduce emissions so dramatically that the nation could still hit key climate targets,” according to analysis by the University of Maryland’s Center for Global Sustainability. By Sarah Wesseler for Yale Climate Connections…
Quote of the Week
“[Pope Leo] showed his preference for the most vulnerable. I am convinced that his leadership will inspire us to keep working for justice and the care of our common home.”
– Ronald Moreno, a Peruvian environmental activist familiar with Robert Prevost
during his tenure as Bishop of Chiclayo
Dispatch #5 from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation
For the next few months, we’ll periodically share standout insights from the Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation, a collaboration between CCNow and the Solutions Journalism Network. This is the fifth.
The psychological toll of covering an existential issue like climate change can’t be overstated. And that’s just one piece of journalism’s burnout and mental health problem.
But journalists and news outlets aren’t powerless. Though the climate beat can take a heavy toll, prioritizing mental health in newsrooms, journalists engaging in physical activity and allowing space for unpleasant feelings, rather than “pushing through,” can all help make the work more manageable.
“Newsrooms and the industry at large must contend with the unique pressures climate and environmental journalists face,” writes Yessenia Funes, “and provide resources that support their well-being and allow them to continue this necessary public service long term.”
Resources, Events, Etc.
Visualizing water shortages worldwide. As part of its World Freshwater Initiative, the National Geographic Society has published a World Water Map, which can help journalists visualize the worsening gap, due in part to climate change, between available freshwater resources and communities’ needs across the world.
US permitting and clean energy briefing. On May 21, Heatmap News is hosting an online briefing to unpack plans by congressional Republicans to revamp US permitting legislation, with major potential implications for clean energy projects nationwide. Learn more and register.
Food & Farming Journalism Network webinar. On May 22, Sentient Media’s Food & Farming Journalism Network will host a webinar, “Uncovering Agriculture’s Climate Impact,” featuring top experts, “[sharing] cutting-edge research on the powerful link between food systems and climate change.” The event will include an on-the-record, journalist-led Q&A. Learn more and register.
Creative Commons climate change photography. Climate Visuals, a program run by the nonprofit Climate Outreach, curates a wealth of photographs that can help journalism outlets visualize climate change, in addition to “guidance, resources and research on what makes for compelling, impactful climate change photography.” Recently added image collections include “Visualising Air Pollution,” “Energy and the cost of living in Europe,” and “Carspreading.”
Jobs, Opportunities, Etc.
National & large outlets. Fortune is hiring an energy reporter (New York). Sinclair is hiring a national investigative journalist (Arlington, Va.).
Local & smaller outlets. The Narwhal in Canada is hiring an assistant editor (apply before TOMORROW, May 16). CalMatters in California is hiring an environment and health editor. The Sacramento Bee in California is hiring a climate and environment reporter and a service journalism reporter. The Provincetown Independent in Cape Cod, Mass., is hiring a science and environment reporter. The San Antonio Report in Texas is hiring a business reporter. The Anchorage Daily News in Alaska is hiring “at least three” reporters and a news editor (apply by June 9).
Applications are open now for the Chips Quinn Reporter Fellowship, for both early-career journalists and mentors. The fellowship, founded by Freedom Forum and led by Journalism Funding Partners, provides one year of mentorship for early-career journalists “with a Chips Quinn alum or other accomplished journalism professional.” Learn more and apply by May 23.
Applications are open for the 2025 Kozik Environmental Justice Reporting Grants. The National Press Foundation and the National Press Club Journalism Institute will award grants of up to $15,000, from a pot of up to $45,000, “to support journalism in any medium that centers on environmental justice and environmental racism in the United States.” Learn more and apply by May 27.
The University of Southern California Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication is launching a sustainability communication certificate program this summer. During the six-week online program, “participants will learn how to convey sustainability messaging with accuracy and balance, avoiding both greenwashing and misinformation/disinformation.” Learn more and apply by May 31.
Support Covering Climate Now
We’re working to help journalists worldwide improve and expand their climate coverage. Meet our staff and learn more about CCNow.