In an interview that Noticias Telemundo aired March 29, former US vice president and long-time climate activist Al Gore said he still believes humanity “will solve [the climate] crisis” despite the resistance of a “wanna-be dictator” in the Oval Office. To that end, Gore described a tool for holding polluters accountable that journalists will also find valuable.
The nonprofit organization Climate Trace monitors 300 satellites and 30,000 sensors to identify “the specific amounts of pollution coming from every significant [greenhouse gas emissions] source in the world, 660 million of them,” Gore said. “We know who operates them, who owns them, are the emissions going up or are they going down.” Climate Trace has begun issuing monthly reports, enabling journalists to alert communities to nearby emissions sources and question government and corporate officials about reducing the pollution.
Gore was appearing on the Spanish-language network’s new program Ahora: Planeta Tierra (in English, Now: Planet Earth), hosted by veteran environmental journalist Vanessa Hauc; in 2020, Hauc became the first climate reporter to moderate a US presidential debate. Her second question to Gore in the recent interview noted that “89% of the world is demanding more climate action,” before asking him, “What does the future hold when the US president is supporting fossil fuels?”
In a clear allusion to Trump, Gore replied that “the most powerful and wealthiest business lobby in the history of the world, the fossil fuel lobby, has captured a lot of politicians and policymakers…. [But] we the people have a right to demand that … we not have to tell our children and grandchildren their futures have been sacrificed to the profits of these big fossil fuel companies.”
Hauc’s question, and Gore’s response, echoes the themes of Covering Climate Now’s 89 Percent Project, which launches later this month. And Hauc’s new show, which streams live on Saturdays at 11am US Eastern Time, underscores Telemundo’s long-standing dedication to environmental coverage; the network also devotes a segment of every Thursday evening’s broadcast to the latest environmental developments.
It’s a savvy business move, given that surveys have long found that Hispanic people are the US demographic group that cares most about environmental issues. Roughly two out of three (67%) Hispanics think the US government “is doing too little to protect the environment,” according to the Pew Research Center, compared to 58% of non-Hispanics. Since Hispanics account for a growing percentage of US voters —10% in the 2024 national election and higher proportions in some local elections in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California — they are a voting bloc politicians ignore at their peril.
Telemundo’s commitment to climate coverage is paying off. The network’s 6:30pm news program registered 7% growth in 2024, according to Nielsen, making it the fastest growing broadcast news source in the US in either Spanish or English. Telemundo has 31 affiliate stations in markets across the US that reach a total of 12.5 million people a month — a true powerhouse. Noticias Telemundo is also the fastest-growing Spanish language news source on Tik-Tok, Facebook, and X.
In accordance with more than 14,000 scientists around the world, Hauc and her colleagues do not shrink from using the term “climate emergency” for today’s situation. But in introducing the premier episode of Ahora: Planeta Tierra, Hauc pledged “to highlight that the solutions already exist. We’ll tell the stories of those who are part of the solution, who are building a more sustainable planet, and we’ll also show stories that teach how each of us can take part in this change….” In the show’s second episode, Hauc interviewed Jorge Neri, editor-in-chief of Cambio 16, a storied magazine in Spain that recently shifted its editorial focus to prioritizing environmental solutions, notably the importance of protecting Earth’s fresh water supply.
There’s no denying that Trump’s return to the White House carries baleful climate implications, Gore told Huac. Asked how he nevertheless maintains a sense of hope, he replied, “There have been many morally based movements in human history: the abolition of slavery, the effort to secure women the right to vote, to fight against discrimination on the basis of race or religion. […] In all of these efforts, there have been times when the advocates felt genuine despair and they felt like, ‘This is just so difficult, I’m not sure we’re ever gonna be able to succeed.’” Today is such a time, he said, before quoting Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in a South African prison for resisting apartheid before emerging to become the country’s first Black president: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
From Us
The 89 Percent Project. On April 21, CCNow is launching a year-long initiative to shine light on the fact that a huge majority of the global population want governments to “do more” to fix climate change, which all too often is missing from the public climate discourse. We’ll kick off with a CCNow Joint Coverage Week, inviting newsrooms and journalists everywhere to join us. Learn more.
Power & Progress newsletter. The latest edition of our biweekly newsletter about the politics of the renewable energy transition digs into nationwide protests and boycotts targeting Tesla. Could these protests, meant to express anger regarding Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s controversial role in the Trump administration, affect the success of electric vehicles generally? Check out the Power & Progress archive and sign up to get it every other Tuesday.
Noteworthy Stories
Climate and the disasters in Middle America. The storms last week that brought tornadoes and monster floods to a swath of the central US spanning from Arkansas to Michigan were not caused directly by climate change — but a warmer planet sets the conditions for storms like these to be both more frequent and more destructive. A warmer atmosphere is a “thirstier” atmosphere, in the words of one expert. “The sponge, which is the atmosphere in this case, will become bigger, which allows the sponge to hold more water…. There’s a lot more fuel for these rain-producing storms to lead to more flooding.” By Matt Simon for Grist…
Sin traducción. The US National Weather Service has stopped providing translated versions of its products, which experts say will put non-English speakers in the country at significant and undue risk amid worsening extreme weather events. Previously, the service provided its products in languages including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, and Samoan, serving the roughly 68 million Americans who speak languages other than English at home. By Isabella O’Malley for the Associated Press…
Big Oil’s chaos carveout. Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that have sent global markets reeling apply to virtually every economic sector. And yet, they have spared the fossil fuel industry, which donated some $96 million to Trump’s reelection campaign. Advocates describe the exemptions as “a clear sign of the president’s fealty to his big oil donors over the American people.” By Dharna Noor for The Guardian…
The Big Shortsighted? Following the Trump administration’s lead, US banks are rapidly abandoning their previous vocal agreement that finance had an essential role to play in curbing the climate crisis. Not only are the banks all but abandoning net-zero targets, they’re reassessing restrictions on controversial fossil fuel projects that, until now, none of them would touch. This rapid sea change is “sparking a reset in the $1.4 trillion global market for energy finance.” By Alastair Marsh for Bloomberg Green…
Restoration and resilience. Chennai in southeast India is among the top climate-vulnerable cities globally, with 42% of its coastline already eroded and monsoon rains leading to destructive and increasingly common flooding. Now, scientists and everyday citizen volunteers believe that working to restore the region’s wetlands will not only be good for the environment and biodiversity but help create a safer, flood-resilient future for Chennai. From Scroll.in’s Eco India, with Deutsche Welle…
Suing for sacred land. Mining for minerals essential to the clean energy transition, like lithium and copper, is on the rise in the US. With 65% or more of lithium and copper projects falling within 35 miles of Tribal land, however, Native American communities worry about damage to public health, biodiversity, and sites they regard as sacred. This sweeping story spotlights the Hualapai Tribe’s ongoing court battles with the federal government, as the tribe strives to protect parts of northwest Arizona. By Ottavia Spaggiari for The Margin…
Quote of the Week
“If they don’t have access to that National Weather Service information in the different languages, that could be the difference between life and death for somebody.”
– Norma Mendoza-Denton, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, regarding the cessation of the NWS’s foreign-language products
Dispatch #3 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 third.
What does faulty climate information look like? Denying climate change and human involvement is the most obvious form, but it can often be more subtle — think: stories about startups pushing untested tech as reliable solutions, or campaigns that present personal consumption choices as a definitive climate answer rather than one piece of what’s necessary.
Denial might get most of the spotlight, but false, misleading and incomplete climate info exists in many other forms. Journalists alone cannot address that, but we can make major strides, informing people deeply about problems and the efficacy of proposed solutions. When examining solutions, we owe it to our communities to help them distinguish between distant, unproven solutions and ones that are impactful and happening right now. Accountability journalism and solutions journalism are partners to help audiences deepen their understanding of climate.
“In a way, accountability journalism is a necessary first step for almost every other climate solution,” writes Amy Westervelt, founder and executive editor of the climate reporting project “Drilled.” “We have to clear the path for science- and evidence-based solutions to win out.”
Resources, Events, Etc.
GIJN’s ‘Guide to Investigating Fossil Fuels.’ The Global Investigative Journalism Network has a new guide to “provide [journalists] context and practical advice to enable better investigations of the fossil fuel industry.” The guide, helmed by leading climate and investigative journalists, comprises six subject-specific chapters, including on government regulations and policies, uncovering lobbying efforts, and greenwashing and disinformation.
‘Atlas of Accountability.’ “Between 2011 and 2024, 99.5% of [US] congressional districts experienced at least one federally declared major disaster due to extreme weather,” according to the New York University–affiliated group Rebuild by Design. Rebuild is out with a new tool that “maps federal major disaster declarations and federal post-disaster assistance obligations for every county in the US.”
Jobs, Opportunities, Etc.
National & large outlets. Capital & Main is hiring an executive editor (Los Angeles). The Nation is hiring an editorial intern (New York preferred; apply by May 7). Columbia Journalism Review is hiring a senior editor (New York). Gizmodo is hiring a science reporter (hybrid, New York).
Local & smaller outlets. Earth Island Journal is hiring an associate editor (San Francisco Bay Area preferred). The Albuquerque Journal is hiring a business reporter. Montclair Local Nonprofit News is hiring an accountability reporter (Montclair, N.J.). The Raleigh News & Observer is hiring a climate and environment reporter. The Virginia Mercury, part of States Newsroom, is hiring an energy and environment reporter (Richmond).
Applications are open for the NYU Stern Climate Economics Journalism Fellowship, which, for two days in September, “will bring a group of journalists to NYU Stern’s Greenwich Village campus to learn from globally recognized experts in the emerging field of climate economics … [and] discuss the fundamental factors and latest trends in climate economics and finance.” Apply by April 20. Learn more.
Editors for a proposed book, “Journalism Practice and Mental Well-Being in the Global South,” have issued a call for chapter pitches. The goal of the book is “to broaden the discourse on journalists’ mental well-being,” as well as “contribute to theory-building and practical solutions tailored to the unique challenges that journalists in the Global South face.” The deadline for chapter proposals is April 30. Learn more.
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