It's been a while since we last posted about Heidi Cullen's progress at The Weather Channel. (Yes, we know, it's been a while since we posted anything.) Regardless, we couldn't miss mentioning our famous Lamont-Doherty alumnus' interview with Claudia Dreifus for the New York Times. According to the article, Heidi (a.k.a., Dr. Cullen) is the only Ph.D. climatologist in the country with her own weekly television show. She also knows where to find the best punchy leads:
I’ve become a media junkie. I read far more widely now than when I was a researcher. Also, I watch a lot of TV, which means all the news programs, “Frontline,” even ESPN, which I watch to learn how to write punchy leads. I also listen to NPR, check out Greenwire and troll the scientific journals like Science, Nature and Geophysical Research Letters.
Perhaps the highlight of the article covers Heidi's infamous blog post last year that got conservative commentators' panties in a wad:
Q: Rush Limbaugh accused you of Stalinism. Did you suggest that meteorologists who doubt global warming should be fired?
A: I didn’t exactly say that. I was talking about the American Meteorological Society’s seal of approval. I was saying the A.M.S. should test applicants on climate change as part of their certification process. They test on other aspects of weather science.
A lot of viewers want to know about climate change. They are experiencing events they perceive as unusual and they want to know if there’s a connection to global warming. Certainly when Katrina hit, they wanted to know if it was global warming or not. Most Americans get their daily dose of science through their televised weather report. Given that fact, I think it’s the responsibility of broadcast meteorologists to provide viewers with scientific answers.
Related Links:
- Into the Limelight, and the Politics of Global Warming [New York Times]
- Heidi Cullen's Forecast Earth Blog [The Weather Channel]
- Forecast Earth website