The Cover Climate Project
We can’t fix the climate crisis if we aren’t talking about it
We face an existential threat. Record-breaking heat waves, supercharged storms, crippling droughts and massive chunks of melting ice raising sea levels — climate disruption is already here. Before the end of this century, it could pose an existential threat even to developed nations like the United States.
We can fix it with a robust climate movement. We have great solutions to prevent the worst harms, but we lack the political will to enact them. We need a bigger, stronger, more diverse, and more mainstream climate movement to win the assertive policies we need, fast.
Better media coverage will fuel a stronger climate movement. A vastly louder, better public conversation will help us build the climate movement we need. Media outlets should be covering the climate crisis and solutions every day. But only 43 percent of Americans report hearing about climate change in the news at least once a month. Only 19 percent report hearing people they know talk about it once a month, and 28 percent say they never hear about it.
We can fix this. To beat climate change, we’ll end climate silence.
Become a Cover Climate Activist! Sign up to join our team and start taking action to end climate silence today.
Join our online Cover Climate community now!
The Project
We will push news outlets to provide frequent, if not daily, coverage of the climate crisis. That includes the implications for our way of life, the solutions available to avoid the most catastrophic outcomes, and how to adapt to the disruption from global warming that’s already locked in.
We are monitoring and holding accountable the outlets that are failing the public – and amplifying the coverage that gets it right!
Join the Cover Climate Team!
• Help with multiple rapid-response actions each week.
• Write letters to the editor and pitch stories to your local media outlets.
• Participate in weekly check-ins, receive ongoing tools and webinars to strength your media activism.
• Monitor and report back on climate coverage in your local media.
Featured Reports and Memos
Carbon Omission: How the U.S. Media Failed to Connect Extreme Weather to Climate Change in 2018
Public Citizen analysis shows that mainstream media outlets often failed to connect climate change to extreme weather events, including major hurricanes, record-breaking forest fires and heat, in 2018.
No Green Deal: Widespread Media Silence on One of the Biggest Climate Stories of 2018
Public Citizen analysis shows that despite numerous high-profile congressional candidates running, and winning, on a “Green New Deal,” and a surge of post-election interest and advocacy in creating a select committee on the proposal, many major media outlets gave it scant coverage.
Covering Climate Ground Zero: Florida newspapers are connecting sea-level rise to climate change, but falling short on extreme heat
Public Citizen analysis shows that Florida newspapers frequently are noting the connection to climate change when reporting on rising sea levels, far fewer outlets are making the same connection when discussing extreme heat.
Climate Uncovered: Media Fail to Connect Hurricane Florence to Climate Change
Public Citizen analysis shows that U.S. media have largely failed to connect Hurricane Florence to climate change – even despite an attribution study quantify the impact of climate change on the storm.
Burning in Silence: U.S. Media Falls Short on Connecting Wildfires to Climate Change
Public Citizen analysis shows that U.S. media have largely failed to connect California’s unprecedented wildfires to climate change.
Extreme Silence: How the U.S. Media Have Failed to Connect Climate Change to Extreme Heat in 2018
Public Citizen analysis shows that U.S. media have failed to connect record-breaking heat to climate change in 2018 — and did even worse during the extreme heat wave from June 27 to July 8, 2018.
Reporter Memo: This Summer, Connect the Dots Between Extreme Heat and Climate Change
Public Citizen memo calls on U.S. news outlets to cover the relationship between extreme heat and climate change when reporting on heatwaves and record-breaking temperatures.
Reporter Memo: As Hurricane Season Begins, Connect the Dots to Climate Change
Public Citizen survey of major U.S. news outlets finds the media fell short on connecting the significant storms from the 2017 hurricane season to climate change.
Carbon Omission: How the U.S. Media Underreported Climate Change in 2017
Public Citizen analysis shows the major U.S. media outlets largely failed to connect climate change to extreme weather events amid a year of record hurricanes, droughts and disease.
Silent Protest: U.S. Media Coverage of Demonstrations Surrounding U.N. Climate Talks Abroad
Public Citizen examined 15 media outlets covering COPs held between 2010 and 2016. The analysis found that major U.S. media rarely cover some of the most significant international climate demonstrations or the solidarity actions that accompany them in the U.S.
Storm of Silence: Media Coverage of Climate Change and Hurricane Harvey
Public Citizen examined Hurricane Harvey coverage and found that major news outlets are falling far short of connecting climate to extreme weather events.
Featured Action
Tell USA Today to Stop Giving Voice to Climate Denial
Advisory Board
Donald Braman
Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University, and Senior Social Scientist, The Lab @ DC, Office if the City Administrator, Executive Office of the Mayor, District of Columbia
Robert Brulle
Visiting Professor of Environment and Society, Institute at Brown for Environment & Society, Brown University
Keya Chatterjee
Executive Director, U.S. Climate Action Network, and author of The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby
Lisa Hymas
Director, Climate and Energy Program, Media Matters for America
Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D.
Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University
Dr. Michael E. Mann
Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center
Bill McKibben
Founder and Senior Advisor, 350.org, and Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence, Middlebury College
Naomi Oreskes
Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Nicky Sundt
Former Director, Science and Policy Integration, Climate Change, World Wildlife Fund, and Former Communications Manager, U.S. Global Change Research Program
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.
President and CEO, Hip Hop Caucus