CCEP-I: Making the Global Local - Unusual Weather Events as Climate Change Educational Opportunities

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An award has been made to George Mason University to establish a Phase I Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) in collaboration with the American Meteorological Society, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, American Geophysical Union, American Association of State Climatologists, and Climate Central. The overall goal of the CCEP Phase I project is to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts. This project will focus on establishing a national network of on-air broadcast meteorologists, climate scientists, university research programs, and key climate and weather science organizations, to engage, train, and empower local broadcast meteorologists to educate and inform the American public about climate. The specific goals include (1) identifying the resources, training and other forms of support that will enable weathercasters to incorporate relevant information about climate change into their broadcasts; (2) identifying, among those weathercasters still undecided about the reality of anthropogenic climate change, (a) the nature of their indecisions, and (b) opportunities to help them reach a conclusion consistent with scientific consensus; (3) developing a prototype conflict analysis and resolution process between weathercasters who reject the scientific consensus and those who accept it so as to (a) understand their differences and the patterns of interactions and (b) develop frameworks that mediate their concerns; (4) developing linkages with existing climate- and weather-related citizen science programs to enable weathercasters to involve their viewers in climate and weather science; (5) identifying curriculum and curriculum development needs for teaching climate science to undergraduate meteorology students and certificate candidates; and (6) designing a five-year implementation plan that (a) leverages the accomplishments of objectives 1-5 into an initiative that can achieve our goal and (b) is financially sustainable. More information on this project is available by visiting http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503465, or contacting the PI.